Carroll Shelby passes away at 89:

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Carroll Hall Shelby, the Texan who created the famous Shelby Cobra and uncounted other high-performance machines that turned the auto world on its ear, and made it a whole lot more fun for 50 years, died in Dallas Thursday night at age 89. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia... 

Full story @ http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/05/auto-legend-carroll-shelby-father-of-cobra-dies/1#.T6152e2XOlI

[TruckDriver]

OMG!!!!! I just saw this on Speed 

You Will be missed Carroll.... R.I.P.

[DC_1]

sad to hear 

[twodko]

RIP

[MoparManJim]

 

[GOTWING]

He lived a great life, and will always be remembered.

[Magnumcharger]

A great theory as to how Carroll Shelby died:
http://jalopnik.com/5909688/the-probably-true-story-of-how-carroll-shelby-really-died?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[Drache]

I remember Shelby auctioning off a new mustang for charity. One of the bidders said he'd bid $550,000 if Shelby would sign his cowboy hat and throw it in with the car. He did and the guy won the auction

I think all the money from the car was being donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

[Big Sugar]

A True Gentleman, RIP .......He made it quite a way since he first had health issues way back in the 60's....
I'm sure he's off to a GREAT NEW PLACE ! He's certainly earned it.


RIP Mr. Shelby.....RIP
Ron

[FlatbackFanatic]

  i couldn't of said it better, Ron...

[model maker]

A true legend gone.
http://www.carrollshelby.com/#/1923-1951

[TUFCAT]

He was more of a legend in his mind.

[Mike DC]

 
                                 
Carroll Shelby was greedy and dishonest.

I've never understood what was so remarkable about buying a small car and putting a bigger engine into it.

 

[Big Sugar]

                                 
Carroll Shelby was greedy and dishonest.

I've never understood what was so remarkable about buying a small car and putting a bigger engine into it.

 

Classy post !    Your ignorance is showing

[Mike DC]

Classy post !    Your ignorance is showing

He tried to pass off a batch of freshly-built Cobra frames as 1960s originals.  Classy idea.  

Yeah, he did some inventive stuff 50 years ago.  I just get tired of people acting like he invented the entire big-engine-into-small-car concept.  IMHO he was more remarkable for his commercial endeavors than engineering ones.  And some of those commercial endeavors are "controversial" when you dig into the story a bit. 

[jaak]

All this talk about Shelby's cars and such.....this is what I liked about Carroll Shelby.....



Good Stuff!
Jason

[Cooter]

Classy post !    Your ignorance is showing

He tried to pass off a batch of freshly-built Cobra frames as 1960s originals.  Classy idea.  

Yeah, he did some inventive stuff 50 years ago.  I just get tired of people acting like he invented the entire big-engine-into-small-car concept.  IMHO he was more remarkable for his commercial endeavors than engineering ones.  And some of those commercial endeavors are "controversial" when you dig into the story a bit.  

Damn Mike, Don't hate because he came along in a time when FORD backed his ventures with an English car company that lost it's engine supplier. He simply stepped in and got something built off the back of FORD's money and engines, and created an AMERICAN icon out of a poor, silly, little English car. While he may not have INVENTED the concept, he certainly got it to the masses by being a shrewd business man...Therefore, he gets the props..Sit back on the sidelines and nobody will care, step up and put your sh*t into the spotlight and everybody will...This concept has been around since the beginning of time.

The same could be said for the likes of Herb McCandless, Ronnie Sox, Buddy Martin, Dick Landy, and so on..
These guys got ALL there cars and parts DONATED by Chrysler. Anything blew up, they simply went into the stock that CHRYSLER gave them and rebuilt. They were front men and business men just like Shelby. They were out there, they signed a deal, therfore, they are remembered. I've drag raced my poor old Dart for almost 20 years....I don't see anybody giving me fresh 500 C.I. engines to promote Chrysler.

I've tried the "My wallet against the world" ya' know what? It can't be done because when there's corperate sponsors, you lose plain and simple. So, either join in on the fun or get out of the way, because someone else will. Nobody gets anywhere by playin' by the rules. How many of YOUR cars real, fake, cloned, etc. will sell for what one of Shelby's "fake" Cobras will??

[Mike DC]

 
George Lucas did some great stuff in his early days too.  But when he dies there will still be plenty of comments that he sold out his own legacy for cash.

And Lucas never shot a Star Wars movie in the present and tried to pass it off for being recently found unreleased stuff from the 1970s.

[Chryco Psycho]

From what I know he had registered a lot more serial # back in the 60s ,  the extra serial # cars were never built but he used those serial # on new chassis built later on so the cars could be registered as as 60s cars , in doing this the cars did not have to pass any safety or emissions tests . Seems smart to me 
The Cumminham was the same concept 10 years earlier small lightweight British body with a 50s Chrysler Hemi stuffed into them . most never even heard of Cumminham Shelby definatly was not the first but must have been marketed better .
He did take on Ferrari @ Lemans & beat them which was no small feat .
As for Lucas & his simple Princess in distress & hero comes to save her story ... Yawn 

[Mike DC]

From what I know he had registered a lot more serial # back in the 60s ,  the extra serial # cars were never built but he used those serial # on new chassis built later on so the cars could be registered as as 60s cars , in doing this the cars did not have to pass any safety or emissions tests . Seems smart to me  Twocents

. . . And yet plenty of other builders manage to sell identical Cobras every year without 1960s VINs.

Shelby didn't intend to just use the VINs.  He was having brand new frames built and "aged" just to deceive modern-day buyers.  The only reason he backed off that version of the story was because the truth came out.  We would sure as hell be calling it crooked if any less famous car builder tried a stunt like that.

The Cumminham was the same concept 10 years earlier small lightweight British body with a 50s Chrysler Hemi stuffed into them . most never even heard of Cumminham Shelby definatly was not the first but must have been marketed better .
He did take on Ferrari @ Lemans & beat them which was no small feat .

Agree.

As for Lucas & his simple Princess in distress & hero comes to save her story ... Yawn  

The first one of those movies he did in 1977 was actually pretty unique at the time he did it.  It only looks cookie-cutter today because the influence is too large to see outside of it afterwards.  We adults also have a way of forgetting that it wasn't intended for us.

"Empire Strikes Back" was pretty awesome for any age group.  Same with the 1980s "Indiana Jones" flicks.