[sdac_guy]

To be a little more specific about the Dodge cars and CS involvement.

In the very early 80's when CS was approached by Lee Iacocca, the Chrysler Shelby Performance Center was established in Sante Fe Springs California. The purpose was to develop performance pacakges (engine & handling) for the fledgeling line of Dodge fwd cars. As stated earlier in this thread, the first two cars to get the CS touch, while produced on the Dodge assembly line, were the Shelby Charger and the GLH Omni. Other cars would also get special packages that were engineered by Shelby in the future, including the Daytona Shelby Z, and the Daytona CS models.

In 1986 another step was taken. CS opened the Whittier California production facility under the corporate name Shelby Automobiles. The first car to come from there was the 1986 Shelby GLH-S. It started life as a Dodge Omni GLH Turbo, and was then shipped to Shelby Automobiles where the engine and suspension were upgraded, and special graphics packages and interior touches were applied.

There were 500 GLH-S models made by Shelby Automobiles in 1986 each had it's own numbered CS signature dash plaque. The sticker on the inside of the drivers door jamb listed Shelby Automobiles as the manufacturer, as did the MSO's that tracked each car's production. The cars were then sold by select Dodge dealers across the country. In many states, the cars were originally titled as being of Shelby make, not Dodge, and many of them are still titled as Shelby today.

In 1987 there were 3 vehicles that Shelby Automobiles produced, the Shelby Charger GLH-S, the Shelby CSX, and the Shelby Lancer.

In 1988 only one model was produced, the Shelby CSX-T, and essentially the entire production run was sold to Thrifty Rental Cars, in a pre-arranged deal. These cars had only cosmetic & graphics packages installed with no engine or suspension modifications made. In 1989 we saw the last two models to leave the Whittier facility, the Shelby CSX-VNT, and the Shelby Dakota.

All of the cars produced at Shelby Automobiles during the last 3 years followed the same pattern established with the 1986 GLHS in documentation regarding manufacturer status.

Dodge continued to produce cars on it's own assembly lines at the time with the Shelby name and packages, mainly in the Daytona line, but some items did make it into other models also (Shadow competition series, etc).