Shelby trivia answer needed

[Russ Dickey]

I took this quote from another thread:

Originally posted by misfit41


And as you said,,not to start anything,Shelby NEVER approached chevy for the cobra project,thats a whole nother story non cobra related....

I have always read and heard that Shelby DID in fact approach Chevrolet first, but Zora Arkus-Duntov put the brakes on that. What's the real scoop???

Thanks,

Russ

[computerworks]

Shelby says in his bio that he spoke with GM (specifically Harley Earl and Ed Cole) about using a Chevy engine in his sports car. GM was feeling the pain of the financial flop that the Corvette was at that time, and nixed the idea.

[Excaliber]

,,,,and an important footnote:

Shelby talked to a LOT of people from various place around the world. I think Oldsmobile was also mentioned at some point, and Austin Healey, etc. etc. When your a businessman, as Shelby was, and your trying to put together a deal, as Shelby was, you talk to a LOT of people.

In the end, he put together a very good plan indeed, Ford and AC and a tremendous group of workers.

[Dan Case]

The condensed story I have heard is, Shelby got two Corvette chassis from GM and sent them to Italy for custom bodies. Top GM brass found out and killed the project. Both cars were finished into running prototypes. One of the cars was auctioned at a US event a few years ago with lots oadvertisment as being the first Shelby sports car..................Dan

[Dan Case]

Took a few minutes but I found a site with more info. This site says three cars were made in 1959.
http://www.corvettebuyers.com/scaglietti.html

Dan Case

[misfit41]

The story is true,but I believe is unrelated in any way to the cobra project,this car was never intended to be a race car,but a high end italian sports car ,long before the cobra was thought of.Ill try to attach a clip from the cobra registry,, Tim

[Excaliber]

Why is it always assumed Shelby talked to GM "first"? I've never seen anything (but speculation) that even remotely suggested that is the way it happened.

And this connection with the three Italian Vettes doesn't change my opinion on that for a second! Shelby was a CONSULTANT on the Vette project which was carried out by someone else.

Through the 50's he was racing for various Euorpean car marques. He DID have a plan to build his own car, largley due to his heart condition. He KNEW he could not continue racing as a driver, building a car was the next logical step for him.

I'd bet Chevy was no where near the "first" one he talked to.

[misfit41]

I give up on attaching any thing,I cant get it under 40kb and still large enough to read,,Id love to know how some of the huge pics get posted,,Tim

[Excaliber]

Tim, post them in your gallery first. THEN right click on the pic and select "Properties" and COPY the entire HTTM://www.yada.yada. ADDRESS to the pic.

Now when you POST your reply select "IMG" and PASTE that wed address in there.

OK, here is the ADDRESS (Properties) of one of the pics in my Gallery. Here it appears as a "link".

BUT, if you add [ IMG ] at the beginning of the address AND at the end [ /IMG ] it will display the Picture, not the Link! NOTE: Delete the spaces in the [ IMG ] examples.

LINK:
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...eelie1-med.jpg


PICTURE:

[misfit41]

[misfit41]

Thanks,,needs work,,but thats closer than I was,,lol,,Tim

[RallySnake]

Hey Slick,

That's very slick! THANK YOU.

Paul

[Trevor Legate]

As I understand it, Shelby had always thought the V8-engined Allards were a Good Idea and thought he could make money from a similar lightwieght car with a V8. He had conversations with John Wyer at Aston Martin, but they had no interest in such a car themselves. He considered the Austin Healy 3000 for a while and talked to most of the car maunufacturers in the UK and Europe and then got involved with a Texan oil guy, Gary Laughlin, who wanted to build a Corvette with an Italian body. Jim Hall got involved as he had a sports car dealership with Shelby at the time. They got three chassis from Chevrolet and sent them to Scaglietti in Modena, had them built up and had one each. Shelby and Hall acted as consultants but Shelby sold his car almost at once.

Either Chevrolet got annoyed that taking a chassis off the production line caused production to be interupted, or they were worried that the 'Italian' Corvette might be better than theirs.
Anyhow, they lost the chassis supply. (see the book Corvette Fifty Years by Randy Leffingwell, pages 158 - 166)

Shelby would have done a deal with Skoda if they could supply him with a body/chassis unit. He just ended up with an AC Ace because it had a lot of room under the hood and also looked quite nice. Don't they?

[computerworks]

Tim...you are saving the images as .BMPs.
Try converting them to .JPGs

[misfit41]

thanks Guys for the help..next time Ill get it right,,Tim