Carroll Shelby's productivity

[Rule of cool]

I've gone down the Carroll Shelby rabbit hole in the last few days in the same way I do for obscure aircraft programmes and have come to an inescapable conclusion.

• For a few years in the early-mid 60s Carroll Shelby was one of the most productive people on planet Earth!

At a time when long distance communication was by telegram, an international phone call was a big deal and low-volume cars were moved around the world by break-bulk cargo ship Shelby's organisation was starting new programmes every couple of months, causing giants like GM and Ferrari to respond to which Shelby & Co would respond in turn. Each time they started something it turned to gold, whether that be developing their own cars or racing in the US or Internationally.

The big surprise to me is his most iconic car, the most replicated car in the world the 427 Cobra, was actually a bit of a failure in racing programme terms. It failed FIA homologation inspection in April 1965 with only 51 cars instead of the 100 needed for the GT class. This pretty much made the 51 (53 by July) competition 427 Cobras built unsalable to racers with National or International ambitions and only 16 were sold by November 1965 with the rest sitting around Shelby's workshop yard as unpainted rolling chassis.

It appears the 427 Cobra gained its legendary reputation by being the fastest street car in the world, backed by a few years domination in US sports car racing by privateers.

 

[F-2]

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It appears the 427 Cobra gained its legendary reputation by being the fastest street car in the world, backed by a few years domination in US sports car racing by privateers.

If I could see any two cars race, it would be a 1965 427 Cobra vs a 1969 Corvette L88 or a Cobra Super Snake CSX3303 vs a 1969 Corvette ZL-1.

 

[Rule of cool]

If I could see any two cars race, it would be a 1965 427 Cobra vs a 1969 Corvette L88 or a Cobra Super Snake CSX3303 vs a 1969 Corvette ZL-1.

Surely there's some footage of late 60s SCCA races floating around, there is for Can Am, Australian Touring Car races etc from the era.

 

[Rule of cool]

If I could see any two cars race, it would be a 1965 427 Cobra vs a 1969 Corvette L88 or a Cobra Super Snake CSX3303 vs a 1969 Corvette ZL-1.

Not exactly what you asked for, but here's a picture of the first race for both the Mk1 260 Cobra and 1963 Z06 Corvette Stingray, Riverside 3hr, 13 October 1962.

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