shelby

Carroll Shelby's death made me remember reading books as a kid about the early Shelby Mustangs and development of the Cobra. I know that sounds cliche, as a lot of American boys probably idolized the Cobra as being "the" sports car to own some day; and some of them probably grew up to be pompous, ego driven males that ramble on about American muscle cars and such. BUT, I REALLY was interested in the Cobra as a kid and specifally the development of it. 

My cousin, John, loaned me several books on the topic and I really loved reading about the early 260 V8 and later 289 engined, AC bodied Cobra (never was a fan of the 427 monsters) and how Carroll Shelby took on Enzo Ferarri and his cars (and beat them). I always loved reading about them building the first car and then painting it a new color in between taking it to different magazine test sessions and it would appear that they had several cars built. Not to mention there's just something cool about taking an engine from something else and putting it into a different car, and building everything else to make it all work together, and blowing the doors off the competition. As my friends know, I always love a good "underdog" story and cool conversion.