[tirod]

Real Shelbys are still driven on the street, raced, and even damaged. Just because someone owns one doesn't mean they don't appreciate it for what it can do.

And on the other hand, just because one chooses a different kit supplier than Shelby did, is no guarantee the end result will be better, or worse, than what he sold. Assuming all the newer kit owners assembled their cars in an vain attempt to pretend to be a "Cobra" is interesting. They look like a Cobra, make noise like a Cobra, and can perform better than one in many measurable ways. If the original run of production is limited, then others can and will take advantage of marketplace demand and supply it.

If Carroll Shelby intended to stay in business to market a line of performance cars, the end results are disappointing similar to all the others. He went out of business - there was no plan to succeed the Roadster with another model, and nothing was done to continue production past the ill fated 427. Another flash in the pan. The current suppliers of replicas have actually been in business longer in most cases. Their survival as a business is based on selling a product, and they have done a lot better job at it.

If you own one of the original AC Bristol bodied kits, enjoy it for the historic example it is - a groundbreaking example of forward thinking in the way it performed. Looks, really, not so much - it's a statement of how the public will elevate whatever the art of the automobile is, and enshrine it regardless. It's a Tojeiro copy of a Ferrari Barchetta, built by an English coachbuilder barely surviving the loss of it's engine supplier. Shelby just happened to come along with a good line and assembled them under his roof for a while.

I'd very much like to choose a supplier who will be in business and purchase a kit in the near future to put together my vision of one. I'd be glad to build it without bling, too. And then compare it on the track against a timelocked original.

Good luck. You are going to need it. Coupe = 40mph more top end.