How do you ruin a car club? Let it become a corporate entity.
While Mr. Kopec and company have been able to quit their day jobs and treat the SAAC organization as a business enterprise, over the years I was not a fan of how the SAAC events were run. While all were invited, there was always some favoritism.
That being said, they still owned it and built the club up over the decades and documented all the cars (not an easy feat in my eyes). You have to respect them as an organization for that. The tenacity of each of the SAAC Registrars to get the information into the Registry was amazing.. Yes, I spent $125 for the Shelby American World Registry. The SAAC events are horrible for track time, but wonderful to see, hear and talk to the folks that own the orignals built 'back in the day', as they carry and share the history of these cars. Only place in the world to see the marque, undiluted, in all its glory.
Then, there are those folks, who wanted nothing more than to get their name / car in the Registry. Where does this leave them? Will the SAAC Registry be worthless now? The horror!
As Mr Mustang said, without this club, Shelby would just be a footnote in car history, not the icon he is today.
So, to now 'bite the hand that has fed him' all these years and to put the cart before the horse by celebrating ALL THAT IS SHELBY and not allowing SAAC to celebrate THE VINTAGE SHELBY, to me, smacks of just another money making scheme.
It seems that once something Shelby related starts making money and establishes a foothold in the industry, here come the lawyers.
If SAAC will now be called AAC and they can no longer use the Cobra emblem, may I recommend this'un...
ugh.