Shelby little involvement in creating the Cobra

[Historybuff]

While the general thrust of the remarks so far seem to be either crediting Shelby for his inspiration of using an American engine in a foreign car or minimizing his contribution, I believe , after talking to several people who were around in the '60s, that while it was true it was not Shelby's idea alone to put an American small block engine in a European car, the thing that made his idea "jel" was that he not only was offering a car but himself along with it as as a promotable personality. It's the same thing as Roush today. Jack Roush is not as slick a salesman, and probably a frumpy dresser, so he didn't get the contract to build Ford GTs and Saleen did though Roush had many more facilities and at least 20 Ford contracts already at the time. Saleen was the more promotable personality at the time. Car companies not only choose products to promote but often personalities to tie in with the products and Shelby, with his LeMans win behind him, cowboy ten gallon hat, Texas twang , etc. etc. was far more promotable than all the guys who installed V8s in foreign cars before him. And Shelby did dutifully man the booth at the New York Auto Show where they premiered the Cobra, and many other booths besides..and is still doing it several decades later. So while it's true he received Cobras ready-made except for engine and trans from the UK, without his charisma and personality, Ford wouldn't have written him the check to get the ball rolling.

As far as comparisons with Cunningham, Cunningham never had the drive to keep competing with his cars at LeMans, where Shelby did, and it was the racing successes of the Cobra that built the reputation of the marque. I knew Briggs Cunningham but consider his car activities to have been more of a rich man's hobby. I never met Reventlow but I don't think he was ever interested in production street models, so to say Cunningham and Reventlow failed while Shelby succeeded isn't quite accurate. Cunningham made street models but they were biased toward luxury, more so than the Cobras, and Reventlow was only concerned with the next race car. It was when his F1 car was a complete flop that he yielded to the writing on the wall that he wasn't cut out to be an automaker.

I agree with Mr. Legate, that to characterize AC as a company with no money at the time Shelby approached them is wrong; they were not about to go broke and it has come out since that they still had about 100 Bristol engines in stock, enough to probably last them a year or two. It's just that Shelby was bringing the promise of working with a legendary American automaker with him.

Later on it seems they regretted giving the Texan so much rope, so they he got more publicity than they did but the fact is that they weren't doing that much with the AC roadster and it would be but a mere footnote in history if it wasn't for the Texan