[tirod]

Street sold more quickly. IIRC the history, the last S/C sold in 1968. They were a bear to unload off the lot, mature drivers weren't planning on campaigning all over town. Refined manners were the order of the day - hence, ash trays, quiet undercar exhaust that wouldn't burn your girl friends shins, etc. Drivers wanted sophistication, not brute roughness.

Frankly, legends are built on fantasy, the Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday sales pitch in the day didn't mean everyone flocked to the dealer and snapped up S/C's. They wanted the look, not necessarily the expense. The average buyer was meh! about whether it was 427 or 428, it was still a big honking motor in a tiny little sports car.

The competition was also part of the buying atmosphere, you could get the slick new Corvette, import sports cars were abundant, and the muscle car had arrived. Many of them had one very important distinction - a roof. It takes more than a little dedication to drive a roadster all winter thru 30 degree temps and 6 inch snows. It really limits sales if you can't keep dry and warm in February, and that's what people wanted. It was going to be a Daily Driver, not a garage queen, most people didn't have that kind of money, and owning one car at a time was the norm.

People like having sporty cars, but being inconvenienced and freezing for months isn't on their agenda. So the street cars sold much more quickly. The big plan to sell lots of 427's didn't turn out to have much substance. It's been said before there was regret they stopped building the 289, but the times they were achangin'.

Let's not forget, the corporate view was to get them in the showroom. Mom wanted a Galaxie wagon to haul the kids, and that's what they got. Dad could at least dream it was the same motor.

Most of the public even in those days would be hard pressed to name the car on sight. It looked like a lot of other Brit sports cars in a sea of Detroit iron and VW Beetles. If you owned one, you were saying I'm Different in a country that prided itself on being American. It took a more cosmopolitan view to embrace that. Carroll Shelby was that guy who won races in Europe at that Lee Mons place. He weren't no Richard Petty.

Perspective. Things weren't like what some think they were.