RIP Carroll Shelby

My brother-in-law has restored several Shelby cars where he works. I used to have a picture of myself in one of them (can't remember what year) that sold for $800K. He took me for a ride in it, and I have to admit, it was quite awesome.

 

Hate to threadjack, but man is C&D infuriating. One month it's a cover-to-cover hoot, the next month it's full of engineering mumbo jumbo, car tests no one cares about, and yet another BMW comparo win.

 

I never understood why Ford stuck the Cobra monicker on the Mustang.

Why didn't they just continue to make the Cobra. It's a timeless design right there with the 911.

 

The Cobra never belonged entirely to Ford. Detroit furnished the engines, but it was built by AC, a British company. Much cheaper to develop the Shelby line of Mustangs in the mid-60s.

Parallel to which was a huge replicar market for the original 289/427 Cobra - including one sold by Shelby himself.

I think Ford's one real stab at a retro-supercar was the GT40.

 

You think they're BMW endorsers ... others have said the same regarding the publication and Honda. And both tend to originate from Big Three fans who think no vehicle worth anything has ever been made outside the Continental 48.

Letters to the Editor are almost worth it - between the Big Three sorts barking about bias, the folks trying too hard to compare apples to oranges and the occasional MOFW Dept., it's usually hilarious - and the monthly columns are usually good. Losing David E. Davis (RIP) was a blow, but it instantly endeared me to Eddie Alterman when he followed Csaba Csere.

I could use fewer reviews of SUVs, but that's personal taste. SUVs were a joke when manufacturers tried to turn them from niche vehicles to mainstream, but it was difficult to blame them when the public was willing to pay stupid prices for them. Don't confuse that with "they should review only hot hatches, pocket rockets and hot rods."

 

I'm not the biggest car guy, either, but I know who Carroll Shelby is and have admired the man's work.

 

I had long since forgotten this -- I rediscovered it this evening quite by accident -- but Bill Cosby's classic bit "200 mph" was about Carroll Shelby and the Cobra. The story was that Cosby bumped into Shelby one day and Shelby got all over him for driving a foreign car (a Ferrari, I believe). When Cosby said it was because no American car was fast enough, Shelby promised to deliver a Cobra that would hit 200.

Only Cos can tell the rest:

 

If I remember correctly, Bill Cosby said that car scared the holy hell out of him. I've realized in my old age that there is such a thing as too fast.

 

Indeed. The routine's final punch line is: "Take the keys and this car -- it's all paid for -- and you give it to George Wallace."