Not Ranked
As with any business there are a multitude of talents that are responsible for the execution of ideas however the top brass gets the rewards.....
I would suggest that CS, purely speculative, was going to use any car he could capitalize on which turned out to be AC. After Chevy turned him down on motors he approached Ford. The Ace was not a Shelby design however he was able to manage a 1950's designed AC car powered by Ford to compete with the best in the world. Did he redesign the 427 S/C from the 289 in an afternoon, probably not. Did he use his designers and mechanics to build a 289 that could support the SO, I presume so. CS made history dealing with a little car company in England on the brink of closure and the corporate giant Ford. He was responsible for funding, the racing teams, and sales and marketing. He is indeed what made them a success and made history as well.
Did he sketch the initial body of CSX3002 out on a cocktail napkin at dinner and then go pound out the aluminum form himself at SAI. Not sure? I can say at my company there is not one man responsible as it is a team effort and I would guess that was true in the 60's with all the credit going to the man = CS. He said himself in an interview he wanted to build 100 cars just to have a shot at racing, he ended up making history.
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