FORD AND CARROLL SHELBY ANNOUNCE HISTORIC PARTNERSHIP TO DEVELOP
PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
Ford GT supercar is first of multiple endeavors to target
performance-minded consumers
Partnership will draw on the expertise of Carroll Shelby to develop
world-class, niche performance Ford products
Pebble Beach, Calif., Aug. 15 - More than 41 years after their original
agreement to produce performance cars began, Ford Motor Company and Carroll
Shelby today announced the formation of a historic new partnership to "do it
again."
Shelby, a former race car driver and creator of numerous collectable
performance cars, will offer his expertise in partnership with the Ford
Performance Group in the development of specialty niche performance
products.
These performance products, like the Shelby Fords from more than 40 years
ago, will offer performance-minded consumers more of everything - increased
power, better handling and unique design.
"It would be an understatement to say that Shelby
Fords from the 1960s are coveted classic automobiles," says Chris Theodore,
Ford vice president, Advanced Product Creation. "Our new partnership with
Carroll and his team will create modern-day, world-class performance
products that are as potent
and coveted as the Shelby Fords from 40 years ago."
Ford GT, the company's Centennial supercar, is just one example of a Ford
performance product that has benefited from the counsel and involvement of
Shelby. Shelby, who turned 80 years old earlier this year, has been a senior
technical advisor to the Ford GT team and has provided abundant support for
the design and engineering of the product.
"Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with several
manufacturers in the development of some great automobiles," says Carroll
Shelby. "But my energy and passion for performance products has always been
strongest when it involved a vehicle from the Ford Motor Company.
"When I look at Ford's upcoming lineup of performance cars, including the
Ford GT and next-generation Ford Mustang, I see countless opportunities to
raise the performance bar even higher," Shelby added. "I couldn't be more
proud than I am today to have the opportunity to re-create history with the
only
automotive company that holds the key to my heart."
Throughout the 1960s, Shelby and Ford cooperated on numerous racing and
performance-product programs, from the original
Shelby Cobra to the Ford GT40 and the GT350 and GT500 Mustangs.
"Carroll Shelby is a legend in the field of performance automotive
products," says Theodore. "We have known each other for a long time and
share a passion to re-invigorate world-class American niche performance
products from the Ford Motor Company. I cannot think of a better person to
be partnering with on this endeavor than Carroll Shelby.
FORD AND SHELBY: PARTNERS AT THE FINISH LINE
Pebble Beach, Calif., Aug. 15, 2003 - It might shock many of today's young
racing hopefuls to learn that Carroll Shelby didn't enter his first
automobile race - a quarter-mile drag meet - until he was nearly 30 years
old. What's no surprise, of course, is that the hot rod Shelby drove to the
finish line that day in 1952 was powered by a Ford V-8.
Shelby may have started late, but he was a winner from the beginning. Just
two years into his driving career, Aston Martin's racing manager, John Wyer,
recruited him to co-drive a DB3 at Sebring. Within months, the chicken
farmer from Texas was bumping elbows and trading paint with the likes of
Juan-Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill and Paul Frère. He won Europe's prestigious
24-hour endurance race at Le Mans in 1959, driving an Aston Martin DBR1 with
Roy Salvadori.
Early in 1962 Shelby drove his second Ford-powered race car. It was the
first mockup for the Cobra, Shelby's now-legendary marriage of a lightweight
British roadster body with a small-block Ford V-8. By January 1963, he had
homologated the car under the FIA's GT Group III class, and that month a
Cobra won its first race, beating a field of Corvette Stingrays at
Riverside, California.
In January 1965, Ford hired Shelby to lend his expertise to the GT40
campaign. Three cars had run the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, but none of them
finished.
Shelby began work on installing the more reliable 7-liter stock-car engine
in what would be known later as the GT40 Mark II. It proved to be
considerably faster than the Mark I, and, although 1965 was another
unsuccessful year at Le Mans, GT40 had become, in just two seasons, a strong
contender.
Ford and Shelby tested the GT40 Mark II extensively - both in the wind
tunnel and on a special dynamometer that simulated a 48-hour run of the Le
Mans circuit. At the start of the 1966 season, GT40 began a four-year
domination of endurance racing.
While Ford and Shelby took on Ferrari at Le Mans, they fought Corvette at
home. The first effort was the legendary Shelby Cobra, a Ford-powered and
Shelby-engineered derivative of the AC Ace. Production of the vehicle, which
had a one-ton weight advantage over the Corvette, began in June 1962 and
continued through March 1967.
The Shelby Mustang
In August 1964, Ford asked Carroll Shelby to develop a street-legal,
high-performance Mustang to compete against the
Corvette in SCCA B-production road racing. Shelby-American, Carroll Shelby's
Californian racing shop, completed its first Mustang GT350 by September.
The 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 was a fastback production model with a
functional scoop in its fiberglass hood and 306 horsepower from the
289-cubic-inch V-8 underneath - an increase of 35 horsepower over the stock
Ford engine. Suspension upgrades included a larger front stabilizer bar,
Koni shocks and rear traction bars and race-ready features, such as
competition safety belts, a large
oil-pressure gauge, tachometer and a
trunk-mounted battery. It sold for $4,000 and was instantly recognizable by
its Wimbledon White paint and blue GT350 side stripes along the rocker
panels.
For 1966, the GT350 was offered in white, red, black, green and blue, and
Hertz purchased nearly 1,000 special 1966 GT350H weekend "rent-a-racer"
models. In the 1967 model year, the Shelby Mustangs sported unique
fiberglass bodywork that extended the front end with an aggressive dual
scoop and finished the trunk lid with an integrated spoiler.
But most important in 1967 was the new GT500, a big-block version with 355
horsepower. More than 2,000 of those 428-cubic-inch Mustangs were delivered
in the first model year.
1968 was the first year the name "Cobra" was officially used on a Shelby
Mustang. That year, a convertible body style became available. Although the
Shelby Cobra GT350 was essentially unchanged, later GT500s were powered by
the new "Cobra Jet" 428 engine and thus became the GT500KR, for King of the
Road.
For 1969, the penultimate year of the Shelby Mustang, the engine choices
included the optional 351 Ram Air engine, and the bodywork incorporated a
total of nine scoops - five on the hood, one at the front of each fender and
one on each quarter panel. In 1970, with sales slowing, the final Shelby
Mustangs built for 1969 were updated to 1970 specifications and sold, ending
the famed run.
Key Moments in the History of Ford and Carroll Shelby
January 1952:
Carroll Shelby enters his first race at the wheel of a
Ford-powered hot rod.
February 1962:
Shelby tests his first Ford-powered AC 260 Roadster -
the car that would become the Shelby Cobra.
March 1962:
Shelby-American begins operations in Venice,
California.
June 1962:
Cobra production begins.
August 1964:
Ford asks Shelby to develop a high-performance
Mustang derivative.
September 1964:
First Shelby prototypes are built.
January 1965:
The 1965 Shelby GT350 is introduced. Ford hires Shelby
American to oversee the GT40 program.
November 1965:
Hertz begins buying GT350H versions for its
"rent-a-racer" program.
June 1966:
Ford GT40 Mark II wins Le Mans.
November 1966:
First 1967 Shelby GT500s are delivered.
June 1967:
Ford and Shelby American again win Le Mans.
November 1967:
1968 Shelby Mustang convertibles debut.
November 1968:
1969 model-year production begins.
September 1969:
Shelby Mustang production ends.
February 1970:
Ford and Shelby end their long-term racing agreement.
Ford and Shelby announce NEW ties at Pebble Beach
Linear Mode
