Shelby little involvement in creating the Cobra
 

. . . . . . . . Based upon Wikipedia, AC gets 95% of the credit. Seems like o'l Carol had very little to do with it. Who the hell writes this stuff ???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_Cobra


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Anybody who wants to... go make the corrections. :p

Wikipedia is one of the most inaccurate sources of information when it come to historical events.

Corporations pay teams to monitor key points to edit out anything that is not in favor of that corporation.

AND, anyone can write whatever they want.

Go edit it and see how long it lasts.

:D :D :D

ac, ford, shelby
 

C. Shelby marketed the car and raced. The design and manufacturing was ac and ford. Only after kit cars popularized the design did Shelby want to get back into making money off the Cobra. Maybe way too much credit goes to him for the car. The Shelby mustang is a different story as is the series 1 and his efforts to capitalise on his name with Chrysler.

I think this is the guy who wrote the article !!! :p


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It seems that who writes the book makes the history.Roger

I'm not a Shelby nutswinger at all, but wasn't he in the hunt for a small car to dump a V8 into? I thought he had some trial and error getting a car, and then found the AC. Have I got that right?

If so, you'd have to give him respect for the car since he built them at his shop.

E

As with any business there are a multitude of talents that are responsible for the execution of ideas however the top brass gets the rewards.....

I would suggest that CS, purely speculative, was going to use any car he could capitalize on which turned out to be AC. After Chevy turned him down on motors he approached Ford. The Ace was not a Shelby design however he was able to manage a 1950's designed AC car powered by Ford to compete with the best in the world. Did he redesign the 427 S/C from the 289 in an afternoon, probably not. Did he use his designers and mechanics to build a 289 that could support the SO, I presume so. CS made history dealing with a little car company in England on the brink of closure and the corporate giant Ford. He was responsible for funding, the racing teams, and sales and marketing. He is indeed what made them a success and made history as well.

Did he sketch the initial body of CSX3002 out on a cocktail napkin at dinner and then go pound out the aluminum form himself at SAI. Not sure? I can say at my company there is not one man responsible as it is a team effort and I would guess that was true in the 60's with all the credit going to the man = CS. He said himself in an interview he wanted to build 100 cars just to have a shot at racing, he ended up making history.

[quote=1985 CCX; He is indeed what made them a success and made history as well. [/QUOTE]

Bullcrap-the people he hired to design,build it and race it are the ones responsible for the cars success & history.

You can't rewrite history.... like it or not, he made it happen by pulling the right people together and having the vision to see it through.

Nice spin,Ron.But if it weren't for the likes of Miles,Brock & the like,his idea would still be rattling around CS' head accompanied only by the thought of"who can i sue next"?

Not spin, but reality.

Without paychecks and directions from CS...Miles and Brock and Rem, et al, would all be probably successful in their own unrelated endeavors.

...and nobody got sued in the 60's. :p Those were the good times. ;)

Oh good grief, there it is again..."a little car company in England on the brink of closure..."

Wrong! In every sense - just wrong!!!!! That's the kind of re-writing of history that gets me all riled up and gets me dang pacemaker working overtime. It might be fine according to the CS gospel but it has no basis in fact. How can a successful engineering comany, returning heathly annual profits, bouyed up with a very large government contract, be about to go bust??!

AC Cars/Carroll Shelby and Cobra
 

There is so much BS out there about CS and AC that it is incredible that anyone responds to this, let alone keeps the anacronys straight. Read a couple of books by authors that have fact checked items and you will know the truth. but Just a few items from all these posts
1. CS had the idea, started with Cheby engines and some other car (so story goes) and got TD'd
2. Turned to Ford for engines, found AC Cars who needed an engine for a scappy little car, AC Ace
3. Had ROLLERS delivered to CA and powered them with 260's, 289's and then 427/428's.
4. Ford Motor designed the 427 frame and body (which was to be longer in WB than it turned out...some AC issue of tube stock pricing) I don't know as the story goes.
5. CS actually designed, with employees, and did build Coupes, flip top(s), King Cobras total CS production, I guess under 20..could be wrong here.
6.CS was instrumental in Ford wins at LeMans
7. the company soldiered on post CS , switching forms, going in and out of British form of BK and still survives today on paper via AL (Alan whatshisname)
Alli n all great reading, superb stories, tremendous urban legend, great bar discussions...but get the facts..don't just post legends.

Screw the facts :) I want 100% pure, unadulterated, gold-plated legend! It's part and parcel of the Cobra world...

I'll make it real simple..... take Carroll Shelby out of existance, and you have no Cobra.

Pretty simple to me.

Uh-oh. Sal, does that mean that when Shelby goes to meet his maker all of our Cobras will vaporize? That doesn't sound fair.

LOL, not quite what I mean Ned :LOL:. I meant if Carroll never existed, the Cobra wouldn't either. Regardless of other people and companies involved, the Cobra exists because of Carroll.

I think quite a few names could be added to that list...
The Hurlocks, John Tojeiro, Alan Turner, Henry Ford II, Holman and Moody, Enzo Ferrari, Don Sullivan, Dean Moon, etc.

I disagree, Tom. While those people were involved with what actually became the Cobra as we know it, without Carroll's idea, there is no car. Without those people, Carroll just finds someone else to make his dream come true. His idea was American V8 in a well handling roadster. It wasn't Ford V8 in an AC Ace. That's just were the idea wound up.

It still comes down to no Carroll = no Cobra. There is no one other person involved that the same could be said for.