[cobrajam]

I guess I can look back to around 1976 as the year the seed was planted, and some of my "heroes" were adopted. The country was celebrating the Bicentennial, the Steelers were starting their dynasty and KISS released one of the all time great rock albums, Destroyer. I wasnt quite a teenager, when my cousin and I stayed up later than usual to watch the Gumball Rally, on an old console tv that was able to pick up 3 channels on a good night from an antennae wired 2 miles "on the hill". He was dedicated to Bowties and I was a Blue Oval Fanatic. Didnt have a clue exactly what a Cobra was then, but I thought it was awesome. Fast forward 6 years, and I had to write a research paper for my final grade in English my senior year in high school. I was initially going to do the paper on my first automotive love, Mustangs. But as I got deeper into the history of the 'stang, whose name should appear as the one who gave the Mustang its bite, but Shelby. In one of the books I purchased for research material, it not only covered Shelbys involvement w/ the 'Stang, but the Cobras as well. It even made mention of the Cobra in Gumball Rally, and then it dawned on me, that was the car I was so enthralled with years earlier. I really liked the sharp, aggressive lines of the Mustang, but loved the muscular shape of the Cobra. Read all about the history of Shelby and his later involment in the Ford Racing Program. So the paper went from History of the Mustang, to Carroll Shelby: The Man and His Machines. Got an A- and graduated. It seemed like the price for an original just exceeded what I could afford. Started on my first replica in 1990, completed in 1996. Sold in 1999, it was too refined and comfortable. Bought a Vette, drove it for a couple of years. Sold it and started on another replica, I guess it is hard to get the venom out of your blood. Shelby was my hero in the automotive arena.