[bitzman]

What made the SAAC club unique for the first 20 years or so was the fact that the club had a keen interest in history and sent interviewers to interview
former Shelby employees, and executives who knew what questions to ask and they got good answers which increased enjoyment of the marque.

When the magazine became more infrequent in its publication, that lessened the info flow.

Also I think they could have contacted outside authors, etc. (such as editors of magazines or frequet writers about Shelbys and Cobras ) and asked them for stories or even raw notes of interviews or interview tapes which the club could run verbatum (sp/) where in a magazine there's never enough room. For instance, Matt Stone drove the first Cobra ever and ran a story in Motor Trend Classic but there was probably a lot of extra material that couldn't fit in the magazine he would probably have been happy to contribute.

Having the former managers, execs and racers speak at conventions was great too.

Unfortunately the original Shelby managers, execs, racers and mechanics got older--as did we all- and not nearly so many were available for interviews and/or speeches, so that is what makes the early days so memorable. I have been in a lot of clubs (Ferrari club, etc.) where you never get to meet the movers and shakers that made the company great because they are all over in Italy.

Not to say that there isn't lots of stuff happening right now with the Shelby marque and let's hope either the new club (which to my knowledge hasn't yet said if there will be a second issue of SHELBY magazine) or the old still existant club does some interviews because history is happening all over again with the new products which, whil not being contested on the world racing stage like the old cars were, is nonetheless of interest to many.

I can also see two clubs--one dealing with the original Shelby cars and one dealing with the new generation--but I just hope the editorial standard of any new publication(s) comes up to the good q & A interview standard of the early Marque magazines.