A legend shares his passion

[rshelby]

A legend shares his passion
THOMAS DIMOPOULOS , The Saratogian
01/20/2005
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Among car enthusiasts, he is a living legend. To the general public, his name may be something of a mystery. The achievements of Carroll Shelby, however, lie in the revving of engines between the coolest of cars and the fastest races.

On a cold and snowy Wednesday night, Shelby charmed 400 automobile enthusiasts at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, many of whom came armed with cameras to record the evening. They paid $50 apiece to hear Shelby reminisce about his career as a race car driver, and as a builder of some of the racing world's most memorable cars.

The man who has spent the past half-century in the race car industry came to town by airplane. The method of travel is not as strange as it sounds.

'Ever since I was three years old, there have been three things I cared about: airplanes, automobiles and locomotives,' said Shelby, who celebrated his 82nd birthday last week. The museum's galleries showcased some of the more popular cars with which Shelby has been associated.

A white 1964 Ford Shelby Mustang sat along one wall, a bright red 1966 Sunbeam Tiger sat across the room on another. Next to it were a bright yellow 1967 Ford and a 1966 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe -- one of six of its kind in the world -- and with an unusual history.

'That car there,' Shelby said, 'I sold to a nut case named Phil Spector.' He described how Spector, a renowned record producer in the 1960s, got so many speeding tickets driving the sleek and sharp-looking car that he eventually had to sell it to an associate, who gave it to his daughter, after which it was stored away in a garage. It remained hidden for decades. The value today is $4 million.

Moderating Shelby's discussion were Brock Yates, editor-at-large for Car and Driver Magazine, and Ken Gross, whose duties as auto editor have graced the inside pages of Playboy Magazine for 16 years.

Shelby served as a flight instructor and test pilot during World War II. He returned home to Texas and began a series of unfortunate ventures as a dump truck entrepreneur, an oilfield roughneck and a chicken farmer until turning his passionate racing hobby into a successful career as a driver in the 1950s. Health reasons forced Shelby to retire from driving and the renaissance man of the automotive industry was born.

'My real ambition was to build my own race car,' he told the crowd at the museum, and set clear goals to beat the competition.

'All I wanted to do was to beat the Corvette. And we did that. After that, we wondered: Could we beat a Ferrari next?' Shelby did that one too, creating the Shelby Cobra and Shelby Mustangs, achievements that made him a household name as a manufacturer both of racing and road cars in the 1960s. By the 1990s, Shelby had amassed numerous car industry honors, awards, and had been inducted into a number of halls of fame.

The exhibition 'Carroll Shelby: The Ford Connection,' will be on display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, located in the Saratoga Spa State Park, through March 13.
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