If Chevrolet would have said YES.... (Cobra Related)

[Cal Metal]

I don't know about that, Kputz. Ford was a public company, having gone to the public market in 1955 in an extremely complex offering. Much of the stock was in the Ford Foundation and, if memory serves, the ticklish issue was how to get shares in the hands of the public while not relinquishing control out of the Ford family. A hat trick that Goldman Sachs, I think, accomplished.

The issue for GM, I think, was the perception that racing was not in the public interest, and if you are in the business of selling cars to Joe Public, perhaps that wasn't the way to achieve that end. There was a big issue in the late 50s regarding safety. Ford, for one, really tried to promote that image with seat belts, padded dashes and threw a lot of $$$ into a public marketing campaign to promote that end. No one seemed to care.

In the final analysis, I think GM executives at the top of the food chain, felt there was no investment return, and perhaps a potential negative return, by casting an image that racing was good for the everyday "bread and butter" sale of its cars. You can't blame them when you look at the percentages. I don't think it was necessarily a case of potential pressure from Funds or Insurance companies. I think it was deemed to be outside noise that could only hurt their sales. When people like Frederick Donner are running GM, ultra conservatism wins the day.

They were wrong. It just took someone like Henry Ford II to discard that notion by kicking the AMA and its racing ban out of the Ford garage, and putting the proverbial pedal to the metal. GM would have done better by adhering to the famous quote by Bob Tasca of Tasca Ford: "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday".

If you look at the millions Ford threw at the GT program, one has to really wonder about shareholder return on that, too. The Cobra program was probably the best investment they ever made in that arena. It had to be nickels and dimes compared to what it cost to win Le Mans.

I agree RACERAL, that is one sweet car.