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Notes from the SAAC Mail Room.Sometimes this column practically

writes itself. For instance, we recentlyreceived an email from someone claim-ing to be a Shelby owner (not sure if hewas a SAAC member, but it hardlymatters) who said he had seen auctiondescriptions and advertisements forShelbys that claim a car is “certified bySAAC” or “registered with SAAC.” Hewanted to know what was involved ingetting his Shelby certified or regis-tered with the club

It was an interesting question. Wehave to admit that we wince every timewe see an auction description saying acar is “certified by” or “registered with”SAAC. The words “certified” and “reg-istered” can be both wide-ranging andsharply focused. For starters, neitherSAAC nor the registrars will certify acar as being a Shelby. We could, butunder what authority? Would everyonebe legally bound to recognize such apronouncement? Hardly. Any such cer-tifications would not be worth thepaper they were printed on.

Someone can certainly advertisethat a car is certified by SAAC, butwhat, exactly, does that mean? Essen-tially, it means nothing. Neither SAACnor the registrars will certify a car.They may certify that a serial numberis one that was used by Shelby Ameri-can or Shelby Automotive, or that inthe case of the early cars, the Ford se-rial number corresponds with theShelby number.

Sellers or auction companies willdo anything they can to make a car ap-pear authentic or genuine and, hence,more salable. Who can blame them?That’s why we say these terms can bevery broad. SAAC doesn’t “register”any cars. You could make the case thatbecause a serial number is in the reg-istry, that car is “registered.” And bythis circular logic, since all Shelby se-rial numbers are in the registry, thenall Shelbys are “registered.”

It is necessary to separate the se-rial number from the car. They are notequivalent. Anyone can attach a Shelbyserial number onto any vehicle.

002/003: IS THERE ANYWHERE THESE CARS HAVEN’T BEEN?

THE OLD IN-N-OUT

Believe it or not, folks, there are 1965 GT350s other than 5R002 and 5S003. However,they are not pictured here. Since their cars’ restoration about nine months ago, ownersJohn Atzbach (002) and Mark Hovander (003) have crisscrossed the country, bringingtheir GT350s to almost every major event or concours from Amelia Island to Road Amer-ica and Tulsa to Monterey, with several stops in between. These guys are a veritableLewis and Clark of the Shelby world. The cars are pictured, above, at the Pacific North-west Concours d’Elegance at Tacoma, Washington’s LeMay Museum. Businessman andcar collector Harold LeMay amassed the world’s largest private car collection (morethan 500 vehicles) and after his death the city of Tacoma donated ten acres next to theTacoma Dome so a museum could be built to house some of the cars, selected becausethey are remarkable for their speed, technology and design as well as their importancewithin the car culture. The majority of the LeMay Family Collection remains in nearbySpanaway, Washington. Both Atzbach and Hovander live in the Seattle area so this wasone event that was very convenient for them to attend. Next stop: the grand opening ofa Pep Boys outside of Bangor, Maine.

Ted Warren of Shreveport. Louisiana re-cently got a CSX4000 427 Cobra. How dowe know? Because almost every time weopen up our email we get a picture of hisCobra. We’re not complaining, mind you,but a steady diet of anything gets a tad te-dious after a while. As much as we like filetmignon, we don’t have it every night. Thatsaid, every once in a while we are inspiredby one of Warren’s photos. Like this one.In-N-Out burger has a long-standing rela-tionship with Cobras. They go together.

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For example, someone could pur-chase a blank Shelby VIN plate, stampan actual Shelby number into it, andthen rivet it onto an F-150 pick-up (oranything else they have parked out-side). Is that vehicle then “registered”?Can it be described as being such, byvirtue of its serial number—which is inthe registry? Does that make it an ac-tual Shelby? Of course not. So, becausesomeone says a car is “registered” re-ally doesn’t mean jack.

Years ago, before Shelbys had at-tained the value they currently have,accurately counterfeited cars were fewand far between. The pool of highlyknowledgeable enthusiasts who werecapable of building a fake that wouldfool 99% of everyone else was muchsmaller. And virtually none of theseknowledgeable people would wastetheir time counterfeiting a Shelbywhen there were still plenty of genuinecars available. That, of course, didn’tstop a bunch of ham-fisted goons frombuilding their own Shelbys. As “repli-cas,” “look-alikes” or “tribute cars,”they didn’t make a blip on the radarscreen of genuine Shelby values. Butonce there was an attempt to pass oneof these cars off as real, it caused sell-ers and buyers of all Shelbys to have tobe more careful and more discerning.

Ten or twenty years ago the bodyof knowledge about Shelbys was muchmore limited. It has been continuouslyexpanded over the past decade or two,mostly because production informationand details have been confirmed andsolidified through SAAC’s concours carshows and the members who serve asjudges. The downside, of course, is thatthis body of knowledge is available toany miscreant wishing to build a coun-terfeit car and try to pass it off as anoriginal. On the front lines, defendingagainst these fakes and frauds, are theregistrars, backed up by everyone elsewith access to this body of knowledge.

Not that any of this is intended tomake “Nervous Nellies” out of everyShelby owner or potential buyer. Veryfew counterfeit Shelbys are con-structed from thin air. Most of theproblem cars started out as legitimatebut became entangled in ownershipdisputes, cars being pieced togetherwithout legitimate paperwork, orsomeone’s desire to expunge parts of acar’s history and replace it with some-thing with fewer barnacles and scarswhich might improve its value. Thetruth eventually rises to the surface.

INVESTIGATING THE “WIDE MOUTH” VALENCE

Jeff Burgy sent us this picture of 5S396 after he saw Greg Kolasa’s article in thelast issue describing some of the styling cues and ideas for the early Shelbys, some ofwhich never made it into production. Burgy took this picture at one of the SOA conven-tions. The car it was, at that time, owned by Dan Mihon. Both he and Burgy were livingnear Dearborn at the time and Burgy recalled that it was not unheard of for parts fromFord concept cars, which were supposed to have been trashed, to find their way into thehands of area Ford enthusiasts over the years. His first thought was that the front va-lence on 5S395 might have been a one-off piece made by either Dearborn Steel Tubing,Berry Plastiglas or Philips Fiberglass—all companies that did prototype work for var-ious manufacturers or short production runs of aftermarket pieces.

Then Burgy remembered seeing a similar wide mouth valence on another earlyMustang and when he reviewed his photo files he found a picture of a car with a similarvalence. It was taken at the 2012 SEMA show but it was impossible to tell if it was aMustang or Shelby. Was it the exact same valence? Not very likely after some 40 years.

After emailing several people, SAAC concours judge Jeff Speegle responded withan article from Street and Strip magazine (date not known) showing the valence andidentifying it as being made by Philips Fiberglass as one of their Mustang aftermarketpieces around 1966. That pretty much confirmed that the wide mouth valence was nevera Shelby prototype piece. End of investigation.

Burgy owned 6S1206 in the early ‘70s while he was working at Ford and he in-stalled a Pony interior in it that had originally been in a prototype Mustang conceptcar that was sitting outside of Ford’s Body Engineering Building. The seats were uniquewith black carpeting on the back of the seatbacks instead of the stock vinyl. Always con-scious of serial numbers, he saw that this red Hi-Po fastback did not have a VIN. He re-

members that another guy who worked inhis building ended up with the car andparted it out.

This photo was in the Street and Strip article.The car was described as a red fastback withmagnesium wheels. They were made by Hali-brand, using existing molds which had been uti-lized for Cobra FIA wheels.

Burgy’s photo files appear to be virtually bot-tomless. He was able to put his hands on thispicture of a Mustang at the 2012 SEMA show.

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In the last issue we included a noteon the electric-powered Renovo Day-tona Coupe. We did not exhibit as muchenthusiasm as other publications be-cause, quite frankly, the concept of anelectric car does not generate anysparks for us (sorry—pun intended; wecouldn’t help ourselves). We do not apol-ogize for being stuck in the 1960s. Wefeel comfortable there.

We understand the concept ofprogress. We get it. But we also under-stand that progress consists of a num-ber of small steps, stacked one at atime, on top of each other. There’s noquestion that the Renovo is the bestperforming EV yet [that’s Electric Ve-hicle for the rest of you mossbacks outthere], its Daytona Coupe genesisnotwithstanding. But when comparedto the “old fashioned” gasoline-poweredinternal combustion engines we allknow and love, they are still back-burner projects at all larger auto man-ufacturers. Right now they are trendy.Will EVs begin replacing ICs [internalcombustion powered cars]? Not likelyin your lifetime. Unless...

Unless technology allows a quan-tum leap forward in battery technology;for example, the development of a ten-pound battery that holds a charge for ayear. Sound like Star Trek stuff? Com-pare today’s iPhone with what a flipcell phone could do five years ago. Amajor breakthrough would makethings happen fast and would make aChevrolet Volt look like a StanleySteamer.

Before you put your green hat on(sideways, probably), think about this:if the number of EVs on the road sud-denly multiply like titillated rabbits,where will the electricity used to chargetheir batteries come from?

If the supply remains the same and de-mand increases, the cost of electricitywill go up and EVs won’t seem nearlyas cheap to operate.

Coal

ATTENTION: FALCONSITAS

We know there are a number of Falconistas in the club so when we saw this on the“Bring A Trailer” auction site we knew it would be of interest. If you go to www.bringa-trailer.com/auctions you’ll find this car listed. The current bid when we looked was$22,500. Now before you hook up your trailer read a little farther. This 1965 Falcon hasno vintage history. Someone modified it in 2010 and entered it in the 2011 La CarreraPanamerica and although it didn’t win, it was a finisher. It has all the trick parts (302,four-speed top-loader, Brembo brakes, etc) and it would be a real trick to build a similarcar for anywhere near $22K. It would make a nice track car.

HI-PERFORMANCE MOTORS LICENSE PLATE FRAMESReproduction Theorem #25. Ifthere is enough of a demand forsomething, sooner or later some-body will reproduce it. Pity thosewho have originals they thoughtwere valuable as they watch thebottom of that market drop out.Exhibit A: Virginia Classic Mus-tang just had chrome Hi-Perfor-mance Motors license plateframes accurately reproduced.The originals were free. Thesewill cost you $49.95 each.www.virginiaclassicmustang.com

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THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. should we be waitingfor an r-model ?

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE COBRA REPLICA MARKET WAS SATURATED. . .

Presidential Libraries don’t rely solely on historical artifacts. The Ronald Reagan Pres-idential Library in Simi Valley, California, for example, has an exhibit called “AmazingAutomobiles: The Ultimate Car Exhibit.” Actually, there are several different groups ofcars being displayed between May and December. The exhibit was put together in con-junction with the Petersen Automotive Museum, which supplied some of the cars. Threeseparate galleries are Hollywood, History and Heads of State. The Hollywood gallery iscomposed of cars used in television and the movies or were owned by celebrities. In-cluded is the 1957 Jaguar XKSS once owned by Steve McQueen. Twenty five of themwere built but a fire broke out in the Jaguar plant in England and destroyed nine ofthem. McQueen purchased his for $5,000, using money he initially made in his “Wanted- Dead Or Alive” television series. Other cars include one of the original Barris Batmo-biles, the ‘66 Thunderbird used in “Thelma and Louise,” the ‘46 Ford used by John Tra-volta in “Grease” and Elvis Presley’s ‘71 Pantera — complete with a bullet hole in thefender, the result of Presley losing his temper when the car would not run. Another timehe demonstrated his displeasure with the car by shooting at the dashboard and puttinga hole in the steering wheel. The mirrors on the front fenders are reminiscent of some-thing, but we just can’t put our finger on it. Give us time and it will come to us.

Factory Five unveiled their latest model at the 2014 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. It’s called the 289 USRRC Replica and while wehave not yet seen one in the flesh, the photos look great. It has all the right competition parts and the proportions all look right. Thekit comes without an engine or transmission, allowing the buyer’s desire and budget to be their guide. The car has a fiberglass bodyand the 4-inch diameter ladder chassis is based on Factory Five’s Mk V roadster, a 427 S/C replica but otherwise it’s pretty accurate.If we wanted to pick a nit—admittedly a small one—we’d mention that although it’s called the “USRRC” replica it has the FIA suit-case dimples in the trunk. As most Cobraphiles know, one of the FIA’s requirements was that GT cars had to be able to carry a spe-cific-sized “suitcase” in the trunk. The only way it would fit was to dimple the trunk, which Shelby’s guys did. the USRRC competitioncars didn’t need or have these dimples. Not a major point in the overall scheme of things. What we found interesting was that withall of the other FIA/USRRC replicas currently available (both new ones or those on the secondary market) Factory Five felt confidentenough to produce a new model of their own. There has to be a market saturation point somewhere, but we’re not there yet.

In the continuing adventures of ChuckCantwell, this summer he found himselfwith a golf cart that needed a few repairs.Well, you know how it is: one thing led toanother and before he knew it, it had ac-quired Guardsman Blue LeMans stripesand GT350 rocker panel designations, andwhat look like chrome 5-spoked Cragarwheels. At this point we’re not sure if weshould simply take this for what it’s worthor start thinking in more historical terms.After all, this could be just be a prototype,with a competition version on the drawingboard: more power, lighter weight, betterhandling. Yes, we can definitely see wherethis is heading.

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Burgy’S

Ford GT Corner The Latest News That’s 43-inches High

There is no question that as the FordGTs approach their first decade theirvalues have taken off. It’s a lot easier totrack their worth today than it was someforty years ago with Cobras, becausetoday’s auction results are reported im-mediately and thanks to the Internetword spreads with lightning speed. If acar sells for a record price this morning,everyone knows it this afternoon. Doesthat have an effect on subsequent sales?It would seem to. According to Mecum’swebsite, the results for Ford GTs auc-tioned at Monterey were strong with lowmileage cars bringing a premium. Weare still at a loss to explain how someonecould buy one of these cars and not driveit, unless they did that with the specificintention of holding it until it reached acertain price before selling it. That’s cer-tainly possible, but with the number oflow-mileage GTs coming up for sale youwouldn’t think there were THAT many.

5-0752 brought $315K. Red was the mostcommon color but the unbelievably lowmileage of 2.9 helped push the price up.

6-1886 seemed to be a more normal sale; itwent for $240K and had a more normal10,600 miles.

5-0347 sailed across the block for $280K.It only had 38 miles.

6-0040: Gulf Racing “Heritage” paint al-ways brings a premium. It went for$510K. Mileage was only 100.

No-Sale at Monterey was this Matech GT1 racer. Six werebuilt and two were destroyed in racing accidents. The four sur-vivors were purchased earlier this year by Lance Miller (sonof the late Chip Miller who was one of the founders of theCarlisle swap meet) and his friend Greg Boehme. The Matechcars were not converted street GTs. Rather, they started lifeas bare Mayflower chassis that were strengthened and up-graded. They received 5.3L naturally-aspirated, 650-horse-power Roush-Yates engines and modified suspensions.

The serial number of this car is MR10FORDGT1SN003 (Mat-ech Racing 2010 Ford GT1 Serial Number 003). It was bid upto $1.2 million at the Mecum auction but that wasn’t highenough to make the reserve (rumored to be $1.5M). The car isnot being listed on the Internet with Cat’s Exotics in Lynwood,Washington. The ad says, “call for a price.”

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Pirate’s Cove Ford GT Post -Convention PartyWe hardly know where to begin,

here. Burgy sent a bunch of photos fol-lowing the annual GT Rally, a conven-tion-like event put on by the owners ofnew Ford GTs (this year held in LasVegas). These guys know how to party!

A bunch of them got together to con-tinue their convention at a place calledPirate’s Cove in Boulder City, Nevada,about twenty miles to the southeast ofLas Vegas. The place is difficult to de-scribe. It’s a private property with 18bedrooms and 22 bathrooms decoratedin a Caribbean pirate motif. Anyone whostays there is a guest of the Tillotsonfamily that owns it. Originally built as avacation getaway for family and grand-children, it was expanded and seemed togrow on its own. When the Treasure Is-land casino and hotel on the Las VegasStrip was being refurbished a lot of itspirate theme decorations were auctionedoff and landed here.

The place is a combination of Dis-neyland and a Hollywood movie set usedby Bob Guccione as background for aPenthouse photo shoot. The 20,000square-foot grounds include a 50,000-gallon swimming pool, hot tubs, water-slides and a replica of a pirate ship. Thefully landscaped grounds have water-falls, palm trees, rope bridges anddozens of nooks and crannies, all pirate-theme. How the Ford GT guys wangledan invitation to this place is anyone’sguess but it makes a SAAC conventionlook like a Third World refugee campcatered by Fred Sanford. Burgy claimshe wasn’t there (we’re dubious) butPeter Brock and Camilo Pardo were.

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HAS IT REALLY BEEN 42 YEARS ?

WATCH-OUT, HILLARY !

DAN GURNEY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS EDISON-FORD MEDAL

Rollie Stephenson purchased CSX2350 inthe summer of 1969. He was the car’s sec-ond owner. He began using it for au-tocrosses and gymkhanas and got a tasteof competition, which led to racing. After100 events and 38 races at tracks likeRoad America, Blackhawk Farms, Donny-brook, Sebring and the Bahamas, Stephen-son garnering 23 First Place finishes.Along the way the car received competitionfeatures like a roll bar, hood scoop, Hali-brand wheels and eventually cut-backdoors. Stephenson asked Bob Bondurant todrive the car in Freeport, Nassau in 1984and in 1989 Bondo was involved in a rac-ing mishap in the car at R-A that resultedin a full-tilt Bill Murray restoration. It waslast seen at the 2012 Monterey Historicswhen Cobra was the honored marque. Thethen and now photos show Stephensonlurking behind the car, and friends TomRoemer (behind the wheel) and RichardRoemer (1972) and Stephenson’s brotherJim (2014). There’s nothing like this to un-derscore that time does not stand still.

Lauren Fix has been a long-time SAACmember and we’ve watched her careermove from running the Buffalo region, toteaching driving schools and racing, writ-ing several books, hosting a website andmost recently assuming the mantle of “TheCar Coach” where she regularly appearson the Fox Business Channel and News-max TV, reporting on auto-related stories.We recently spotted these two photos onher website and were moved to ponder apotential future for her in national politics.It would certainly be a pro-automobile

On October 29 Dan Gurney was awarded the prestigious Edison-FordMedal at a ceremony at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.It was presented in recognition of his remarkable lifetime achievements.This is only the second time in its 25-year history that the medal has beenawarded. It is intended to honor individuals who “fully leverage the cre-ative, innovative and entrepreneur spirit that resides in every one of us,”said the Ford museum’s Curator of Transportation, Matt Anderson. Thefirst recipient, in 1989, was W. Edwards Deming, whose work in statisticslaid the groundwork for Japan’s economic rebirth in the postwar years.

plank calling for a drastic reduction of the Department of Transportation and makingtheir primary responsibility the maintenance of roads and filling pot holes; restruc-turing of all speed limits to consider 2000 technology (and not archaic 1950s perform-ance standards); outlawing all tolls; mandating drilling on all government-owned landto promote energy independence; retiring the presidential limousines and replacingthem with high performance cars; prohibiting all electric or hybrid cars from the leftlane; limiting Smart car use to golf courses, amusement park and carnival rides.

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THE DAYTONA COUPE OF ENCLOSED TRAILERS

MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME OF AMERICA FEATURES GT40 ON YEARBOOK COVER

The new Aerovault MK II has beenunveiled. Peter Brock could not find anaerodynamic enclosed trailer, only thebread boxes everyone is used to. So, he de-signed one himself and had it built.Whenhe took it on the road he received so manypositive comments that he was motivatedto start building them. Like any design,the first iteration proved to be a spring-board to the new, improved version.Voila´—the MK II.

Studying body shape, airflow andheight, Brock discovered a smooth shapethat eliminates turbulence and allows theAerovault to be towed faster while getting 30-percent or better mileage or getting more than 50 percent better mileage at normal road speeds. It is constructed completely ofaluminum which allows a light weight—2,340 lbs. Other tricks are an enclosed axle which is the equivalent of a full belly pan anda dorsal fin running down the center of the rood which adds strength without requiring internal bracing. It will, of course, hold aCobra but a GT350 will also fit inside. The interior width between the inside fenders is 80-inches and the interior length is 19-feet.All this trailer needs is a Kamm-back tail design that will incorporate a ramp.

Motorsports in this country is a broad concept that can bedifficult to wrap your arms around. It comprises all types of mo-torized competition, including open wheel cars, stock-bodied cars,sports cars, drag racing, motorcycles, powerboats and aviation.Twenty-five years ago an organization was formed to honor thetop individuals from each of these areas of competition. It washeadquartered in Detroit and once a year, following nominationsby a 95-member nominating committee and elections by 93 mem-bers of the voting panel (in addition to those on the nominatingpanel) the winners are inducted into the Hall in a gala ceremony.

The criteria for being nominated are very explicit: a personmust be retired from their line of work (driver, mechanic, etc) inmotorsports for at least five years. However, they may still be ac-tive in the sport in a different capacity (driver becomes teamowner or on-the-air announcer, mechanic opens shop but is notactive in racing). The five year waiting period also applies in theevent of death of an active motorsports participant. After the fineyear waiting period an individual has fifteen years of eligibility.

The big news, this year, is that a new facility is being builtat Daytona International Speedway and the track play a part inthe Hall of Fame. The building will also house a museum whichwill have cars on display as well as exhibits relation to the latestcrop of inductees. To date 219 individuals have been inductedinto the Hall. A good number of those have been involved withShelby American Cobras, GT40s, Trans-Am and other competi-tion cars.

•Phil Hill (1989)•Mario Andretti (1990)•Mark Donohue (1990)•Dan Gurney (1991)•Parnelli Jones (1992)•Carroll Shelby (1992)•Bruce McLaren (1995)•Peter Revson (1996)•Dennis Hulme (1998)

•George Follmer (1999)•Ken Miles (2001)•Brian Redman (2002)•Bob Bondurant (2003)•Elliott Forbes-Robinson (2006)•Richie Ginther (2008)•David Hobbs (2009)•Jerry Titus (2010)•Phil Remington (2015 nominee)

Full Disclosure: Kopec has been a member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame’s voting panel since it began, in 1989. He admits to beingespecially receptive to nominees who have driven or otherwise been involved with Shelby-related cars.

This year’s Motorsports Hall of Fame Yearbook features an illus-tration of a Gulf GT40 by motorsports artist Guy Allen.

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LATEST SHELBY BARN FIND ELIMINATES THE MIDDLEMAN

THE LAST OF THE SHELBYS: 1971 EUROPA 350 GT

These pictures were sent to us by thehotrodline.com website. We can recall atime, not very long ago, when a barn findwas snapped up by an astute and percep-tive enthusiast who would tear into it, giv-ing the car a nose-to-tail, bottom-uprestoration. The finished product was oftenbrought to a show or convention and dis-played as an example of someone’s work-manship and dedication to the marque.Who doesn’t love a rags-to-riches story. Ifthe barn find buyer did not have the skillor experience to do the restoration workhimself, it was pretty easy to find a capablerestoration shop. Once completed, noteveryone can be counted on to keep the car.Sometimes it is necessary to sell thenewly-restored car to pay the restorationbill. But in this instance, the car went fromraw barn find directly to auction. It’s justour guess, here, but maybe the differencebetween the purchase price and the auc-tion sale price was more that the sum ofthe purchase price, the cost of the restora-tion and the predicted auction sale price.Cutting out the middleman eliminates thetime, effort and restoration expense. Is thisthe way of the future?

Theo van den Hoven of the Netherlands sent us a picture of his freshly restored 1971350 GT. He’s had the car since 2001 and the previous owner just found the original alu-minum wheels in a dark corner of his garage. A total of 9 cars were built and sold. Com-plete history of these cars can be found in the new 1968-1969-1970 Registry.

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Carroll Shelby’s autograph has prob-ably become one of the most common col-lectibles in the Shelby world. We can’trecall anyone asking him for an autographat SAAC-1 in Oakland but by the time heshowed up at SAAC-5 in Dearborn in 1980his wrist got a workout. It got progres-sively worse after that. Initially he wasasked to sign whatever was handy, usuallyjust something to “prove” that someonehad met him. But as he began to attendmore and more events, an increasing num-ber of people began asking him to signthings: owners manuals, factory literature,pictures of individual cars and the like. AsShelby became increasingly more famous,so did the desire of owners and enthusiaststo have something that carried hisuniquely recognizable autograph.

Shelby began to realize the value ofhis signature and so did a lot of others.This was about the time he started hisChildren’s Foundation and began askingfor donations in return for his autograph.The value of things that had been signedwas demonstrably higher on the secondarymarket, based on auction sites like eBay.Shelby began signing all mater of things inquantity—notably posters and models—with a payable-up-front fee. As a result,the number of items currently carryingCarroll Shelby’s autograph can no longerbe described as “rare.”

So what is? SAAC member Jim Mc-Neil of Bayport, New York provided a sam-ple. A friend of his who was racing Ferrarisin the 1950s and early 1960s (including theType 315S that Piero Taruffi won the 1957Mille Miglia) was friend of Shelby’s. Thehandwritten note (undated) from CS in-vites Gene Greenspun and his wife to seeShelby’s new car at the Ford exhibit at theNew York Automobile Show in Manhattan,April 21 through 28 [1963]. The letterheadis from Shelby’s Goodyear race tire distrib-utorship.

BETTER THAN AN AUTOGRAPH: A PERSONAL NOTE FROM CARROLL SHELBY

THIS JUST IN : DAYTONA COUPE WINS 2014 CAR OF THE YEARThe International Historic Motoring Awards win-

ners were announced in November at the St. PancrasRenaissance Hotel in London, England. Selected by ablue ribbon panel of 22 automotive connoisseurs, the Carof the Year was awarded to the Cobra Daytona Coupe.The Museum of the Year was won by the Simeone Foun-dation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylva-nia. It was something of a coincidence (or maybe not)that this coupe, CSX2287, is part of the Simeone collec-tion. It is the only one of the six coupes that has not beenrestored. This car was the first automobile to be in-ducted into the American National Historic Registry.