Shelby American, Inc. is an American
high performance automobile company founded by driver
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur.
Shelby was involved with the AC Cobra and Ford Mustang, Mustang for Ford Motor Company. With driver Ken Miles, he dev ...
. The Shelby American name has been used by several legally distinct corporations founded by Shelby since his original shop in
Venice, California
Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...
began operation in 1962. The current iteration is a wholly owned
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...
of Carroll Shelby International, Inc. (), a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
formed in 2003.
Carroll Shelby International's other wholly owned subsidiary is Carroll Shelby Licensing, which licenses the name and trademarks associated with Shelby to other companies (including Shelby American).
Shelby American was the first automobile manufacturer in the state of Nevada. Shelby American manufactures component automobiles, including replicas of the small-block and large-block
AC Cobra
The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a List of Ford engines#8 Cylinder, Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the Uni ...
s, the Shelby GT350 and the GT500 Super Snake. Since 2005, Shelby American has released new models each year.
History
Founding
In 1957 racing driver Carroll Shelby opened a sports car dealership in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, with Dick Hall, selling
Maserati
Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...
s across the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
. They raced Maseratis in the
1957 SCCA National Sports Car Championship
The 1957 SCCA National Sports Car Championship season was the seventh season of the Sports Car Club of America's National Sports Car Championship. It began May 19, 1957, and ended November 17, 1957, after fifteen races.
Classes
Schedule
: ...
, while across the Atlantic Brian Lister's
Lister Motor Company
Lister Motor Company Ltd is a British sports car manufacturer founded by Brian Lister in 1954 in Cambridge, England, which became known for its involvement in motorsport. After buying the company in 1986, Laurence Pearce produced variants of th ...
enjoyed racing success after installing a
Jaguar XK engine
The Jaguar XK is an inline 6-cylinder dual overhead camshaft (DOHC) engine produced by Jaguar Cars between 1949 and 1992. Introduced as a 3.4-litre, it earned fame on both the road and track, being produced in five hemispherical head di ...
in his sports cars. Shelby and Hall met Lister in England with the idea of swapping a
Chevrolet small-block engine The Chevrolet small-block engine refers to one of the several Gasoline engine, gasoline-powered vehicle engines manufactured by General Motors. These include:
* The first or second generation of Chevrolet small-block engine (first- and second-gener ...
into the Lister body. They returned to Dallas with six cars, five of which they sold and the sixth they transplanted the Chevrolet engine into, which Hall raced in the SCCA National Championship. This was Shelby's first experience putting an American
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
Origins
The first known V8 was the Antoinette, designed by Léon Levavasseur, a ...
into a British sports car body.
With funding from oil driller and amateur racer Gary Laughlin, in 1959 Hall and Shelby approached
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
with the idea of creating a new sports car using the
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a line of American two-door, two-seater sports cars manufactured and marketed by General Motors under the Chevrolet marque since 1953. Throughout eight generations, indicated sequentially as C1 to C8, the Corvette is not ...
chassis and engine, but with an aluminum body much lighter than the factory-built Corvette, in order to make a competitive sports car for
SCCA
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...
racing. Three cars were delivered and had new bodies designed by
Carrozzeria Scaglietti
Carrozzeria Scaglietti () was an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding company active in the 1950s. It was founded by Sergio Scaglietti in 1951 as an automobile repair concern, but was located across the road from Ferrari in Maranello outsi ...
installed, but after the initial three cars GM executives refused to sell them more
rolling chassis
A rolling chassis is the fully-assembled chassis of a motor vehicle (car, truck, bus, or other vehicle) without its coachwork, bodywork. It is equipped with running gear (engine and drivetrain) and ready for delivery to a coachbuilder to be compl ...
, worried that the
"Scaglietti Corvettes" would compete with GM's own car for sales.
Shelby continued sports cars racing in the late 1950s, competed in
Formula 1
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
for
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...
in 1958 and 1959, won the
1959 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 27th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 20 and 21 June 1959, on Circuit de la Sarthe. It was also the fourth round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. The prospect of an ...
and the
1960 USAC Road Racing Championship
The 1960 USAC Road Racing Championship season was the third season of the USAC Road Racing Championship. It began April 3, 1960, and ended October 23rd, 1960, after five races. Carroll Shelby won the season championship.
Calendar
Season resu ...
, but was forced into retirement following the 1960 season due to his persistent
angina
Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease.
Angina is typically the result of parti ...
caused by a
congenital heart defect
A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly, congenital cardiovascular malformation, and congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. A congenital h ...
.
In 1961 Shelby founded the Shelby School of High Performance Driving at
Riverside International Raceway
Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Riversid ...
near
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, hiring
Pete Brock
Peter Elbert Brock is an American Automotive design, automotive and trailer designer, author and Photojournalism, photojournalist, who is best known for his work on the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe and Corvette Sting Ray.
Early life and educati ...
as a teacher, and obtained a distributorship for
Goodyear tires and
Champion spark plugs. He rented space for these other businesses from
Dean Moon
Dean Moon (May 1, 1927 – June 4, 1987) was an American automobile designer. He grew up in Norwalk, California. Moon was around cars and racing from his youth. His father owned "Moon Café" and had a go-kart track he called "Moonza", a pun on M ...
, at his shop
Santa Fe Springs, California
Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...
.
Shelby contacted several European automakers with the purpose of striking a deal to import their chassis and install an American V8, but he was rebuffed until September 1961, when
AC Cars
AC Cars, originally incorporated as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain. As a result of bad financial conditions over the years, the company was re ...
of Britain replied in the affirmative. After the
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable ...
merged with
English Electric
The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, made munitions, armaments and aeroplanes.
It initially specialised in industrial el ...
and
Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
to form the
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric, English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane ...
, the newly spun-off
Bristol Cars
Bristol Cars was a British manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Bristol, Bristol, England. It was formed from the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the World War II, Second World War and later became indepe ...
ceased production of their six-cylinder engine, which AC had been using in their
Ace
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...
sports car. In need of a new supply of engines they struck a deal with Shelby: they would ship bodies from their shop in
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred south-west of Charing Cross in central London. Thame ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
to Shelby in California for installation of an American V8 engine, if a suitable one could be found. Shelby returned to GM, asking for a supply of Chevrolet V8s, but was refused again for fear a Chevrolet-powered European sports car would compete with the Corvette.
Instead he sought an agreement with
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, who were releasing a new "small-block" V8 engine of their own at the end of the year.
In November 1961 Ford delivered a pair of
"Windsor" V8 engines to Moon's shop, and AC's first body arrived in February 1962. Shelby and Moon installed the V8 engine and a
Borg-Warner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive and e-mobility supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. As of 2023, the company maintains production facilities and sites at 92 locations in 24 countries, and generates revenues of US$14.2 bi ...
T-10 transmission into the AC body,
creating the first of the cars Shelby named "
Cobra
COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...
".
In order to expand production Shelby needed a facility of his own. Coincidentally
Lance Reventlow
Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow, (February 24, 1936 – July 24, 1972) was a British-born American entrepreneur, racing driver and heir to the Woolworth fortune. Reventlow was the only child of heiress Barbara Hutton and her se ...
's lease at his shop in
Venice, Los Angeles
Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...
, where his company built
Scarab racing cars, was expiring. Shelby leased the building at 1042 Princeton Drive in April and founded his new company: Shelby American, Inc.
Phil Remington
Phil Remington (January 22, 1921 – February 9, 2013) was an American motorsports engineer.
Early life
Remington was born in Santa Monica, California and was a pre-engineering student at Santa Monica Junior College. He initially was a component ...
, Scarab's chief engineer, was hired immediately by Shelby to continue working on the Cobra.
Motorsports — Cobra, Daytona and Ford GT40
Shelby American began racing the Cobra in the fall of 1962 with driver Bill Krause entered into the three-hour endurance race at the
Los Angeles Times Grand Prix
The Los Angeles Times Grand Prix was a sports car race held at the Riverside International Raceway. The race was held throughout the track's existence, from 1957 until 1987. The race was sponsored by the ''Los Angeles Times'' to raise money for ...
on October 13. Krause ultimately did not finish, having broken an axle shaft, but the car was very competitive with the then-new
Corvette Sting Ray Z06, which was also making its racing debut.
Cobras dominated the
SCCA
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...
United States Road Racing Championship
The United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) was a Sports Car Club of America series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series in 1962 to recover races that had been taken by rival USAC R ...
in 1963, but the car was less successful in the
FIA World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 t ...
. The Cobra's open-top body simply wasn't aerodynamic enough to allow the car to reach the higher top speeds its
hardtop
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, typically metal, and integral to the vehicle's design, strength, and style. The term typically applies to a pillarless hardtop, a car body style without a B-pillar. The term "pillared hardtop" was ...
coupe
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...
competitors were capable of, particularly the
Ferrari 250 GTO
The Ferrari 250 GTO is a grand tourer produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for Homologation (motorsport), homologation into the FIA's Group 3 (racing), Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's Ferrari Colombo engine#250, ...
. For the 1964 season Shelby had Pete Brock design a new aerodynamic body for the Cobra chassis, which would make the car capable of speeds over 190 mph. The new car became known as the "
Daytona
Daytona may refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach, Florida
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach
Motor racing
* Dayto ...
", named for
its inaugural race at the Daytona International Speedway. Only one Daytona coupe was completed at Shelby American; the other five cars prepared for the 1964 World Sportscar Championship had their bodywork completed at Carrozzeria Gransport in
Modena
Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025.
A town, and seat of an archbis ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
Driven by
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of motorspo ...
and
Bob Bondurant
Robert Lewis Bondurant (April 27, 1933 – November 12, 2021) was an American racecar driver who raced for the Shelby American, Ferrari, and Eagle teams. Bondurant was one of the most famous drivers to emerge from the Southern California road ...
, the Shelby American Daytona finished first in the GT classes and fourth overall at the
1964 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 32nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 20 and 21 June 1964. It was also the ninth round of the 1964 World Sportscar Championship season.
This year marked the arrival of American teams in force, with ...
, bested only by the prototype
Ferrari 275 P and 330 P. The Ford Motor Company's new prototype, the
GT40, fared poorly; none of the three cars entered into the race finished. After the end of the
Bahamas Speed Week in December—marking the end of the 1964 season—Ford handed control of the GT40 program to Shelby American from Carroll Shelby's old associate
John Wyer
John Wyer (11 December 1909 – 8 April 1989), was an English automobile racing engineer and team manager. He is mainly associated with cars running in the light blue and orange livery of his longtime sponsor Gulf Oil.
Biography
Early lif ...
(who ran the Aston Martin racing program when Shelby won Le Mans in 1959).
Under Shelby's management the GT40 driven by
Lloyd Ruby
Richard Lloyd Ruby (January 12, 1928 – March 23, 2009) was an American racecar driver who raced in the USAC Championship Car series for 20 years, achieving 7 victories and 88 top-ten finishes. He also had success in endurance racing, winning th ...
and
Ken Miles
Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles (1 November 1918 – 17 August 1966) was an English sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the U.S. and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to ...
won the first race of the
1965 season at
Daytona
Daytona may refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach, Florida
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach
Motor racing
* Dayto ...
, and Miles and
Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...
finished first in the prototype class and second overall at the next race at
Sebring, but otherwise the GT40 program was a disappointment overall, once again failing to finish at Le Mans. By contrast the
Shelby Daytona
The Shelby Daytona Coupe (also referred to as the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe) is an American sports-coupé. It is related to the Shelby Cobra roadster, loosely based on its chassis and drive-train developed and built as an advanced evolution. I ...
coupe had great success for Shelby, winning the GT Division III class on the strength of class wins at Daytona, Sebring,
Monza
Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...
and the
Nürburgring
The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...
. Shelby won a title in the
International Championship for GT Manufacturers
The World Sportscar Championship was the world endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the m ...
in the 1965 season with the Shelby Daytona car, thus becoming the first American constructor to win a title on the international scene at the
FIA World Championships.
Shelby American worked with Ford to re-engineer the GT40 for the '66 season, replacing the
289 cubic inch (4.7 L) engine with Ford's larger, more powerful
427 cu. in. (7.0 L) engine. The
Mk II GT40 achieved great success, with Shelby American's wins at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans earning Ford the
International Manufacturer's Championship in 1966. Shelby American cars finished first (Miles & Ruby again) and second (Gurney &
Jerry Grant
Gerald Wayne "Jerry" Grant (January 23, 1935 – August 12, 2012) was a driver in the USAC Championship Car series. Born in Seattle, he began racing sports cars in Northern California in the early 1960s. He raced in the 1965-1977 seasons, w ...
) at Daytona, first at
Sebring (Miles & Ruby), and first (McLaren &
Chris Amon
Christopher Arthur Amon (; 20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a Formula One Grands Prix, ...
) and second (Miles &
Denny Hulme
Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992) was a New Zealand racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Bear", Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Brabham, and won eight Grands Pri ...
) at
Le Mans
Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...
; recalled in the 2019 film ''
Ford v Ferrari
''Ford v Ferrari'' (titled ''Le Mans '66'' in some European countries) is a 2019 American biographical sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. It stars Matt Da ...
''. Gurney and Grant would have finished second at Sebring except their car broke down on the last lap and Gurney pushed it across the finish line, automatically disqualifying them.
During the 1966 season Shelby and Ford were already developing a more advanced version of the GT40, known early in its development as the "
J-car". On August 17, 1966, only a couple months after the race at Le Mans, Ken Miles died at the wheel of a J-car while conducting high-speed testing at Riverside. The J-car was re-engineered with improved safety features and better aerodynamics, becoming the
GT40 Mk IV. In 1967 the Mk IV won the only two races they entered, at Sebring and Le Mans. McLaren and
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...
won the race at Sebring, while Gurney and
A. J. Foyt
Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American former racing driver who competed in numerous disciplines of motorsport. He is best known for his open wheel racing career, and for becoming the first four-time winner of the India ...
won Le Mans, with McLaren and
Mark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue Jr. (March 18, 1937 – August 19, 1975), nicknamed "Captain Nice," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victory.
Donohue is probably best kno ...
in fourth.
After the 1967 season the FIA changed the rules governing prototypes, and the 7.0 L engine used in the Mk II and Mk IV GT40s became redundant. Ford wound up the Ford Advanced Vehicles group and Shelby American withdrew from the World Sportscar Championship, transferring control back to John Wyer's J.W. Automotive Engineering (JWA). JWA GT40s won the 1968 and 1969 races at Le Mans, giving the GT40 program an unprecedented four consecutive wins (matched only by the
Porsche 956
The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was later upgraded to the 956B in 1984. I ...
in the 1980s).
Ford Mustang
While Shelby American was building and racing Cobras and Daytonas, Ford introduced the new
Mustang
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...
at the
New York World's Fair in April, 1964. Ford vice-president
Lee Iacocca
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then reviv ...
promised that the car would be "a sports car suitable for street use or competition" in his introductory speech to the press. In reality the car's sporting credentials were somewhat lacking, and Iacocca hired Shelby American to develop a version of the car suitable for racing.
The
Shelby Mustang
The Shelby Mustang is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang built by Shelby American from 1965 to 1967 and by the Ford Motor Company from 1968 to 1970.
In 2005, Ford revived the Shelby nameplate for a high-performance model of the Fo ...
GT350 was created, with upgraded intake and exhaust manifolds, carburetor, rear axle and brakes installed at Shelby American's shop in California in place of the standard Ford parts.
With work on the GT40 program and production of the GT350 beginning to ramp up Shelby American ran out of space at their shop in Venice, moving instead to an aircraft hangar at
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...
in 1965.
The facility is still in existence, renovated in 1996, and is now the location of the Qantas Freight Cargo Terminal located at 6555 W Imperial Hwy, Los Angeles CA 90045. The steel tracks used to move the cars during assembly are still partially visible. The GT350 was very successful in the SCCA B-Production class, winning the class three consecutive years.
The offerings from Shelby American were expanded in 1966 to include an optional automatic transmission, and Shelby famously built special edition GT350s for
Hertz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in ter ...
. Hertz was a Ford subsidiary at the time, and when the cars were returned by Hertz to Ford they were re-sold to the public as the "
GT350H".
For 1967 Shelby installed the
Ford 428 cu. in (7.0 L) engine in the Mustang, creating the "GT500". Revised front and rear fascias distinguished the 1967 Shelby Mustangs from the common Fords they were based on. Shelby ran a separate racing team, "Terlingua Racing", in the
1967 Trans-American Sedan Championship, with
Jerry Titus
Jerry Titus (October 24, 1928 – August 5, 1970) was an American motorsports driver, mechanic, model, musician and journalist — widely known for his motorsport victories in the SCCA National Sports Car Championships and the SCCA Tr ...
winning the championship driving a GT350.
The sales of Shelby Mustangs increased six-fold from 1966 to 1967, and for 1968 Ford encouraged Shelby to move production from California to
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
to simplify the logistics of shipping bare Ford Mustangs from their plant in New Jersey to Shelby. In November, 1967 Shelby American's operations were split into three separate companies. Shelby Automotive, the Mustang production arm, was set up in
Livonia, Michigan
Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...
and actual production moved to the facilities of fibreglass supplier
A. O. Smith in nearby
Ionia
Ionia ( ) was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who ...
. The Shelby Racing Company moved from the hangar at LAX to a new office in
Torrance, California
Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...
. The Shelby Parts Company (later renamed to Shelby Autosports) moved to Torrance, and later to the
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
area.
After 1968 Ford took functional control of the Shelby Mustang design and production, moving production in-house for the 1969 model year. After the 1969 racing season Shelby withdrew from competition. Carroll Shelby announced he was retiring from the automotive business in January, 1970, and Shelby American and its subsidiaries were essentially defunct.
Dodge
Carroll Shelby maintained ownership of his Goodyear tire distributorship and set up the Shelby Wheel Company in 1971 in
Gardena, California
Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 61,027 at the 2020 census, up from 58,829 at the 2010 census. Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the ...
, producing and selling
aftermarket aluminum wheels, but he remained otherwise out of the automotive industry until 1982. His old friend Lee Iacocca had become president and CEO of the
Chrysler Corporation
FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...
, and contacted him with a proposition: Chrysler would set up a new Chrysler-Shelby Performance Center in Santa Fe Springs, California (not far from Dean Moon's shop where the first Cobra was assembled) so that Shelby could assist Chrysler's engineers to create high-performance versions of their cars, similar to his relationship with Ford almost 20 years earlier.
Shelby assisted with the creation of the 1983
Dodge Shelby Charger, a two-door performance variant of the
front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...
Dodge Omni
The Dodge Omni is a subcompact, subcompact car that was manufactured by Chrysler, Chrysler Corporation from the 1978 to 1990 model years. Marketed alongside the Plymouth Horizon, the Omni was the first front-wheel drive Chrysler vehicle; the pai ...
. For 1984 Shelby assisted with the
Omni GLH, named by Shelby as an initialism for "Goes Like Hell". The front-wheel drive cars were powered by
turbocharged
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
four-cylinder engines
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...
, with design improvements more focused on handling than all-out power.
With the success of the Shelby Charger and Omni GLH Carroll Shelby set up a new company similar to the original Shelby American. Shelby Automobiles, Inc. was founded in 1983 and began operation in 1985 out of a shop in
Whittier, California
Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...
, near the Chrysler-Shelby Performance Center, producing performance versions of Chrysler cars. The first product was the 1986 GLHS, a higher-performance version of the Omni GLH. With raised boost pressure and an intercooler the GLHS's
2.2 L engine produced 175 hp—29 more than the GLH, and about 85% more than the standard Omni. With new suspension components to improve the car's handling its performance equalled or bettered its
V8-powered,
rear-wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars.
Most rear-whee ...
contemporaries from Ford and
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
, and even surpassed the 1965 Shelby GT350.
Shelby Automobiles produced special editions of the Charger (1987 GLHS),
Dodge Lancer
The Dodge Lancer is an automobile that was marketed in three unrelated versions by Dodge during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. The first version debuted as a hardtop version of the full-size car, full-sized 1955 Dodge, and was produced in that f ...
(
Shelby Lancer),
Dodge Shadow
The Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance are compact 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks that were introduced for the 1987 model year by the Chrysler Corporation. For 1991, a 2-door convertible variant was added to the Shadow lineup; this bodystyle was no ...
(
Shelby CSX
The Shelby CSX (Carroll Shelby eXperimental) is a limited-production high performance automobile based on the turbocharged intercooled Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance. These cars were offered by Shelby Automobiles Inc. from 1987 through 1989.
T ...
) and
Dodge Dakota
The Dodge Dakota, marketed as the Ram Dakota for the final two years of production, is a Pickup truck#Mid-size pickups, mid-size pickup truck manufactured by Chrysler and marketed by its Dodge Truck division (model years 1987-2009) and later its R ...
pickup truck (
Shelby Dakota
The Shelby Dakota is a limited-production performance version of the Dodge Dakota Sport pickup truck. Offered by Shelby for 1989 only, it was his first rear-wheel drive vehicle in many years, and his first production pickup truck.
The Shelby Dako ...
), before ceasing operations in 1990. Carroll Shelby consulted on the development of the
Dodge Viper
The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by Street & Racing Technology, SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer Chrysler from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2011 to 20 ...
, but Shelby Automobiles was defunct, just as Shelby American was 20 years earlier.
Series 1
Carroll Shelby founded the Shelby American Management Company in 1982 to manage his many other business ventures. His business associate and president of the company, Don Landy, floated the idea of creating an entirely new Shelby branded sports car in the mid-1990s. Landy approached General Motors'
Cadillac
Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...
division, which had recently begun production of a new
double overhead camshaft
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combus ...
V8 engine called "
Northstar Northstar may refer to:
* Polaris, a star
Arts and entertainment
* Northstar (band), an emo band from Alabama
* Northstar (rap group), a rap group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan
* "Northstar", a 2019 song by XXXTentacion from the album '' Bad ...
", with the idea of Cadillac being the exclusive supplier of engines for this proposed new sports car. Landy was rebuffed so he approached
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...
, who were building a 4.0 L version of the new V8 engine for their
Aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
sedan. Oldsmobile had been in a significant sales decline since the late 1980s and Oldsmobile general manager John Rock believed the Shelby sports car had the potential to reinvigorate Oldsmobile in the same way that Shelby's involvement with Chrysler and the Dodge Viper reinvigorated the Dodge brand.
A new Shelby American, Inc. was founded in 1995 in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. Don Landy was replaced by another of Carroll Shelby's business associates, Don Rager, and design of the new car began at Shelby's shop in
Gardena, California
Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 61,027 at the 2020 census, up from 58,829 at the 2010 census. Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the ...
while a new assembly plant was being built near the
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...
.
The new car, called
Series 1
The IBM Series/1 is a 16-bit minicomputer, introduced in 1976, that in many respects competed with other minicomputers of the time, such as the PDP-11 from Digital Equipment Corporation and similar offerings from Data General and HP. The Seri ...
, was shown as prototypes at the
Los Angeles Auto Show
The Los Angeles Auto Show, also known as the LA Auto Show, is an auto show held annually at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is open to the public for ten days, filling of exhibit space. Since 2006 ...
and
North American International Auto Show
The Detroit Auto Show, formerly known as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan. Hosted at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Center) since 1965, it is among the largest auto shows in ...
in Detroit in 1997.
Unlike the arrangements Shelby American had with Ford and Shelby Automobiles had with Chrysler, financial support for the Series 1 came not directly from General Motors. Instead a select number of Oldsmobile dealers were sold the exclusive rights to sell the Series 1 cars for a $50,000-per-car deposit. This financial arrangement became untenable by 1998 and a 75% share of Shelby American was sold to Venture Corporation, supplier of the car's exterior body panels and many interior trim pieces.
The production of Cobra replicas was not part of the transfer of ownership, with Shelby retaining those rights.
Cars finally began delivery to customers in the summer of 1999, but initial build quality was very poor.
Deliveries of finished cars did not resume until August, 2000.
Venture Holdings was forced into bankruptcy by the bankruptcy of one of its other subsidiaries in 2003. Soon thereafter Carroll Shelby formed a new holding company called "Carroll Shelby International, Inc.", and it was taken public. A new Shelby Automobiles was also created as a manufacturing arm of the new company.
In 2004 Shelby Automobiles purchased Shelby American and the assets to the Series 1 model. On December 15, 2009, Carroll Shelby International announced in a press release that Shelby Automobiles was being renamed to "Shelby American" in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the
427 Cobra and
GT350.
Cobra reproductions
Carroll Shelby International was previously working with Texas-based
Unique performance to create new
Mustang
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...
-based Shelby cars such as the
GT350SR and "
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...
". On November 1, 2007, Unique Performance was raided by the
Farmers Branch
Farmers Branch, officially the City of Farmers Branch, is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is an Inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 35,991 at the 2020 cen ...
Police Department due to
VIN
Vin or VIN may refer to:
Abbreviations and codes Arts, entertainment, and media
* '' Vos Iz Neias?'', American Jewish online news site
* Coastal radio station VIN Geraldton (callsign), a station in the former Australian coastal radio service
Pl ...
irregularities and subsequently declared
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
, which effectively ended the Shelby continuation "Eleanor" production and the relationship.
Model line-up
* CSX1000-series AC Holdings Ltd. chassis and aluminum bodies (of modern production)
* CSX4000-series various manufacturers, fiberglass and aluminum bodywork available
* CSX5000-series Shelby Series I models built in 2005 as component vehicles.
* CSX6000-series continuation of the CSX4000 series
* CSX7000-series 289 FIA Cobra roadster
* CSX8000-series 289 street car
* CSX9000-series Cobra "Daytona" coupe, released in 2009
Shelby Museum
The Shelby Heritage Center is located at 6405 Ensworth Street in Las Vegas, Nevada. It includes a wide range of Shelby vehicles, from the first Cobra CSX2000 to prototypes of Series 1 and some of the latest creations.
Cobras
Total small-block Cobras 655
*(COB - Cobras for Great Britain)
*(COX - Cobras for export)
Total Cobras built 1,003
Shelby production totals 1965-89
1965
*GT 350 - 515
*GT 350R - 36
*GT 350 drag cars - 9
*GT 350 street prototype - 1
*Competition prototype GT 350 - 1
Total 1965 Shelby Mustangs - 562
1966
*GT 350 - 1,370
*GT 350H - 1,000
*GT 350
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...
s - 6
*GT 350 drag cars - 4
Total 1966 Shelby Mustangs - 2,380
1967
*GT 350 Fastback - 1,175
*GT 500 Fastback - 2,048
*GT 500 Coupe "Little Red" - 1
GT 500 Convertible- 1
*GT 500 Fastback prototype - 1
*GT 350 Coupe Group II Race Cars - 15
Total 1967 Shelby GT Mustangs - 3,240
1968
*GT 350 Fastback - 1,253
*GT 350 Convertible - 404
*GT 500 Fastback - 1,140
*GT 500 Convertible - 402
*GT 500KR Fastback - 933
*GT 500KR Convertible - 318
*GT 500 Coupe "Green Hornet" - 1 (no Shelby VIN assigned)
Total 1968 Ford Shelby Cobra GT Mustangs - 4,451
1969 & 1970
*GT 350 Fastback - 935
*GT 350 Convertible - 194
*GT 500 Fastback - 1,536
*GT 500 Convertible - 335
*GT 350 Hertz cars - 15
*Prototype test cars - 3
*Cars updated to 1970 specifications - 789 (estimated)
Total 1969-70 Ford Shelby Cobra GT Mustangs - 3,294
Shelby cars totals - 13,912
1986-1989
* 1986 GLH-S Omni- 500
* 1987 GLH-S Charger- 1000
* 1987 Shelby Lancer- 800
* 1987 Shelby CSX- 750
* 1988 Shelby CSX-T (Thrifty car rental) -1000
* 1989 Shelby Dakota- 1500
* 1989 Shelby CSX-VNT- 500
Total Dodge production- 6,050
Shelby vehicle total- 19,962
Shelby cars
*
AC Cobra
The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a List of Ford engines#8 Cylinder, Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the Uni ...
*
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
*
Dakota
Dakota may refer to:
* Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux
** Dakota language, their language
Dakota may also refer to:
Places United States
* Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Dakota, Illinois, a town
* Dakota, Minnesota ...
*
Daytona
Daytona may refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach, Florida
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach
Motor racing
* Dayto ...
*
GLH-S
*
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...
*
Mustang
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...
*
Series 1
The IBM Series/1 is a 16-bit minicomputer, introduced in 1976, that in many respects competed with other minicomputers of the time, such as the PDP-11 from Digital Equipment Corporation and similar offerings from Data General and HP. The Seri ...
Global operations
With the worldwide release of the
sixth generation Ford Mustang, including right-hand-drive markets, Shelby American began to partner with top-tier automobile modification shops internationally. These partnerships enable customers in other countries to purchase Shelby products locally rather than have to import cars from the United States.
Australia
Mustang Motorsport, located in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
is Australia's only authorized Shelby modification shop. The shop has been in business since 1990 importing and converting U.S Fords to right-hand-drive. The shop also stocks and fits high performance Mustang parts. Current Shelby models offered are Shelby Mustang GTs and Super Snakes.
Canada
Shelby American has three authorized shops in Canada: Shelby Canada West in Fort Saskatchewan, Dale Adams in Calgary, and Xcentrick Autosports in Ontario, which services eastern Canada.
Europe
Shelby Europe was established in 2016 through a partnership with GU Autotrade B.V. in the Netherlands. Shelby trucks are produced by GU Autotrade's manufacturing partner,
Magna Steyr
Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Graz, Styria, Austria, where its primary manufacturing plant is also located. It is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International and was previously part of th ...
, while Shelby Mustangs are produced by another manufacturing partner,
TechArt, in
Leonberg
Leonberg (; ) is a town in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg about to the west of Stuttgart, the state capital. About 45,000 people live in Leonberg, making it the third-largest borough in the rural district () of Böblingen (afte ...
, Germany.
New Zealand
In 2019 Shelby American partnered with Matamata Panelworks in the
North Island
The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
of New Zealand to form Shelby New Zealand. The New Zealand operation offers Shelby trucks, the Shelby GT, the Super Snake and Wide Body Super Snake, with the cars also sold through select Ford dealers. The shop also offers performance upgrades, conversions, merchandise and accessories for existing Mustang owners.
Links between Shelby and New Zealand date back to the 1960s with renowned fabricator, New Zealander John Ohlsen working with
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...
, and
Ken Miles
Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles (1 November 1918 – 17 August 1966) was an English sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the U.S. and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to ...
on the original
Daytona Cobra coupe in 1964. After the Daytona project, Ohlsen became Shelby's chief mechanic for the 1964-1965 race season and stayed with Shelby until 1966. New Zealanders
Denny Hulme
Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992) was a New Zealand racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Bear", Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Brabham, and won eight Grands Pri ...
,
Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...
, and
Chris Amon
Christopher Arthur Amon (; 20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a Formula One Grands Prix, ...
drove for Shelby in the 1966, 34th Grand Prix of Endurance in Le Mans, France. Shelby himself was married (albeit briefly) to a New Zealander, Sue Stafford, in 1963. Shelby employed her father, Arthur Stafford as a race mechanic.
South Africa
Shelby South Africa was formed in
Malmesbury, Western Cape
Malmesbury is a town of approximately 36,000 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 65 km north of Cape Town.
The town is the largest in the Swartland (‘black land’) which took its name from the Dicerothamnus rhi ...
in 2017 and offers high-end performance packages for the GT and Super Snake platforms. The company also retains distribution rights for the Shelby Cobra, Dayton Cobra Coupe, and Ford GT40.
[Shelby South Africa https://www.shelbysa.com/]
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States
Car manufacturers of the United States
Companies based in Paradise, Nevada
Auto tuning companies
Automotive motorsports and performance companies
Auto parts suppliers of the United States
American auto racing teams
Sports car manufacturers
American racecar constructors