Happy Birthday Carroll Shelby

[slothead]

Carroll Shelby was born on January 11th, 1923.

I bought a paperback book about him while in elementary school and became a fan for life. His accomplishments are well known to race fans around the world, and most slotters on HRW probably own 1 or more replicas of his race cars.

Shelby left us in 2012, but his legacy lives on.

[Silberpfeil]

"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people."

- Theodore Roosevelt

[32lbking]

Wow.. 2012. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago. May because we talk about him so much.
Randy

[slothead]

In 2012 I took my grandson, who was 12 at the time, to the NY International Auto Show. There was a display of some iconic Shelby cars including an unrestored original AC Cobra with rips in the leather seat and dirt & rust on the body. As we were leaving the area a kid behind us was laughing at the car and saying "what's this old thing doing here?". My grandson turned around and lit the kid up with some automotive history about the car.

"Teach your children well...", Crosby, Still, & Nash

[Vintage 1/24]

I know that car!

That was the first Cobra - in its original unrestored condition (they can only be original once).

Back In 2007 I was asked to paint a picture of that same car for a Concours D'Elegance event. They used the image to create posters. I got a few signed by the Grand Marshalls Carroll Shelby (and Bill Krause):



They used the image in the event poster and also for the event program, and they even did a full page write up of me:



I then donated the original painting as a way for them to fund raise for the supported charity. The winning bidder was Mrs. Carroll Shelby! I thought it was cool that it ended up with Carroll Shelby as the owner.


And yes, I bet we (almost) all have Cobra replicas in scale.

Here is a pic of my "Russkit" Cobra replica in 1:1 scale:



I just put the fender sticker on there for a few days as I thought it was an amusing thing for a slot car racer.