Motor Trend Article About Carroll Shelby

[2FAST4U]

August 2012
Carroll Shelby In His Own Words
By Gary Witzenburg

Biggest Mistakes "The biggest blunder I ever pulled as far as the Cobra is concerned is not jumping on these replica car guys very early. I asked them to give my children's foundation $1,000 a car, since I had a heart transplant and kidney transplant, and they told me to go f*** myself. All of them, the whole bunch of them. So that was my biggest mistake. But when you're dealing with people not smart enough to build their own cars, they're going to steal from you."

Interesting comment, don't you think?

[Steven K]

Very interesting. It shows a side of the man most people, myself included, would prefer not to see.

[NAGA]

The biggest blunder he pulled was in not providing the market what it wanted. He could easily have produced the FFR kit himself.

The niche was there and he missed it and then he wanted to blame and sue the entrepreneurs who filled it.

Would I have wanted a genuine Shelby kit or a Fiberfab, Street Beast, et al? Easy choice if he had given it to me to make.

d

[Stinson Pilot]

Originally Posted by 2FAST4U

But when you're dealing with people not smart enough to build their own cars, they're going to steal from you.

Didn't he just take someone elses car and put a bigger engine in it? How is that building a car.

I personally think we do way more to build a car than he did with the originals.

Still, he started this love we all have for the car. Too bad he didn't choose to embrace us.

[Zulu]

He only wanted a slice when it became very succesful, for over 20 years people had done Cobra kits, he paid no attention back then.

[Steven K]

Originally Posted by Stinson Pilot

Still, he started this love we all have for the car. Too bad he didn't choose to embrace us.

I agree. I am not sure what motivated him to be an A hole. If I was him I would have been flattered and happy that the car I loved would live on forever.

[Idoxlr8]

Having just returned from the Monterey historics I was amazed at how well the replica guy's were received at the event.

They had a corral in a parking lot at the end of the track and there was pretty much every replica represented. I would guess over 300 cars total.

On Saturday they let all participate in a tribute lap to Shelby, originals and replicas alike. I'm thinking this would have never happened if Shelby was still alive, in fact he may be spinning in his grave as we speak.

Dean

[Thomas W]

I was given the magazine and read that article today. That comment by him struck me in a very negative way. They happen to mention that he sued FFR for the 2nd time. They failed to mention that he lost, on both lawsuits, for very valid reasons. I'll refrain from saying more out of respect for the dead.

[tirod]

Shelby was an ingenious entrepreneur, and a great racer. He wasn't a pragmatic businessman.

The writing was on the wall already - the FIA was changing, no organization keeps the same rules going on to perpetuate one make. The GT championship was no longer Ferrari's, and the rules would be rearranged to suit.

The point was that it was a niche market, and once Ford pulled the plug on major support, it was going to have to run on it's own gas - buyer support. Buyer's weren't supporting Shelby - look how long it took to sell the 427's. They scared people. Bill Cosby's comedy routine was indicative - give the thing to a racist politician and let him commit suicide with it, regular guys should be smart enough to know better than to own one.

It had no top, no roll up windows, was too loud, too small, and didn't get much respect on the road from police, either. Had the organization been looking forward to what they needed to sell in 1970, the roadster wouldn't have been bloated to a big block monstrosity, the Coupe would have been in production, and a +2 with a jump seat offered.

Nothing about the organization looked, smelled, or even attempted to have a long term continuity on the market. It was a flash in the pan that Henry Ford used to market his vehicles. He got great publicity, and a 1-2-3 win at LeMans, with HIS cars.

Mr. Shelby got what he wanted out of it, made the decisions, and lived with the consequences, intentional or not. We all do. American industry does not let good ideas go unrewarded - they copy them, and then sell alternative versions. Don't even think there really is any sort of proprietary intellectual laws that protect innovative products. You either have patents and a copyright you can persue in court, or you don't have squat.

All said and done, Shelby did some unique things, and full credit to him, but the courts laid out the final verdict, no one owed him anything but the credit for being the first. How he managed it after that is entirely on him - you either keep selling to the buyers, or go out of business.

He went out of business. The last original Shelby sold in 1968. Decades later, he could at least sell his own replica. He owes the kit car industry as a whole thanks for sustaining interest in what would have been a very rare and limited production motorcar, a footnote in the racing wars of the '60s.

[2FAST4U]

Originally Posted by tirod

Shelby was an ingenious entrepreneur, and a great racer. He wasn't a pragmatic businessman.

The writing was on the wall already - the FIA was changing, no organization keeps the same rules going on to perpetuate one make. The GT championship was no longer Ferrari's, and the rules would be rearranged to suit.

The point was that it was a niche market, and once Ford pulled the plug on major support, it was going to have to run on it's own gas - buyer support. Buyer's weren't supporting Shelby - look how long it took to sell the 427's. They scared people. Bill Cosby's comedy routine was indicative - give the thing to a racist politician and let him commit suicide with it, regular guys should be smart enough to know better than to own one.

It had no top, no roll up windows, was too loud, too small, and didn't get much respect on the road from police, either. Had the organization been looking forward to what they needed to sell in 1970, the roadster wouldn't have been bloated to a big block monstrosity, the Coupe would have been in production, and a +2 with a jump seat offered.

Nothing about the organization looked, smelled, or even attempted to have a long term continuity on the market. It was a flash in the pan that Henry Ford used to market his vehicles. He got great publicity, and a 1-2-3 win at LeMans, with HIS cars.

Mr. Shelby got what he wanted out of it, made the decisions, and lived with the consequences, intentional or not. We all do. American industry does not let good ideas go unrewarded - they copy them, and then sell alternative versions. Don't even think there really is any sort of proprietary intellectual laws that protect innovative products. You either have patents and a copyright you can pursue in court, or you don't have squat.

All said and done, Shelby did some unique things, and full credit to him, but the courts laid out the final verdict, no one owed him anything but the credit for being the first. How he managed it after that is entirely on him - you either keep selling to the buyers, or go out of business.

He went out of business. The last original Shelby sold in 1968. Decades later, he could at least sell his own replica. He owes the kit car industry as a whole thanks for sustaining interest in what would have been a very rare and limited production motorcar, a footnote in the racing wars of the '60s.

Very well stated!

[Mike D]

You mean the children's charity that gave almost no money to children? And didn't he want 10K a car at one point?

For all his accomplishments his one major flaw was that he believed every line of BS that came out of his mouth.

[2FAST4U]

Yes, I recall the $10K figure when I purchased my Roadster back in 2001

[Scalded Dog]

Shelby was selling a reproduction in the late 90's fully turnkey and ready to go for about $90K. I believe the Feds made him stop and sell without the motors because they didn't have the correct bumpers and some other safety features? I know I looked into buying one at the time, I was going to liquidate my Worldcom stock to pay cash, but my broker talked me out of it. That right there was the single biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I wonder what that would have been worth today?

[Thomas W]

Originally Posted by Mike D

You mean the children's charity that gave almost no money to children? And didn't he want 10K a car at one point?

For all his accomplishments his one major flaw was that he believed every line of BS that came out of his mouth.

Exactly.

[NiceGuyEddie]

if he "jumped on the replica guys early", what could have happened? my understanding of the lawsuit outcome(s) was that he could not sue for copyright infringement because he didn't have one.

[2FAST4U]

Originally Posted by NiceGuyEddie

if he "jumped on the replica guys early", what could have happened? my understanding of the lawsuit outcome(s) was that he could not sue for copyright infringement because he didn't have one.

If he had gone after the replica companies early on, there is a chance he might have succeeded. But he waited 20 years to start litigating. By that time the shape had been in the public domain a long time. And that cost him.

[Rich A]

Did he even get his hands dirty on the design/build of the 427, Coupe or GT 40 Or did he just take credit for everything because his name was on it.

IMO as of May 2012 there shouldn't be anymore Shelbys added to the registry. The End.

[2FAST4U]

Originally Posted by Rich A

Did he even get his hands dirty on the design/build of the 427, Coupe or GT 40 Or did he just take credit for everything because his name was on it.

IMO as of May 2012 there shouldn't be anymore Shelbys added to the registry. The End.

He didn't design anything. He surrounded himself with very talented people.

[NiceGuyEddie]

very good point, bill. in all the documentaries and interviews i've seen, at the most, he had a vision and a "do it" attitude towards his engineers and mechanics.

he was a great driver, but it is still safe to assume he designed nothing.

.

[jolsen42]

Did you know that he beat his kids too? After a while it just gets silly. He's dead guys.

John O