Friday the 13th, February 2004: Shelby's Cobra dealers, about 30 of them, are gathered at the Shelby Automobiles production facility just outside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. SAAC Does Vegas-8, with a Saturday open track and a Sunday car show at Shelby's facility, takes place this weekend. Carroll Shelby is on the grounds. Excitement charges the air. The weekend is special.
I walk inside the building and find myself in a showroom filled with various Cobras and Shelby Mustangs. Shelby's office, within this large room, is enclosed by glass. I can see him through the blinds, sitting in a chair at the end of a long boardroom table. Dressed in black slacks and a black sport coat, he looks corporate holding a cell phone, which he answers on and off. Evidently, deals are going down. After one false entrance (oops, not yet), we wait until Shelby is off the phone to walk inside.
"When did you leave Pampa?" Shelby asks immediately.
"Five this morning.""Who'd you fly?""Southwest.""You fly out of Amarillo?""Yeah.""You don't get a good airfare out of those little towns, do you?"
Shelby always surprises me. He had probably been on his cell phone doing a deal with Ford, his dealers are packed outside, his plate is full, and he's wondering what time I had to get up in the morning and if I got a good airfare.
Brent Fenimor steps in and interjects, "They want you to make a presentation." The vice president of Shelby Automobiles refers to the Cobra dealers who are listening to Scott Black lead a sales meeting. Apparently, selling Cobras requires a sales strategy.
"OK, just let me know when. I'll do it."
Obviously, Shelby has more than one iron in the fire. Today, we happen to be one of his irons, hopeful of a magazine photo shoot and an interview. Carroll has always been friendly to the press.
"I want to take care of Jerry," Shelby says decisively to Brent. Some way, he will fit us into his schedule. We'll get the photo done. But the interview is out for this minute.
I hand Shelby a list of our questions. He reads out loud, "A lot of people don't consider the GT500E and GT350SR real Shelbys. Well, nobody ever said they were real Shelbys."
He stops again and looks down the list of questions. His mood changes in an instant from corporate to kid. He lets out a whimsical laugh.
This interview, tense at first, is shaping up to be fun. Carroll Shelby is fearless. You think he's upset. He's intense. Attending to the corporate side of business is a necessary evil to doing what really makes him happy: building cars. Our interview focuses on the cars and winds up with a message from Shelby straight to our readers, the people who collect the Shelby Mustangs and Cobras and who come to the conventions and car shows to seek his autograph. There's certainly not enough of Shelby to go around, but nobody should ever think he doesn't care.
"These are the people I love," Shelby told us.
He came to the SAAC Does Vegas-8 open track the next morning. Cobras and Shelby Mustangs were angle parked in front of his big Shelby tractor-trailer rig. Cars were in and out, going to and from track sessions. Take a look at our lead photo. This is a for-real shot, nothing fake here. Racing is what Shelby cars are about.
A few days later, Shelby got out the questions we'd printed and the fun began. Our first question was the one he started reading in his office. This time, we read it. "A lot of people don't consider the GT500E and GT350SR real Shelbys, even though...."
Shelby had been thinking about his answer for days and set the record straight before we could finish the question.
"Well, they're not supposed to be. I licensed the people to make them. I licensed the people to put my name on them. And nobody is trying to say they are original GT350s and 500s. Of course, they are genuine Shelby products-that's why they get a Shelby VIN. But people can't confuse them with the cars we built 40 years ago."