Not Ranked
As part of the Discovery HD team that will be televising the Mecum Auction on Friday, yesterday I experienced one of the most remarkable assignments of my career. I spent the day at the IMS Studios in Indianapolis shooting CSX2601 and interviewing Pete Brock, Bob Bondurant, and Dave Friedman for a one-hour documentary which I'll be co-producing and will air later this year on Discovery HD.
I won't go on and on about the many tales that were exchanged between these three legends during the day but I was fortunate to be privy to so much Shelby history they shared and much of it may never be recorded in any book. However, the stories they told on camera were just a kick to hear--some familiar and some I'd never heard before.
2601 is Pete's favorite Coupe, the fourth one built and he says it was the amalgam of the first Coupe built and the first one built in Italy, which had been modified by the Italian coachbuilders. As we shot many minutes of high-definition video of 2601, the way Pete stood and stared at the car was clearly the look of love.
Bondurant and Friedman were also very reflective of what 2601 meant to the Shebly team. Bondurant drove it (and I mean DROVE IT!) in Phoenix a few weeks ago and he says 2601 still runs, accelerates, and handles just the way he remembered it in 1965. He said, "It was like I was never out of the car. It's still fantastic."
I took the liberty of sitting in the car for a few moments and all I can say is I'm still a bit woozy.
I hope everyone gets to see the auction Friday. The Mecum people are going all out and the car will be presented in a beautiful glass display case. 2601 looks spectacular and Brock, Bondurant, and Friedman all hoped it would be purchased by an American bidder. Two Coupes are already owned by overseas collectors and they would hate to see a third car wind up outside America--especially the one which clinched the championship on July 4, 1965.
Enjoy the telecast and when I get the air date for the documentary, I'll post it on the board.
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