Shelby’s an Ass

A Shelby's Ass

It seems Carroll Shelby is suing his most loyal supporters. I heard the first echoes of this in Sports Car Market a while ago. Now I guess it is happening.

I liken this to when Ford threatened to sue XKEdata.com concerning the use of various trademarks and whatnot… except this is even worse. This is a recognized car club, whose very existence has in many ways created order out of chaos. Without SAAC Shelby cars would not be the valued items they are today. Their documentation, which was neglected by Shelby himself, has been painstakingly re-created by SAAC. Without that documentation (The SAAC Registry) a Shelby is only slightly more valuable than the donor Ford or AC (Or Chrysler, oh wait, …never mind) car that it started life as. Now Mr. Shelby wants to take it all under his dubiously competent wing? The mind boggles.

Car clubs, and Registries are NOT for-profit industries. Those that treat them as such are doomed to failure. These are labors of love and dedication. This is the whole reason why Mr. Shelby didn’t want to do these tasks in the first place. Perhaps his memory is going in his old age?

The photo above was taken on the rainy New England 2000 rally. IIRC it was a rally checkpoint at a fish hatchery somewhere. Yes Sandro, I’m pretty sure that is a Jensen-Healey in the background.

7 thoughts on “Shelby’s an Ass”

  1. No…it’s not (just) old age: Shelby is, and always has been, an ass. Dad personally had to deal with ‘Ol’ Shel’ on a number of occasions (as a race steward, at races Shel was involved in) and over the years, other actions by Shelby removed all doubt for me. Seems to me that people, with DAMN few exceptions, who inhabit the heights of stardom…are *asses.*
    BTW, the popular myth of his being a ‘chicken farmer?” Is horsehockey…;)

  2. Exacterly, Jerome.
    Road apples.
    Meadow muffins.

    Rabbit pellets.
    But, Shel’ is *ooooold* so coprolitic is the better word.

    Look it up…..:)

  3. L I B! I didn’t know Jerome was a rock jock, too!!!

    Like my t-shirt I had made, for when I graduated:
    On the front “I’m now a geologist…”
    On the back: “…I’m now trained to pick up heavy rocks.”

    :):)

  4. I think, Chuck, that good old Shelby put you in a bit of a mood and your fingers mistakenly typed ‘Jensen-Healey’ when, in fact, they had intended to type ‘Jensen 541R’ or ‘Jensen C-V8’. 🙂

    The rear windshield doesn’t look right for a 541R so I’m inclined to think maybe a C-V8.

    Hopefully the links to example vehicles comes through with my post. Oh, and I agree with you about Shelby’s actions being bone-headed.

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