We got our first look at Shelby's 85th Commemorative GT40 back in January at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. It's as close as you can get to the real thing without spending millions on an original GT40 with the chassis and body nearly perfectly replicating the original. Shelby Distribution has now issued an updated press release as well as the official photos. The GT40, built by Superformance but officially badged a Shelby, celebrates both Carroll's 85th birthday as well as the dominating 1-2-3 Le Mans win in 1966. It's available in all three colors of the original race cars - Arcadian Blue, Black, and Red - as well as unique Shelby badging on the door handles, headlights, side graphics, and floor mats. No engine specs are available since each comes as a rolling chassis, but the engine bay is built to accommodate any Shelby-badged V8 crate engine. Anything but a 427ci V8 would be just plain crazy, though. Follow the jump for the press release and check out nearly fifty high resolution photos in the gallery below.
You might expect that Carroll Shelby has quite a collection of cars. He's even put up a few for sale recently, including his personal 1969 GT500 Convertible that he's owned since new at Barrett-Jackson this year and the unique Cobra Supersnake that sold for $5,000,000 at last year's auction. A few years ago Shelby also auctioned off one of the six original Daytona Coupes that he had owned for more than twenty years. He must have missed it in the garage, because he requested that Superformance build him one of their new Daytona Coupes. Designed by Peter Brock, the same man who penned the original, this modern version of the Cobra Coupe retains the wonderful shape of the original while offering some creature comforts not found in the race car. Carroll's personal car, which was delivered to him this week, features the "Guardsman Blue" paint scheme of the original cars as well as the #98 that on the car he previously owned. Unique to the car is a one-off paddle-shift transmission designed by MasterShift mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. Power comes from a 427SR Roush crate engine pushing out nearly 500 horsepower. Follow the jump for the press release and check out the gallery below of the car you wish you owned.
The newest place to eat in Vegas isn't anywhere close to the strip, unless you are talking about the drag strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Shelby Automobiles will open its new Shelby Corner Cafe at its Las Vegas facility this weekend alongside the NHRA drag races. Mr. Shelby himself will be on hand for the opening, along with well known drag racers like Bob Tasca III, Don Prudhomme, and Robert Height. The 13,000 square foot restaurant, in addition to serving guests visiting the plant, will provide a place to eat for Shelby employees and will serve as an alternative source of grub to race spectators.
Carroll Shelby has seen it all. He's raised chickens and flew planes in WWII. He's raced in Formula One and partnered with all three of America's automakers. And then some. At 85 years old, Shelby deserves praise – like the Automotive Executive of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards the iconic muscle-car guru is set to receive this year. But what is he getting instead? Sued.
Frustrated by their misfortune with the ongoing Unique Performance saga, a group of customers are trying to sue Shelby to get their money back on classic Shelby Mustangs that they ordered from the now defunct company but never received. Shelby licensed his name to Unique Performance for restored pony cars, but seeing the writing on the wall early, severed ties with the company shortly thereafter. Either way, Unique Performance was at fault for its own screw-ups, not Shelby. Yet the plaintiffs are arguing that "no one would have ordered these cars if it wasn't for Carroll Shelby." That may be the case, and we can understand the disappointed customers' frustrations. But leave Grandpa Carroll alone.
Just two days ago, we reported that Unique Performance was in hot water. They had miserably failed to deliver hand-crafted continuation Shelby 427 GT500 "Super Snake" Mustangs to customers who had put up $7 million worth of deposits. Frustration grew to boiling anger when customers heard that the "skilled labor" had been supplemented by hardened criminals, and imperfections in each vehicle were being covered by nearly 13 gallons of Bondo body filler.
It has been a rough year for the management team at Unique Performance. Following a fallout with Carroll Shelby and a police raid, we're now learning that 25 felony cases have been prepared against company executives. Details haven't emerged, but we do know that investigators believe some of the inmates were illegally removing VIN numbers from the cars. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that hiring cons to do criminal acts can land you in the slammer too. Unique, and ironic.
This just keeps getting more interesting by the day. Back in 2002, Carroll Shelby partnered with Unique Performance to produce continuation Shelby 427 GT500 "Super Snake" models. Only one "Super Snake" was built in 1967, so each of these "new" cars, built on a vintage 60's Mustang platform with a registered Shelby VIN, was sure to be one hot collectible. Unique Performance would build 75 of these 575-hp monsters, each with a base price of $214,000. Investors, and speculators, quickly placed their deposits.
As the months went by, the cars weren't coming out of the Texas warehouse in a timely manner. Customers began to ask questions. As things often go from bad to worse, the relationship between Shelby and Unique Performance went down the drain and it wasn't long before the police came knocking on the door. Unique Performance was reportedly sitting on $7 million in deposits, yet customers weren't getting their muscle cars. Other companies, such as Foose Design, quickly severed their relationship just as the police moved in to confiscate 61 incomplete body shells.
Case closed? Not even close. Now we have word that Unique Performance utilized hard-core Texas prison inmates to help build the cars, and each of the hand-built Mustangs contained over 13 gallons of Bondo body filler. VIN numbers were illegally removed, and some parts of this re-built American classic were coming from Taiwan. If there ever were a hot demand for continuation "Super Snake" Shelbys, we're betting the secondary market for this particular model is drying up rather quickly.
From the "Don't Tick Off Carroll Shelby Department" comes the continuing saga which is the SAAC vs. the performance Mustang patriarch. We told you earlier about the feud between Shelby and SAAC owners Rick Kopec and Ken Eber over the cancellation of the Shelby club's license, and as of yesterday, the contract officially expired. Since the SAAC's license is now void and Shelby owns the trademark to the SAAC name, the Texas tornado has filed a lawsuit to ensure Kopec and Eber follow the original 1999 contract both before and after its termination. That includes everything from ceasing to use the Shelby name to handing over financial documents over to Shelby Licensing.
Shelby explained his reasoning for pulling the license back in December, stating that Kopec and Eber had ignored Shelby's requests to follow the licensing agreement. Shelby also accused the two of selling memorabilia that was loaned to the club by Shelby, which may explain why Shelby wants to inspect the club's books. To prove that this whole mess wasn't about money, Shelby has offered other clubs the use of his name for $1 per year. We're hoping that the 5,000 members of the SAAC can find a new club to find home, but at $1 per year, the stranded members can start their own club.
Anything with Carroll Shelby's name on it automatically has a higher value, and even more so if his name is on the pink slip as well. This 1969 Shelby GT500 Convertible has been owned by Carroll since new. The only other 1960's Shelby that he still owns from new is the very first Shelby Cobra, CSX2000. The car underwent a five year rotisserie restoration that was finished up in September of 2007.
Bidding for the car started at $100k, then quickly rose to $300 within a few seconds, then up to $500 where it stalled. Bidding slowly creeped past $600,000 and finally rested on $675,000. The winning bidder? You guessed it - Ron Pratte, the same guy who bought the Cobra SuperSnake last year.
The 2008 Barrett-Jackson classic car auction is underway, and we will be reporting from Scottsdale to bring you live photos from the auction throughout this evening. The first four days have seen hundreds of vehicles sell for a variety of prices - everything from a 1992 Yamaha dirt bike that went for $2700 to Tony Stewart's Monte Carlo racecar that had a final price of $300,000. The premier vehicles of the event will be going across the block today including the very first 2008 Shelby GT500 KR, 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8, and 2009 Corvette ZR1 that should all command high prices. Other cars capable of reaching high triple digit figures include two 1960s concept cars, the General Lee Dodge Charger, and Carroll Shelby's personal 1969 GT500 Convertible. The vehicle we are most looking forward to, though, is the car-crunching, fire-breathing Robosaurus.
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