A.O. Smith employee 1969? Got question.

[Historybuff]

I read in a comprehensive new book on Shelbys on the market that A.O.Smith was mighty ticked for not getting paid on time for Shelbys built and I am wondering
-whose idea was it for Shelby and Ford to part ways?
-was the beginning of the end Shelby going to Africa?
-was Shelby still mad at Ford for not receiving the top support from Ford for Trans Am?
My own theory is that the Boss 429 and Boss 302 sapped demand for Shelby cars but I wasn't following the story in the trade press at the time (working ironically for Chevys ad agency, my eyes were focused on Chevy) . Maybe some A.O. Smith employee can fill us in on why the air went out of the balloon in '69 so that the '70s were '69s re-numbered.

I tried to look up A.O.Smith on the net but all I found on first search was a couple paragraphs from a site called coachbuild.com which I quote:

"When Shelby American lost the lease for their factory near the Los Angeles International Airport, production was relocated to the A.O. Smith plant in Ionia. Specially optioned 1968 Mustangs (Shelby add-ons replaced stock Ford parts, so the cars were shipped without them) from Ford�s Metuchen, New Jersey factory were shipped by rail to Ionia where they were transformed into Shelby Mustangs using injection-molded fiberglass parts built by A.O Smith�s Dow-Smith division. A.O. Smith also produced the parts used in the California Special conversion. Production ended in late 1969 (1970 model year) following the cancellation of the Shelby Mustang program.

A similar operation converted Cougar XR-7s into XR7Gs. Stock 1968 Cougars were shipped by rail from Mercury�s Dearborn, Michigan assembly plant to A.O. Smith in Ionia where the unique XR7G badges and body parts were fitted. Many XR7Gs were ordered with sunroofs, which required a rail journey to Detroit, Michigan were the American Sunroof Corp. (ASC) fitted the Bosch-sourced sunroof assemblies. XR7G Cougars were only produced during the 1968 model year."

They don't go into why the Shelby program was cancelled.