Dave Despain on Assignment - The Shelby Legend

[Buzz]

Just watched the show on Speed. Big disappointment from a Cobra lover's perspective. While it is always nice to see the old race footage and hear from legengs like Gurney and Miles, the story focused almost totally on Ford's racing efforts and Shelby's participation in the GT40 program. Passing justice was done to the awesomeness of the early Cobras, and the Daytona Coupe received due mention of its accomplishments.

What I found disappointingly lacking was even a note of homage and respect paid to the 427 Cobra, which is the single solitary reason that Shelby's name was able to endure and remain iconic over the decades after he gave it all up and turned his attention to cattle.

We don't need a rehash of the facts about the big block Cobra being the most replicated and iconic performance car ever despite never being raced as part of an official factory backed effort. Nor do we need to re-establish that it was the leaf sprung small block car that brought home the trophies.

The reality is that Shelby was able to rise again like a phoenix from the ashes of automotive irrelevance to rebuild himself as a generation crossing icon of the performance car culture because the 427 Cobra - more than any other car in history - captivated and held the imagination of automobile enthusiasts all over the world, long after its production run had ended.

I get the impression that Ol' Shel really resents the Cobra, and would like nothing more than for it to disappear. Truthfully, he was forced to reluctantly acknowledge his abandoned bastard child, defend its name, and to even start producing his own replicas of "that old car" (his own words) because of the booming replica industry and its indication of the massive popularity of the once orphaned and forsaken car.

Now that he has regained his justified status as a living legend of automobilia and is once again breathing his magic fire into Ford's Mustangs, I get the impression that subtle efforts are underway to marginalize the black sheep Cobra and downplay its role as the acknowledged jewel in Shelby's crown.

One bile-inducing look at the recently posted CSX4000 vs Supersnake video is enough to convince me that the great Shelby's endorsement of and participation in "Dave Despain on Assignment - The Shelby Legend" was conditional on downplaying and editing out all homage to the incredible, indomitable 427 Cobra.

Anyone else get that impression?