[Dan Stryffeler]

One definition of luck is putting yourself in a position to take advantage of opportunity when it comes along. As I recall (and I'm NO historian) Shelby had been shopping his idea for a race car around for quite some time, then he was at lunch with a reporter (forget his name) who happened to mention that AC would no longer have the engine available, around the same time he found out about the lightweight Ford smallblock and jumped on the opportunity. If that is true, Shelby "created" the Cobra concept... IMHO it doesn't really matter that the concept of a American engine in a European body wasn't new - those cars were not Cobras, and certainly alot of people contributed to the design and development of the Cobra.

I'm admittedly a little jaded on the value of this kind of stuff; it makes good reading and I would like to see those individuals get credit for their accomplishments, but heck, most Americans still believe that Henry Ford invented the automobile!

Dan