Shelby vs SAAC

[TERRY M KRYSTOFIAK]

I too own two Shelbys...A '66 gt350 & a '67 gt500. I am quite concerned about the vin's getting out. Let's take a possible senerio. Im looking to buy a '66 gt350. Borrowed on the house,rat holed money from the wife etc. Big step,alot of money. I now have a choice to verify my purchase..SAAC (Howard Pardee) or Team Shelby. Now keep in mind, one has a proven track record, the other would sell a dead horse to a Mounty and charge him for the saddle....and for a CASH donation to the heart fund tell you what ever you want to here....tough decission. With respect to SAAC and all the different chapters they have always welcomed replicas and other Ford products at events I have attended.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

There is no other car event where you can see as many REAL and not so real Cobras in one place.
I have had many years at SAAC events mixing it up on the track with original Cobras and found many of the owners more hospitable than some of the replica owners who post here.

If you have never attended a SAAC event you have missed out on a good time.

At the SAAC bash at VIR, during one of the open track sessions I ran down the front straight at 135mph, door handle to door handle with the late/great Dick Smith, I backed off the gas at the end and got behind him, mainly cause his ball$ were a lot bigger than mine........after the session he found me in the paddock and we had a very freindly chat, he told me he made a dent in the floor under the accelarator trying to pass me and then looked over my POS 65 Mustang Coupe race car and had nothing but good to say about it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howard Pardee and Kopec both had time in their busy schedules to talk to me and I found them both very nice guys........I never did see any of the BS about real/replicas there.......Each group of show cars had their designated area to park and that was that........

Going to the yearly SAAC meet is like stepping back in time with soo many original cars there......You will see everything from the 2000 series cars up to the latest 4000 series cars.........My favorite has always been the "survivor" cars....unrestored, all original cars, still just like they were made in the 60's!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David

[RACER X #99]

Dave, here is a photo of the late Dick Smith signing the "Club Cranky" banner at VIR and not a REAL Cobra in site. Some people just know how to have a good time together weather their car is REAL or not.

BTW we had a beautiful CSX 7000 replica in our camp.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Dave, here is a photo of the late Dick Smith signing the "Club Cranky" banner at VIR and not a REAL Cobra in site. Some people just know how to have a good time together weather their car is REAL or not.

Roger; I met Dick Smith a few years before VIR in Tulsa at that SAAC meet, even let him park next to me at the hotel ........I got a picture of it somewhere.

We had a BBQ set-up in the hotel parking lot and had it going as well as some "liquid refreshments"..... Dick came by and had we not know who he was (we recognized him from photos) you'd thought he was just a "regular Joe" there....that's what impressed me the most about him, very unassuming fellow and a friend to everyone, regardless of what car you owned,if you even owned one!!!!!!!!!!!

Through the years I've met a lot of folks at SAAC events, gladly most were like Dick....... Some years back, I was pestering a guy with all kinds of questions about his two, 65 GT-350s,poor guy, one was a street car and the other a Vintage Racer.....I guess he got tired of me bugging him about the race car with all kinds of questions, so he told me to go find a helmet and come back, which I did and then I strapped in and got 4 hot laps around the track......Nicest guy in the world, we are close friends now and have been ever since that day....even though I have a POS 66 GT-350 CLONE....When he saw my street car he was actually impressed with it as to how accurate it was to an original 66 GT-350 and this guy restores Shelby's for a living!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think he also has very bad eyesight

I've also met a few of the "upper echelon" folks who wouldn't give you the time of day if their lives depended on it, but, thankfully they are few in numbers and easy to spot a mile away, those, I just ignore and stay away from..........

David

[REAL 1]

Sal is correct and accurate in his statements. I second them and in fact that has been what I've always said.

Moreover just for clarification on the poll choices the author of the poll should correct the choices as both SAAC and Team Shelby consider the Continuatin Series as REAL/genuine Cobras.

We all know how to have a good time at SAAC and I do every time I go. Unfortunately the REAL issue here is those that knock Shelby cars as "replicas" when they are genuine/REAL Shelby Cobras even if not of the original series. I don't see it as "elitist" because a Continuatin owner considers or refers to his Cobra as a REAL Cobra.

Some guys (not me) get satisfaction out of knocking what others have. There will always be guys like that unfortunately. We know who they are. Those guys need to tell Team Shelby that their first magazine contains a number of mistakes like the article referring the the Continuation Series as the "REAL" deal and their ads referring the them as such and that such statements are "elitist".

Maybe those guys can inform Amy right here to publish corrections in the next issue.

BTW I do not necessarily agree with Shelby not renewing SAAC's license to use the Cobra mark etc..I think this was wrong in light of all SAAC has done.