New Shelby book called "Snake Bit" about- Series 1

[Years Ago]

For those of you who have either loved or trashed the Shelby Series 1, a new book on the car is now available called "Snake Bit". Based on my experience while at Shelby, the book is factual and tells the whole story about the car and the people behind it. It is written by an insider, Eric Davison, who was responsible for much of the promotion and marketing of the vehicle as well as involved in the arrangements between Shelby and many vendors. It tells a great story about a car that ran head on into corporate politics. It will answer your questions!

[Tom Kirkham]

Wayne,

I would love to read it. Where can we buy the book?

[Years Ago]

Tom

It is currently available by order through Classic Motorbooks, but should be in any book store that carries Classic Motorbooks title by mid february - Barnes & Noble, Border's, etc.

[Jamo]

Thanks Wayne. Sounds like a good read.

[Hal Copple]

i don't have any "insider" info on the Series One cars, but have read about them for some years.

What it mostly shows to me is how terribly difficult it is to make a realiable high performance automobile, using new components, and making it meet the variouis federal requirements. If it is difficult to do this with something so "simple" as a cobra Replica, which usually doesn't have to meet anybody's expectations other than the purchaser's, it is obviously very difficult to do it with a "modern" high performance, small production product. When i read about a new concept car from a major manufacturer, and at the end, it states "perhaps ready to be sold in 3-4 years" it is because it takes that long to test it sufficiently and get it certified, etc. And still new cars often have many recalls, even with milliions of miles of testing, and many millions of dollars in developement. The road is littered with cars created with grand plans, only to fail for one or the other reason, Bugatti, Delorean, and others.

When a big long established manufacturer with big deep pockets decides it can't make it happen (Allente, Maserati TC, etc), how can a relatively small manufacturer do it?

One thing i have learned in working with "clients" for so many years, that the surest way to fail is to give or permit unreastic expectations.

To sum it up, i have a little saying i often use, "if it were an easy thing to do, many more people would be doing it successfully."

[Years Ago]

Just found out that Eric will be at SAAC does Las Vegas next month discussing the book and answering questions. For those interested, there should be copies there.

[Turk]

Wayne,
Are you planning on being there?

TURK

[BMK]

Hi all



Will keep an eye out over here. The major bookseller here will have my order.



Cheers

Bernie

Bernie Knight
Mt. Gambier South Australia

[Cal Metal]

If the book has the same success as the car, it should be in the Barnes & Noble bargain bin in a few short weeks. The quality issues on that car were terrible.

[Jim Colman]

"Snake bit" is obviously a cheap rip off of "Bitten by the Snake". "Bitten" was first, it's the original and Wayne is just trying to profit from my creation. Let the lawsuits begin!!!!!

Seriously, I'm looking forward to reading this book. I think that it will be a valuable addition to any fan of Shelby or Cobras. Thanks for bringing it to our attention Wayne.

Jim

[Mark IV]

..but if they would build it in South Africa it would come right!

Seriously, SAI should have subbed out the production. The timing and quality likely would have been better.

Rick

[Cal Metal]

Rick:

I'll wait for the movie to make its debut..........................................
I remember those cars at Elkhart Lake. The SAI dealers were there with the CSX 4000 cars and the Series I. Even those guys could hardly keep a straight face. A good friend of mine, who was a dealer out of the west, showed me some of the obvious flaws. It was DOA from the beginning. Pity the guy that paid up for one of these.

[snakeeyes]

FYI,

www.amazon.com has this book available for pre-order for $17.47. Just make sure you put in "Snake Bit" instead of "Snakebit" when you look for it, or else you'll have it buried in about 200 other titles.

[computerworks]

[wilf leek]

Originally posted by Hal Copple


i don't have any "insider" info on the Series One cars, but have read about them for some years.

What it mostly shows to me is how terribly difficult it is to make a realiable high performance automobile, using new components, and making it meet the variouis federal requirements. If it is difficult to do this with something so "simple" as a cobra Replica, which usually doesn't have to meet anybody's expectations other than the purchaser's, it is obviously very difficult to do it with a "modern" high performance, small production product. When i read about a new concept car from a major manufacturer, and at the end, it states "perhaps ready to be sold in 3-4 years" it is because it takes that long to test it sufficiently and get it certified, etc. And still new cars often have many recalls, even with milliions of miles of testing, and many millions of dollars in developement. The road is littered with cars created with grand plans, only to fail for one or the other reason, Bugatti, Delorean, and others.

When a big long established manufacturer with big deep pockets decides it can't make it happen (Allente, Maserati TC, etc), how can a relatively small manufacturer do it?

One thing i have learned in working with "clients" for so many years, that the surest way to fail is to give or permit unreastic expectations.

To sum it up, i have a little saying i often use, "if it were an easy thing to do, many more people would be doing it successfully."

Hal - it may be difficult, but it IS done. TVR and Noble- two english manufacturers who manage it. Sorry for the nationalistic bias!

[Mark IV]

....but it is Hi-Tech Automotive (Superformance) who actually build the Noble!

Nevertheless, Lee Noble did a bang-up job on the design and engineeering of the M12. Jimmy price does a bonzer job of screwing them together.

Like I said, SAI shouild have farmed the production out.....Hmmm, who could have done it....certainly not one of the companies they sued!

I brokered a deal for Hi-Tech to build a start-up European designed sports car and ahd no doubts that they would have done a brilliant job of it, only the failure of the finance guys to lock down the money kept it from happening.

You will be surprised when you find out what Hi-Tech has in the works and what projects they have worked on..


Rick

[Hal Copple]

yes, they have done it well, the Noble is a very exciting car.

but neither is imported and sold in this country, at least as a drive away car, due i believe to our federal requirements.

Which i think caused Shelby's car no end of trouble, with some issue relating to the federal rules, as i recall. A certification problem, if i recall the Autoweek write-up i read a year or so ago.

I love the English cars, my first two were a TR-4 and a 'B.

Owning them taught me a lot about tolerance, and mechanics. Including the ever illusive electron.

[Years Ago]

CalMetal,

Where did your strong opinions about Series 1 come from? While I'll admit some of the very early cars, the first ten or so, were quite rough in fit - body gaps being a particularly vexing early problem, once the early bugs were worked out, the quality actually became one of the strong points. The warranty work required was very low - the warranty was out sourced to a separate, not related company, and many, if not most, of the cars outlived the warranty without any significant claims. Warranty cost were less than statistically projected at the outset.

The company was forced to release a pre-production car for the first road tests, and once a production car was made available there were early bugs still remaining. Carroll was not happy that it got out to the press so early, before it had the bugs ironed out, but getting it out into the public view was important to stop the rumors at the time that the car was not going to make it into production. Remember, there were over a hundred guys out there with deposits waiting.

Sometimes it is hard to separate facts from the rumors that go around, but in the end, quality really was not a big issue. Unfortunately the pre-production vs production status of the first cars tested muddied the waters a lot. I don't know anyone who had driven the production car that didn't have high regards for the handling, including the professional testers that later put the car through its paces. Yes, more power was needed, but that was remedied with the supercharger installation. I believe the supercharged car still holds Motor Trend's 0 to 100 record five years later.

One interesting fact that is not widely known is that almost all of the changes in vehicle ownership has been within the same 10% to 15% of the cars. The remainder of the owners have held on to their cars, and they continue to come back for the additional aftermarket options that are now available for the car.

Is it competitive today? Of course not, but it was in 1999.

Perhaps your experience is entirely different, perhaps you have ridden in an early example that did not measure up. But I would like to know where you are coming from, whether your opinion is based on actually riding in the car or based only the press reports and rumor mills?

We all value your experience with Shelby's cars and are always open to good critique. We wish every car out there lived up to the buyers high expectations, and realize that some did not. It was a great ride living through the process however, and I am still amazed at what was accomplished by so few, with such limited experience and without substantial financial backing. Davison's new book will answer a lot of the questions. It was a great car, the resources were just not available to see it to maturity and to fully support the car during the development period. Hopefully now that Carroll has been able to renew his Ford relationships, the next one will be more successful.

Thanks for listening!

[wilf leek]

Originally posted by Hal Copple



I love the English cars, my first two were a TR-4 and a 'B.

Owning them taught me a lot about tolerance, and mechanics. Including the ever illusive electron.

Hal - you are so right. All the old clunkers I owned in my youth had Lucas bits, I guess I thought it was normal for auto-electrics to be junk! Electrons always escaping in little clouds of smoke.

Rick - Yeah, I knew the Noble comes in to the UK as a turnkey-minus, still a nice piece though, and a credit to the SA plant. I crawled all over a few at the Noble factory, was very impressed with the build quality.

But - TVRs made in their entirety (including engines) at that rambling old plant in Blackpool, and they meet all the EU auto regs, which must be as tough as US Federal requirements. So it can be done.

[Cal Metal]

Wayne:

I had the pleasure of riding in a Series I during the Brian Redman Historic Vintage races at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. I knew a couple of your dealers and they took me for a spin. Whether this was a early car or a newer version, I wouldn't know.

In any event, the gaps were terrible everywhere you looked. The integrity of the interior noise was awful. It squeaked and rattled; there was an obnoxious noise (clunking) coming from the right side (sounded like a collapsed shock or strut). The exterior trim was poor. The rear taillight bezels had dents in them. Not just this car mind you, but the other two that were in the paddock also had the same problem.. And these were cars put on display to the public?

As I indicated in a previous post, the dealers were somewhat amused by all of this and pointed out a few other things that were not right.

Just my experience, Wayne. It didn't make a believer out of me. I wouldn't look for these to be on the Top Ten collectible list anytime soon, despite the Shelby cachet. But, of course, I have been wrong before.