Carroll Shelby Tribute thread. Be a part of it.

[Brent Mills]

I have been thinking of doing this for quite some time and finally figured it was time to just get it started. I've always wanted to say thanks to the man but never really had the avenue to do so...Figured this would be a good way of doing it. Hope you enjoy participating and reading what others think as well. Enjoy!

Carroll Shelby tribute thread rules of engagement:

In general, this is a thread to share all the reasons you decided to buy an original Cobra, a continuation, a replica, or build one from scratch (hey you Shelby Mustang folks should jump in too). It’s a place to share with Carroll what he and his crew have done to inspire you, to influence you, to entertain you over the years. Its just a plain good way to show your love for a man who has brought a lot of good times and entertainment to our lives.

The rules:

• This is a tribute to Carroll. If you for some reason can't be positive, keep it to yourself.
• One post per member (DO NOT REPLY TO OTHERS). Make your post and if you want to add anything, just edit your post. Replies to others will be deleted.

[Brent Mills]

Carroll, the dream for me started way back in 1986 or thereabouts as a sophomore in high school. If there was ever a car that could get the mind to drift in class, well, the Cobra was definitely it…Quite possibly I am happier today for having spent that time daydreaming about your cars, but I may not be as smart.

I/we cherish the historical importance you and your crew have meant to the auto racing world and probably more importantly what you have meant to the general car enthusiast. For various reasons we regular folks have been attracted to your creations since you began to import AC's and modify to meet your needs as a race team. The look….The sound….The track performance on the street….championships…beating Ferrari…beating the Corvettes….The great drivers….the designers….the wrenchers….the craftsmanship….and of course you, Carroll. It all attracted us to your creations. Ultimately, I have met many many people I wouldn’t have otherwise if I had never known about you and the Shelby cars. That reward alone is priceless and I hope you feel the same way…yeah, you run a business, but the rewards of the friendships you have earned along the way and all of those enthusiasts out there today who admire what you have done…well, you must feel good about that.

Oh, and every day I turn the key and hear that engine start rumbling, it puts a smile on my face and makes my day. Thank you for all that Carroll.

[ROUSHAC]

I first saw a Shelby Cobra in 1967 in Ithaca, NY.

I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was stopped for a redlight, and standing there, I could almost feel my jaw hit the ground as the driver accelerated away rather vigorously.

The sight and the sound was unbelievable. I knew then that someday I HAD to have one of those cars. But with family and other commitments, it took me another 39 years to somewhat make my dream come true. I, unfortunately, could not afford an original Shelby then or now, but my Backdraft Cobra at least affords me a reasonable link to visceral thrill of the cars that are a legend in so many minds even today.

Thank you Carroll Shelby for creating a true automotive masterpiece that will live forever in the minds and hearts of auto enthusiast everywhere.

Cheers!
David Pilacky

[PDUB]

I clearly remember the HO-scale Tyco Pro 427 Cobra slotcar that started it all for me back around 1970-71. It has long gone to rest somewhere, but as little as it was, it was the seed that started the passion for me. So many of us are grateful for the pioneering work done by Carroll with his dedicated and talented crew to deliver such a winning piece of automobile history.

I, too, am unable to attain an original or continuation, so I am pleased that there are tribute cars available so that the dream can remain alive and someday I might be able to participate in it.

Thanks for the incredible icon.

[d_ford]

I was an impressionable young lad in 1968 when I saw my first GT500. I never forgot that car. I've owned two GT500's, a 1969 and my favorite, a 1967 which I had to sell due to divorce in 2001. With the prices the way they are on these cars now I know I'll probably never own another one but my ERA 427 replica gets me as close as I can. I hope someday to be able to afford a continuation CSX but until that time my ERA will keep my dream alive. Thanks Carroll, you've inspired more people than you could ever realize.
Doug Ford

[decooney]

For Carroll to have actually driven and won at Lemans in the Aston Martin DBR1 and to come back again to help Ford/Americans to win at Lemans in the major leagues of international sports car racing during the 60s - is truly something.

Knowing this, learning, and experiencing the legacy of the original Cobra, Coupes, GT40s is what inspired me to create a social gathering to celebrate these great cars and their history. You've inspired a lot of people in this world Carroll.

[427SnakeSC]

Carroll, I just wanted to thank you for starting a dream for me when I was a kid. I can remember my brother in law telling me about Cobra's when I was young. I was a Corvette kid then, didn't think anything could touch them. After my brother in law told me about the Cobra, I started getting pictures of them from car mags. I still remember the first pic I got. It was a red one, with a kinda surfer guy driving it. I just thought it was the coolest car ever! I lusted after them from that point on. Over the years I collected every book or magazine article on them. I researched everything I could find out about them! In Canada, we don't see them too often. Back then, never! I remember seeing the first replica. It was at Mosport and the Aurora factory was there promoting theirs. I looked at them, but they just didn't do it for me. I had promised myself that someday, I would own a real one. I remember seeing one in a parking lot near my home years later. It was nice, but I was still hoping to get the real thing. The years passed and the value of your creation escalated! I soon came to the realisation I would never own a real one. Then one year, I was reading an article in Playboy (doesn't everyone) and I saw that you were building them again. This rekindled my hope and dream. Through some poor investments and a marriage gone south, that dream slowly vapourised, too! It wasn't till many years later, I met the woman of my dreams! She was beautiful and an Asian! She found out about my dream and bought me a replica! I was so blown away, I found it hard to believe and deal with! I was in heaven! About a year after that, I started to talk about replacing the SB with a BB and trying to make it more "correct". My sweety, ever the business mind, told me "Why don't you order a real Shelby?" Sometimes I think she regrets that suggestion. It has rekindled my dream and my seach for everything I can find out about your car. So that is where my story ends, I have ordered one of your CSX. This CSX 4*** will be speced out as close to an original 66 SC as I can make it. I like to think that it is a tribute to you, that I am building it just as you built it back in 1966! It is proving to be a long wait, but I am sure it will be well worth it! Just wanted to say thanks!

[rdorman]

I was a big Mustang fan when I was young and the pinicle of Mustangs where of course the Shelby's (still want a '65 GT350R, my favorite). One thing leads to another and here I am, a Cobra owner

[Snakebit]

First saw a white 289 Cobra in 1965. It was in the auto boby shop I was working at during the summer (thanks Dad for getting me the job). The guys were poking fun about not having roll up windows and the sparce interior. "Not much to it, but I herd it goes like a bat out of hell".

I owned various Muscle cars during the 70's, went into the Navy for 4 years, and finished college in Santa Barbars CA. One of the students had a Triumph TR4. One ride and I was hooked on sports cars. Moved back to NJ bought a TR4 and restored it, it was a blast to drive. Then marriage, kids, and a home and a guy pulls out in front of me, from a stop sign, and totals my TR4.

24 years later, the kids are all out of the house and I get the itch. I'm at the magazine stand and pick up a copy of Kit Car Magazine. I can get a Cobra replica! A sports car with American Muscle! SOLD! I now have an ERA 289FIA under construction in the garage. Its like restoring a work of art.

Thank you for creating a legend and making racing history. Also, thanks to all the replica manufacturers for keeping the legend alive and making it possible for the average person to own a COBRA!

[marcocsx3121]

Being a stone car nut from high school on (class of 1957!), I knew all about Cobras from the first magazine test. My god, 0-60 in 4.2 seconds at a time when the quickest 'Vettes were in the high 6s! In spite of later learning that that particular 260 engine was a ringer, I was hooked.

The first Cobra that I saw in the flesh was a green 289 roadster that was parked in front of the BOQ (bachelor officers' quarters for you civilian types) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It turned out that this particular car belonged to lieutenant Doug Champlin, of the Oklahoma oil Champlins. Later that year in the semi-organized drag races that were held at Ramstein air base, Doug and his Cobra soundly trounced all comers. The hook was set even deeper.

Fast forward to 1969: one divorce and a Sunbeam Tiger later, a 427 Cobra showed up for sale in the New York Times. Buying that car was the first joint decision that my new lady friend and I made. CSX 3121 is long gone, but that lady and I just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversay.

Thanks Carroll for providing one of the more enjoyable adventures of my life.

[Power Surge]

Like most people, the Cobra dream started for me at an early age. I was always a car person, and in my childhood years I was not loyal to any brand, as I didn't even know what brands were back then. I just liked cool looking cars. As I entered my teens, I became a tried and true Ford nut, and the 427 Cobra SC was the top of the list of dream cars. In my teen years I had many posters, articles cut of of magazines, and other Cobra related items hung on my bedroom walls, with dreams of owning one of these awesome cars.

Fast forward to today. I am 33 and own a performance Ford shop and dyno tuning center. I've owned over 60 Fords since I was 15 years old. A few years back, I realized that I COULD finally get into a Cobra replica. I went out and purchased a kit. I realized that even though it was a great product, it would still leave me yearning for the real thing. So now I own CSX4241, which I have been taking painstaking measures to turn into an accurate recreation of an original car. That in itself, is a big challenge, considering how many differences there were between the original cars, but that also makes it more fun.

The Cobra is the greatest icon in automotive history, bar none. There is no other car, that was made in such small numbers, that has such a huge following 40 years later. Dozens and dozens of companies have replicated the Cobra over the years, which is a great testiment to how much demand there is for people to live their dreams. And the car itself is timeless. The lines are still as sexy today as they were 40 years ago. And the bare bones 40 year old race technology, still keeps the Cobra up to speed with all but the most exotic or high dollar speed machines today.

Carroll Shelby is the man who made this all happen. While there were many others involved in the creation and building of the car, without Carroll, there was no Cobra.

So I thank you Carroll, for giving the world such a masterpiece of automotive history.

Oh, and those Cobra posters I had hangning on my walls as a teen 20 years ago? They are hanging in my office here at my shop. I kept them all these years, and they were my incentive to obtain my dream.

[Steve Cassani]

Early in 1966 I rode in one of the first 427 street cars sold in California. Until this time I thought engineering was about bridges, skyscrapers and roads, things we use passively. Riding in a Cobra made me realize that good, hard thinking also leads to results that challenge a cars driver as they did its designer. This challenge is in the design and it showed me that the work engineers do is not limited to the examples I was familiar with. Thanks Shel. I'm enjoying the ride of a lifetime and now I know how and why the ride is possible.

[55312]

In 1966 I was going through the FoMoCo apprentiship program in upstate NY. The dealership I worked for was owned by a fellow whose family was drenched in cash and one of the nephews showed up with a COB right hand drive FIA. He'd driven the car from San Diego and the fan died somewhere outside of Phoenix. Underterred, he drove on and pulled into the shop with it sounding like an old John Deere 2 cylinder. Parts were rare for these things in that time so while we waited on a new fan, we rolled it on to the wash rack and adjusted the lifters one cylinder at a time, then button it up, hose it down and start the next cylinder. It took the better part of a day to get the engine running right! As a reward for the hassle of doing this, I was offered a "test ride" - being too young (I was 16) to be allowed in the drivers seat. That ride will always be in my mind! I couldn't lift my back off the seat until we hit 4th gear. I was hooked. After a series of sports cars (Sprites, TR3s etc) and a few Ford street machines one of which was a 55 2 door custom with a 312 in it - hence my moniker, I navigated the kids in college mine field and set out to get my own Cobra. All I can say is Carrol Shelby put this thing on the map and having met him last year at Limerock, he seems the consumate gentleman. Thanks for all of the smiles I get everytime I drive this beast!

BTW - I found that old COB on the registry and it now lives in California with a left hand steering set up installed!

Tim

[Thieleng]

A long time ago I had the opportunity to meet Carrol Shelby while attending the 7th grade in Las Vegas. During "career day" I listed that I wanted to be, a race car driver, to my recollection I was the only one out of the junior high to do this. To my surprise Mr. Shelby attended the career day and took the time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his experiences as well as giving me a ride in his aluminum bodied cobra (this looks like the same car that is in the Shelby museum in Las Vegas). It was an experience of a life time and left an impression upon me that I still remember vividly today. I always wanted to race and I always wanted to have a cobra. After the kids left and I had some disposable money I bought my SPF and fulfilled a lifelong dream. I have met a lot of nice people and immensly enjoy driving the car and I owe this this to Carrol, and to the memories he created over 40 years ago.

[*13*]

I saw my 1st Cobra when I was about 13 on a friend of the Family's fire place mantle. I went on to say how much I liked Corvettes. Someone corrected me explaining that it was no corvette, it was a cobra. I argued, no it isn't it's a corvette, I know cause my dad has one! Fast forward quite a few years... I pulled into a 76 station to fill up & in pulls a 427 cobra, probably a replica but a fine example if it was. That's when the Obsession started. The sound, the smell & the look of the A/C & Shelby cobra just does something to the senses of any self respecting man that cannot be explained without positively bad words. Thank You Carroll Shelby for turning your dream into a reality & inspiring so many car dorks

[Art Burtt]

Mr. Shelby,
I saw my first Cobra in 1965, a neighbor of mine had bought one for their 17 year old son. I sat in it and said one day I'll have one of these cars. Well, Life and four kids got in the way of my dream. In 1995 I retired and needed something to keep me busy so I bought a replica kit and assembled it in about 6 months. I now drive it to cruise-ins and car shows and any time I feel the need to young again. During the whole process I read a lot of books about you and your cars and have admired you for years. God bless you,thanks for the dreams.

[RACERAL]

Mr. Shelby,
Many thanks go out to you and your many talented staff over the years that have made a icon. Never has such a name sent cold chills up and down so many peoples spine.
Please except the people like me and many others that don't have the means , but love your creation just as much, maybe more, then the owners of the "real ones".
Sir, we honor you with our creations.

[Sharroll Celby]

I was a just-turned teenager in the early 70's, and I remember my friend from down the street came running to my house with a car magazine in his hands, and he was saying "LOOK at this *****IN' car"! Of course it was a 427 Cobra, red with white stripes, and I HAD to agree that it WAS a "*****in'" car, with the classic looks that could only belong to the Cobra.
My first job was at a body shop as a sander/paint-prepper, and one of the other shops in that industrial center was a mechanic who worked on, among regular cars, Panteras and Cobras! So now I could look at Cobras and Panteras, and best of all I could HEAR them as they rumbled in and out of our communal driveway.
Many years pass, and I started going to the Ford Shows at Knotts Berry Farm, and seeing all the original Cobras (which I knew were WAY out of my budget!) and then seeing the fiberglass replicas, which were, at the time, about 1/6 the price of the real original Cobras. The seed was planted.......
In 2002, I was able to sell my first house at a large profit, (due to the red-hot appreciation of the L.A. housing market), and I was able to buy a used 427 Cobra replica in fantastic shape! I finally had my dream car!
I cant describe the feeling when I hit that electric garage door opener, and I can see my Cobra's shape under its' car cover, but I know that it is a GREAT feeling!!! lol !!!
People ask me all the time if I would ever sell the Cobra, and I answer that I could only sell it to buy another Cobra! Thank you, Carroll Shelby!!!

[Jim Barnett]

Being a die hard MOPAR fanatic since 1963, I never really had much interest in "other" brands of muscle cars. Hemi's, Max Wedges, Six Pacs always "did it for me" and I've owned 'em all. 'Cuda's, RR's, GTX's, Challenger's, Charger's, Fury's, SuperBee's can spoil one's perception of what a performance car should be. Of course I was always aware of the legendary Cobra and the MAN behind it, BUT they were (and are) so RARE where I grew up that most never even SAW one. It wasn't intil I moved to San Diego when I joined the Navy in 1968 that I SAW my first REAL Cobra and that wasn't until 1970. It was sitting up on blocks in Coronado and was for sale for $7500!!! Yep, 427SC - all original, $7500 and at the time I HAD THE MONEY but opted to buy my buddy's '70 Cuda 440 4 spd. (told ya I was a MOPAR nut). How I LAMENT that decision NOW!!! My interest in the Cobra actually started several years ago when I watched an episode of American Muscle Car on the Speed Channel. There were all those Replica Cobra owners talking about how much fun it was to own one. Well, I thought I'd check it out for myself and made a trip out to California Cobra and that did it for me. ONE RIDE was all it took and I immediately set out on a quest to find my own Cobra that was in my price range. Fortunately I did find one at a Collector Car dealership in San Diego. It was a Classic Roadster with a SB 302, but geez, it was so beautiful AND quick enough for me. I had the car about four weeks and then HAD to take it back because it was titled as a 1965 Ford in California and that was illegal and the dealership had to refund me my money and get the car out of the state (Republic of Kalifornia). Well, back off I went to see Armond at CC and fortune smiled on me once again as he had gotten in a LA Exotics SB100 Registered Cobra for sale on consignment and he helped me BUY IT. My LAE has a 351C and is WAY FASTER than the CR that I owned and I LOVE IT. Someday IF and WHEN I see the right 6 numbers show up, I'll DEFINATELY buy me a CSX Cobra (real or continuation) to ultimately satisfy my LUST for the car!!! It is, without doubt IMO, the most awesome, "in your face, don't ..ck with me" car that I have ever owned or driven (and I have a '69 426 4 spd. Hemi SuperBee sitting beside my LAE in the garage and it is NO SLOUCH either) I'll end this long saga and post simply by saying IF I knew then what I do now, I'd have bought that original Cobra back in 1970 and still have it to this day!! Mr. Shelby.... you certainly created one GREAT automobile and one GREAT LEGEND!! THANK YOU!!!

[Ron61]

I first saw a Cobra in 1963 at the old Riverside driving school. I was working near there then and tried to buy a 289 for a couple of years, but by the time I could afford one, they had quit making them and I didn't really like the big blocks as I felt they didn't handle as well. Sorry, no intention to start a fight, just an observation. Then other things happend and I can no longer afford an original of any kind, but I followed Shelby's career before the Cobra was born while he was proving to the Europeans that Americians can drive on a road course. Though some of what he has done in the later years may have tarnished his reputation to a degree, I think he will always be the icon for Americian Road Racing and the Cobra will be a car that will never be forgotten.

Ron