News is just breaking that Carroll Shelby, one of the largest figures in American racing history and high performance American cars has died. We have heard for a couple of weeks that Shelby was in failing health, but it has now been confirmed that Shelby passed on Thursday night. He was 89 years old.
The Texan carved out an incredible legacy over the course of his near 90 years on Earth. From his time in the military as a pilot to his globe trotting career as a professional sports car and formula car racer, to his creation of the Shelby Cobra and relationships with the likes of Chrysler, Toyota, and of course Ford to develop performance cars. Books have literally been written on his contributions to the world of fast cars and they are far too numerous and significant to sum up in this small space, but suffice it to say that there has only been and there will only ever be one Carroll Shelby.
Here at BangShift we think that Shelby’s largest triumphs came after he stopped driving race cars for the likes of Aston Martin, Maserati, and a long list of wealthy car owners all over the world. He was a racer on the caliber of Sterling Moss, traded paint with Fangio on occasion, and was known the world over as a Texas chicken farmer who drove his way onto the grandest stages of racing in the world at that time.
We love the fact that the first impression he ever got of Enzo Ferrari was not all that good and although he was very friendly with Ferrari’s son Dino, it was always in the back of his head that he wanted to show the old man up. Shelby did so a couple of times, both with his Shelby Daytona coupe and most famously with the famed GT40s that Ford commissioned in the 1960s to bury Ferrari at LeMans. The GT40 program was started at the behest of Henry Ford II after Ferrari had humiliated Ford in a public fashion when they tried to buy his company. It took years of work and ultimately Shelby’s hard work, but the famous finish line photos were the kind of PR Ford could never have bought.
Like many larger than life men of his era, Shelby lived fast and somewhat loose. He was married many times, partied harder than 10 men and money came and went in large quantities, often quickly. He was the oldest living heart transplant survivor in the world and the fact that living the life he led, with all of the adventures, crashes, close calls, heart trouble, and high speed hi jinks still carried on for 89 years is a testament to how rugged Carroll Shelby was.
The man has his detractors as we all do, but today we choose to look at the good. Carroll Shelby, dead at 89 years old. We are all a bit lesser for it.
RIP ol Shell
Rest in peace Carroll, you lived life to its fullest.
Im a Chevy guy but our hobby is infinitely better because of Carroll Shelby. Guys, y’all better enjoy every Ford, Mopar, Chevy and any other type out there because in one way or another they are becoming memories.
Too true . Too true .
A true classic, no bull, just what is was in his mind. We are losing our hot rodding icons at frightening pace it seems.
The man was an SOB to the maximum . A genius to a large degree . One of the worst men to do business with – yet damn if you didn’t want to anyway .
And yet if it were not for the likes of Carol Shelby we’d probably be driving some of the most boring cars ever made , rather than being able to lust after some of the greatest Automotive Icons of all time .
It does make you wonder , assuming Carol and Enzo are in the same place , what those two SOB’s are talking about right now .
R.I.P. Carol . Though I doubt even in passing Rest is even a consideration on his part . He’s probably scheming right now how to stuff a 1001 HP Ford into the snout of the cloud he’s on !
THANKS FOR THE MUSTANG!!! RIP
I am breaking my self-imposed “Bangshift blackout” in mourning over this towering figure in high-performance motoring.
Certainly, we could focus on Mr. Shelby’s well-publicized faults. But that’s a topic for other days. Today we have lost a giant. The man who established the blueprint for the American tuner car industry. The man who did more than most to meld hot rodding into internationally-competitive sports cars and racing.
Certainly, Shelby wasn’t the first to propose stuffing a crude V8 sedan engine into a lightweight foreign roadster. But as the proliferation of kit car “Cobras” bears out, his hot rod sports car continues to be the most influential vehicle of that type.
Certainly, Shelby wasn’t the first to bring a race car to the streets. But Shelby’s transformation of a low-performance “secretary’s car” into the legendary G.T. 350 was a seminal event in the evolution of Detroit performance onto smaller Pony Car platforms. Without the G.T. 350 and the closely-related, championship-winning Shelby-ized SCCA Trans-Am notchback Mustangs, there likely wouldn’t have been exciting competitors like Z/28 Camaro and AAR ‘Cudas, .
Certainly, the patterns set by Shelby have been imitated and improved on by many others, including Roush and Saleen. In fact, one could credibly argue that Shelby is the grandfather of the aftermarket American tuner car.
Shelby built a legendary team that saved a floundering Ford GT program. Shelby’s organizational skills led to America capturing the World Sports Car Championship, Trans-Am Championships, and two of the four American-powered overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mr. Shelby was the tip of the spear for Ford’s legendary “Total Performance” campaign.
The roster of drivers who have competed in a Shelby works vehicle would make a great hall of fame in itself. From drag racing to endurance racing, Shelby team and customer cars have been winners.
Shelby’s spirit, ethos and charisma also inspired teams to develop a new breed of smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient sport compacts in the 1980s, as well as the brutal Dodge Viper. A decade and a half later, Shelby inspired SVT engineers to create a new generation of Shelby Mustangs. And his revived tuning operation has built some of the highest performing tuner cars in American history.
Shelby’s fight for life also inspired many. As the longest living heart transplant recipient, Mr. Shelby truly exemplified a zest for living, a keen eye for details and trends, and a racer’s sensibilities about vehicle dynamics. Shelby defied many of the stereotypes about the elderly
Godspeed, Mr. Shelby. You will be missed.
Living for any length of time with a heart transplant is a monumental achievement by itself.
The achievements this guy did are monumental, and they are motivating. I’m gonna go have a salad, work out, and scheme how to be even as remotely cool as Mister Shelby.
Good of you to close as you did. We all do have our detractors, and today is not the day for that. He was a giant of a man, and indeed, all of motorsports will be the poorer in his absence.
A rascal for sure, but he got it done, didn’t he!
A man who lived life to the fullest ,may he RIP.
RIP, the automotive world is a better place because of you!
another innovator / legend passes , Im gonna drag the ford out to the road and do a hugh tire melter in his honor . RIP Shelby
Another of the greatest generation passes. A giant among men that has no peer now or in the foreseeable future. The world is a lot better place for having you stomp around on it. R.I.P Carroll
“Hey little Cobra getting ready to strike …!!!” Pretty well says it all for the legacy of the Texan chicken farmer, Carroll Shelby. I know a guy who lives in a little town called Centre, Texas and he once told me his next door neighbour is a guy called Shelby who, “has a lot of old cars over there.” No kidding and what was I thinking back in 1967 when I could have bought a Shelby 350 GT “R” from a dealer in Bangor, Maine for around $4,000?
A big time businessman in Nova Scotia once raced a fully prepped 427 Cobra roadster in circuit races and I can still hear that mutha getting it on as it exited a turn and headed down a straightaway at about 150 or so.
I don’t think we’ll ever see another guy like Ol’ Shel and the world’s a worse off place for it!