Carroll Shelby

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Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified during the late 1960s and early 2000s. He established Shelby American in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967.^[1]

As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry driving an Aston Martin DBR1. He then went on to win the SCCA USAC Road Racing Sports Car Championship in 1960 driving a Maserati Tipo 61 "Birdcage" and a Chevrolet Scarab Mark II. As an automotive designer, he is known for developing the Ford GT40 along with racing legend Ken Miles, which won at Le Mans in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969. As of 2024, it remains the only American built car ever to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His and Miles's efforts at Le Mans were dramatized in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Ford v Ferrari.

Early life

Carroll Shelby was born on January 11, 1923, to Warren Hall Shelby, a rural mail carrier, and his wife, Eloise Shelby (born Lawrence), in

Shelby started driving professionally at age 29.

Shelby traveled to Europe in April 1954, where he raced a DBR3 for John Wyer at Aintree, followed by Le Mans. Teaming up with Graham Whitehead, their Aston Martin took fifth at the Thousand Kilometers at Monza on 27 June. He then drove in the 3-car factory team effort at Silverstone on 17 July with Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori, all three cars taking the three top places.

In August 1954, Shelby drove with Donald Healey, and his team. In an Austin-Healey 100S and supercharged 100S, they set Class D National speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Shelby, Healey, Captain G.E.T. Eyston, Mortimer Morris Goodall, and Roy Jackson-Moore set about 70 new records, with Shelby setting 17 on his own.^{[12]: 58–60}

Shelby was severely injured in a crash while racing an Austin-Healey in the Carrera Panamericana. Though he underwent eight months of operations, he continued to drive in 1955, winning about ten races, and a second-place showing at Sebring driving Allen Guiberson's Ferrari Monza. He then started driving Tony Paravano's Ferraris in August 1955. He won a further 30 races with the Ferrari in 1956, started driving for John Edgar, and opened Carroll Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas.^{[12]: 60–65, 68, 76}

He drove in the

He was Sports Illustrated magazine's driver of the year in 1956 and 1957.^{[15][12]: 79}

Racing John Edgar's 4.5-liter Maserati at the Riverside International Raceway in September 1957, he was involved in a crash that caused injuries requiring 72 stitches and plastic surgery for broken bones in his nose and cheekbones. However, he returned in November, winning with the same car at the same course, against Masten Gregory and Dan Gurney.^{[12]: 1–2, 83–87}

Shelby joined John Wyer and the Aston Martin team in Europe and drove a DBR3 at the

Shelby and Salvadori started the 1959 sports car season by driving the DBR1/300 at Sebring in March. In June, Shelby drove Wolfgang Seidel's Porsche in the Nürburgring 1000 km. The highlight of his racing career came in June 1959 when he co-drove an Aston Martin DBR1 (with Englishman Roy Salvadori) to victory in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[16] In September, Shelby drove with Jack Fairman in the Goodwood Tourist Trophy.^{[12]: 111, 115–116, 122–134}

The 1959 Grand Prix season saw Shelby driving the Aston Martin DBR4 in the Dutch Grand Prix in May, followed by the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July. Shelby then drove in the Portuguese Grand Prix in August, followed by the Italian Grand Prix in September.^[12]: 119

Shelby finished the 1959 racing season driving Casner Motor Racing Division's Birdcage Maserati at the Nassau races in December. In January 1960, he drove Temple Buell's Maserati 250F in the New Zealand Grand Prix, then Camoradi's Porsche in the Cuban Gran Premio Libertad, then their 2.9-liter Birdcage Maserati at Sebring. He won the Grand Prix at Riverside driving one of "Lucky" Cassner's Birdcage Maseratis, and then won the Castle Rock race in June, driving a Scarab. He finished the year driving Max Balchowsky's "Old Yeller II" in the Road America, then a Birdcage Maserati in the Pacific Grand Prix and the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix, which was his last race.^{[12]: 145, 155, 157–158, 164–169}

According to Shelby, "...winning the Twenty-four Hours was probably the greatest thrill I ever got out of racing. I can think of plenty of other races that carry their quota of thrills for the winner, but when you win this one it kind of gives you license to go out and tell people you're good, and that often helps get some other deals together."^[12]

In 1961, Shelby, along with Pete Brock, opened the Shelby School of High Performance Driving at the Riverside track.^[12]

As constructor

Shelby's visits to "limited-production factories in Europe" caused him to realize that “America was missing a big bet, a winning bet ... the design and production of an all-purpose, all-American sports or grand touring car that you could drive to market and also race during the weekend..." In particular, Shelby's starting point was putting a 300

Shelby started racing his creation in October 1962 at Riverside, with Billy Krause driving the CSX0002. Racing experience from 1963 indicated that further modifications were necessary to make the Cobra competitive with the Ferrari GT cars; in particular, the AC roadster body needed to be replaced with a lower-drag enclosed coupe body for high-speed circuits. The result was the Shelby Daytona Coupe, which took three GT class wins on the 1964 World Sportscar Championship GT circuit, including Le Mans and the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, plus the Sports Car Club of America's U.S. GT Championship. Then in 1965, Shelby American Cobra won the International Championship for GT Manufacturers.^{[12]: 180, 202, 208–210, 213–214, 217, 221}

After success with the Daytona Coupe in 1964, Shelby-American became more heavily involved in Ford's GT40 Sports Prototype racing program, which had experienced disappointing results. Shelby made changes to running gear, particularly transmissions, to improve reliability, and designed their GT40 Mark II variant around Ford's 7.0-litre (427 cu in) engine. In 1966, the Mark II earned Ford the overall Constructors' title in the World Sportscar Championship with their 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans. Ford was also developing a radical new prototype with a lightweight chassis based on aluminum honeycomb panels. Shelby was brought in to finalize the development of the car after the project experienced setbacks in 1966, which included the death of driver Ken Miles in August.^[18][19] The Mark IV was introduced for the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring and finished in first place. It was prepared for Le Mans and another record-breaking finish. Driver Dan Gurney shook and sprayed champagne on the podium and started a tradition. The Mark IV was Shelby's last prototype racer, as new limits on engine displacement for that class eliminated Ford's engines.

Shelby's early racing successes led to a joint effort of Ford and Shelby-American to produce the Mustang-based

After parting with Ford, Shelby moved on to help develop performance cars with divisions of the two other

• 1983–1984
  Dodge Shelby Charger
• 1985–1987
  Dodge Charger Shelby
• 1984–1986
  Dodge Omni GLH
• 1996 Dodge Viper RT/10 CS (50 units approved for production however only 19 were actually built: 18 1995/1996 RTs were built (16 white with blue stripes, 1 blue white stripes, 1 black with gold emblem on the hood and one 1997 GTS Shelby S/C (Street Competition) which was red with gold stripes.)

The following cars used Shelby-modified parts, but were not overseen by Carroll Shelby:

• 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z C/S
• 1987–1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z
• 1988–1991 Dodge Daytona C/S
• 1989–1991 Dodge Daytona Shelby
• 1988–1989 Dodge Lancer Shelby
• 1989–1990 Dodge Shadow Competition
• 1991–1992 Dodge Spirit R/T
• 1992–1993 Dodge Daytona IROC R/T
• 1999–2000 Dodge Durango S.P. 360

The following cars were limited production vehicles and modified at Shelby's Whittier, California, plant, and then sold as Shelbys:

• 1986
  Dodge Omni GLH
  ) (500 produced)
• 1987
  Dodge Charger Shelby
  ) (1,000 produced)
• 1987 Shelby Lancer (based on the Dodge Lancer) (800 produced, 400 with a Leather Interior/Automatic Trans. and 400 with a Cloth Interior/5 spd. Trans.)
• 1987 Shelby CSX (based on the Dodge Shadow) (750 produced)
• 1988 Shelby CSX-T (based on the Dodge Shadow) (1,000 produced)
• 1989 Shelby Dakota (based on the Dodge Dakota) (1,500 produced)
• 1989 Shelby CSX-VNT (based on the Dodge Shadow) (500 produced)

Above information citation^[25]

Shelby Series 1

Shelby unveiled the Series 1 roadster at the 1997

During production, Venture Corporation purchased Shelby American, Inc. The purchase included the Series 1 model, but not the rights to produce the "Continuation Series" Shelby Cobras.[27]^{[failed verification]} In 2004, after a subsequent bankruptcy by Venture Corporation (unrelated to the acquisition of Shelby American), Carroll Shelby's new company, Shelby Automobiles, Inc., purchased the Series 1 assets for pennies on the dollar. Included in the asset purchase were enough components to produce several more complete Series 1s.

Because the 1999 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards certificate had expired, and the cost to re-certify the car was prohibitive, all Series 1's produced after that date were completed as "component cars" and delivered with no engine or transmission. Those "component car" models built in 2005 are identified with a seven-digit vehicle identification number (VIN) and were designated with a CSX5000 series serial number. The original 249 were production cars with a seventeen-digit VIN.

The Series 1 was produced in both supercharged and normally aspirated versions. Supercharged cars were also outfitted by the factory with larger brakes and a heavy-duty clutch. Performance is near "supercar" category with a 0 to 60 mph time at 4.1 seconds for the supercharged version.^[28] The Series 1 had power steering, power disc brakes, factory air conditioning, power windows, and an AM/FM/CD audio system. The convertible top folded away in a compartment located behind the cockpit. Some component cars were sold as roadsters, with no convertible top.

Ford-Shelby projects

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In 2004, a new

In 2005, Carroll Shelby built his very first modern Masterpiece CSM:00001 V6 Shelby Mustang CS6 and #01 V8 to prove to Ford that he could still build high-performance cars. Its V6 produced 380 hp, making it faster than Ford's 300 hp V8. Because Ford thought the CS6 would hurt Ford Mustang V8 sales, Ford told Shelby to go with the 500 hp V8 instead.^[citation needed] Shelby first built a V8 modern version look of the Eleanor. Carroll built only one at the Shelby Factory. Later WCC built 4 as kits. Few CS6 Shelbys were also built as kits; consequently, these are among the rarest Shelbys in the world.

At the

Both Ford and Shelby American continue to use the Shelby name on high performance variants of the Mustang.

Non-Ford projects

In 1963 the Rootes Group, manufacturer of Sunbeam automobiles, wanted Shelby to upgrade their Alpine sports car to a more powerful version, using the Ford small-block V-8 engine, as he had done with the AC Cobra. Shelby did so and Rootes, pleased with the results, named the upgraded model the Tiger. In 1967 Chrysler bought Sunbeam and decided to use their own small block engine in the vehicle. However, their engine would not fit and marketed the cars with Ford engines until the supply ran out and the model was discontinued.

In his later years, Shelby brought several lawsuits against companies making copies of the Cobra body for use on kit cars – ostensibly for copyright, trademark, and patent violations.^{[citation needed]} Despite the litigation, the Cobra kit car industry continues to thrive.^{[citation needed]}

One of the lawsuits involved the Superformance Brock Coupe, a copy of the original Shelby Daytona Coupe. The Superformance Brock Coupe was designed by Pete Brock, who had also designed the original Daytona Coupe for Shelby. Shelby American sued Superformance after the company had developed and begun production of the Superformance Brock Coupe. Eventually, the litigation was settled, though the terms of the settlement have never been released to the public. As a result of the agreement between the two companies, the product is now known as the Shelby Daytona Coupe, despite being neither designed nor built by Shelby American. Nearly 150 of these new Shelby Daytona Coupes have been built as of February 2007.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Unique Performance, a company of Farmers Branch, Texas, purchased a license from Carroll Shelby Enterprises to place his name on a series of continuation vintage vehicles. This company specialized in recreating 1960s-style Shelby Mustangs. They purchased used Mustangs and installed updated versions of the Shelby 325-horsepower 302-cubic-inch V8 engine. They also use modern five-speed manual transmissions, brakes, steering, suspension, interiors, and entertainment systems. Because Shelby's license was purchased, these cars have Shelby serial numbers.^[31]

In October 2007, Carroll Shelby ended his licensing agreement with Unique Performance due to numerous issues of customer complaints where vehicles were not delivered. Unique Performance was subsequently raided by law enforcement for VIN irregularities and declared bankruptcy, which effectively ended the Shelby continuation "Eleanor" Mustang production.^[32] Shelby was in turn sued by victims of Unique Performance for his involvement in the criminal activity,^[33]

The 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds movie highlighted the star car character "Eleanor," a customized 1967 Mustang. Some custom car businesses began to reproduce "Eleanor"-looking cars with the trademarked name, causing Denice Halicki to again take legal action to protect the trademark and the copyrighted Eleanor's image. In 2008, Halicki won a case against Carroll Shelby, who was also selling "Eleanor" using the trademark name and copyrighted image.^[34][35][36]

The Scaglietti Corvette began when Gary Laughlin, a wealthy Texas oilman, and gentleman racer, had just broken the crankshaft in his Ferrari Monza. Like most Ferrari repairs, this was not going to be a cheap, simple fix. At the time, Laughlin was an active participant in the American sports car racing scene and was a close acquaintance of many of the key figures, including fellow Texan Shelby. The two had witnessed a number of V8-powered home-built specials challenge, and often defeat, the best that Europe had to offer. The idea developed that they should build a dual-purpose car based on the solid mechanicals of the Chevrolet Corvette. European-style alloy coachwork could help the chassis finally realize its potential. By chance, Laughlin owned a few Chevrolet dealerships and had a particularly valuable friend in Peter Coltrin, an automotive journalist who had gained an “in” with the influential Italians. Laughlin met with Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby to begin discussing what form their new Italian-American hybrid would take. The general consensus was that they should create a car that offered the best of both worlds – a Corvette with the distinction, performance, and style of a Ferrari, but with the power and reliability of a Chevrolet. The aim was to create a genuine high-performance GT with enough leg and headroom to meet American expectations. Once this was decided, Coltrin put Laughlin in touch with Sergio Scaglietti. With the help of Chevrolet General Manager Ed Cole, three 1959 Corvette chassis were discreetly acquired from the St. Louis Corvette plant before bodies could be fitted – one was specified with a “fuelie” and a four-speed, the others came with twin four barrels and automatics. During one of his frequent trips through Europe, Laughlin met with Sergio Scaglietti who agreed to produce a small run of bodies for the Corvette chassis. At the time, Scaglietti was busy turning out Ferrari's Tour de France and purpose-built racing cars. The Scaglietti Corvette would follow the lines of the Tour de France, albeit lines adapted to fit the Corvette's larger footprint. In an effort to impress, or perhaps, appease GM management, Laughlin specified a proper Corvette grille. The interior would be similarly hybridized with an intriguing combination of Americana – Stewart Warner gauges, T-handle parking brake, Corvette shift knob; and classic Italian GT – a purposeful crackle-finish dashboard, deeply bolstered leather seats, and elegant door hardware.

The completed car arrived in Texas in the fall of 1960, almost 18 months after the chassis had been obtained. It proved to be the only one of the three to be finished in Italy and shipped back to the United States as a complete car. When Laughlin received the car, the fit and finish were not quite what he was expecting, especially as the project had taken nearly three years from conception to completion. Enzo Ferrari would have been quite unhappy to hear that his exclusive coachbuilder was working on side projects for a group of Texans, so, to Scaglietti's credit, the car was largely a prototype and the work was executed in a shroud of secrecy. Towards the end of the project, Carroll Shelby, who by then was living in Italy, received a late-night phone call from Ed Cole. Cole had been chastised by GM management and was told to drop the project. It was poor timing. American car companies were under pressure to cut down on their high-performance and racing programs. They simply could not deal with the repercussions of a GM-backed Italian-bodied Corvette. The remaining cars were shipped to Houston in a partially completed state. Jim Hall took delivery of one. Shelby, who had helped conceive the project, ended up declining the remaining car and it was promptly sold.

Other projects

Shelby licensed his name to many products outside of the automotive industry. Currently, his name and other trademarks associated with him are licensed to other companies by Carroll Shelby Licensing, a subsidiary of holding company Carroll Shelby International.^[37]

Carroll Shelby's name is associated with a chili fixings kit. The kit consists of spices in several packets, which used to come in a brown paper bag, but now comes in a box.^[38] On the side of the bag was a story related by Shelby cooking chili during his racing days. On the front of the bag was a depiction of a big western black hat, a trademark piece of clothing for Shelby. He was a founder of the Terlingua International Chili Championship in Terlingua, Texas.^[15] The product has since been bought by Reily Products who have discontinued the inclusion of a separate salt packet.^[39]

In 1967, Shelby marketed a men's grooming product, the "Carroll Shelby's Pit-Stop ... a Real Man's Deodorant" that was promoted in car magazines.^[40]

Shelby was the initial partner of Dan Gurney in establishing Gurney's All American Racers.^[41]

Donzi Marine developed the Donzi Shelby 22 GT, a 22-foot (7 m) speedboat based on their Classic line of boats in collaboration with Carroll Shelby.^[42]

Carroll Shelby produced a line of eight-spoke alloy wheels for Saab automobiles in the early to mid-1980s. They were available in gold (Goldvane), hammered silver (Silvervane) finish, and a black hammered finish. These wheels were available through Saab dealers and could be fitted to Saab 99 and Saab 900 models manufactured through 1987.^[43]

Shelby supported a project with Rucker Performance Motorcycles to manufacture 12 Shelby motorcycles that were designed by William Rucker.^[44]

In 2008 Shelby was awarded the 2008 Automotive Executive of the Year Award.

Shelby established the Carroll Shelby Children's Foundation to cover medical bills of children who have heart disease but are unable to pay for treatment.^[45]

In 2008, Shelby initiated a partnership with the Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) Automotive Program. NTCC is the local community college for Shelby’s hometown of Leesburg, Texas. He provided a significant monetary gift to fund scholarships for local students interested in automotive technology and made a commitment to continue providing support. The program was renamed the Carroll Shelby Automotive Program that same year and the Carroll Shelby Foundation continues to provide annual scholarships and facilitate unique learning opportunities for NTCC students.

Memoir

Shelby wrote his memoir called

.

Personal life

Shelby was married seven times; the first and last marriages lasted 15 years before divorce proceedings.

Shelby's first wife was Jeanne Fields; they married on December 18, 1943. They had three children: Sharon Anne (born September 27, 1944), Michael Hall (born November 2, 1946), and Patrick Bert (born October 23, 1947). They divorced in February 1960.

Shelby later admitted to an extramarital affair with Jan Harrison, an actress.^[46] In 1962, Shelby married Harrison, but the marriage was annulled the same year.^[47] His third marriage, to a New Zealand woman, which he entered in order to get her into the United States, lasted only a few weeks before ending in divorce. His fourth marriage, to Sandra Brandstetter, lasted a couple of years before ending in divorce.

In 1989, after 28 years of being single, Carroll married Cynthia Psaros,^{[citation needed]} a former actress, beauty queen, and daughter of a retired US Marine colonel fighter pilot.^{[citation needed]} During this marriage, Carroll received his long-awaited heart transplant. Their marriage lasted a few short years before ending in divorce. In the 1990s he married Helena "Lena" Dahl, a Swedish woman he had met in 1968. She died in a car accident in 1997. It was his only marriage that did not end in divorce, annulment, or separation.

Just four months after Dahl's death, Shelby married his last wife, Cleo (nee Rendell-Roberts), a British former model who drove rally cars. She was 25 years his junior. They were in the process of divorce when he died in 2012.^[48][49][50]

Shelby received a heart transplant in 1990, and a kidney transplant in 1996.^[51]

Shelby died on May 10, 2012, at the age of 89.^[52][53] He had been suffering from a serious heart ailment for decades.^[54]

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Pts
1958	Scuderia Centro Sud	Maserati 250F	L6	ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA Ret	GBR 9	GER		ITA Ret*		NC	0[55]
	Temple Buell											POR 9	ITA 4*	MOR
1959	David Brown Corporation	DBR4/250	L6	MON	500	NED Ret	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	POR 8	ITA 10	USA			NC	0

* After retiring his original car, entered by Scuderia Centro Sud, Shelby took over Masten Gregory's car, entered by Temple Buell, and finished fourth. No points were awarded for the shared drive.^[56]

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1954	Aston Martin Lagonda	Paul Frère	Aston Martin DB3S	S 3.0	74	DNF (Front axle)
1959	David Brown Racing Dept.	Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1/300	S 3.0	323	1st	1st
Source:[57]

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1954	Aston Martin Ltd.	Charles Wallace	Aston Martin DB3S	S3.0	77	DNF (Rear end)
1955	Allen Guiberson	Phil Hill	Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder	S3.0	182	2nd	1st
1956	David Brown & Sons, Ltd.	Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DB3S	S3.0	187	4th	1st
1957	Maserati Company	Roy Salvadori	Maserati 250S	S3.0	68	DSQ (Illegal refuel)
1958	David Brown & Sons, Ltd.	Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1/300	S3.0	62	DNF (Transmission)
1959	David Brown-Aston Martin	Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1/300	S3.0	32	DNF (Gear lever)
1960	Camoradi USA	Masten Gregory	Maserati Tipo 61	S3.0	3	DNF (Engine)

In popular culture

Shelby is portrayed by

Shelby American: The Carroll Shelby Story is a 2019 feature-length documentary about Shelby's life and career.[59]

Shelby features prominently in Bill Cosby's comedic story "200 M.P.H." (1968). Shelby (voiced by Cosby) convinces Cosby that, since he was an American, he should drive an "American car" – specifically, a custom-made Shelby "Cobra" that was guaranteed to go 200 M.P.H., faster than any foreign sportscar. The story takes up the entire second side of Cosby's seventh album, 200 M.P.H.

See also

• The Snake and the Stallion

References

Inline