Shelby American Dealers' Meeting
June 9-11, 1999


Above: Shelby American headquarters
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

In May I accepted an invitation from Shelby's Director of Cobra Sales Tom Conley, to address Shelby American's Dealers' Meeting at the firm's Las Vegas headquarters, located at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The itinerary included everything from speeches and presentations and Q&A sessions, to a plant tour of both the 4000- and 7000-Series Cobras and the Series1 cars, to track time to scare ourselves with a Series1 machine. Suffice to say that, from a thrills and enjoyment standpoint, the track event eclipsed all the other activities. Here for you is a photo-montage of those two days. Please note that most of the images below are hot-linked to a larger & higher-rez image, so that you can see it in greater detail. Each image will open in a separate, "temporary" window so that you don't lose your place on this page.

Your photo tour of Shelby American's Las Vegas showroom...

 

Above: Shelby American's first 4000-Series Cobra.

Above: a lineup of GT350s and 500KRS.

Above: plenty of fine driving machines on this floor!

a complimentary plant tour of Series1 production...

 

Above: assembly line for the Series1 car.

Above: That's (Series1 Production Manager) Bob Marsh imparting the fine points of the the machine's engineering and design.

Above: The Series1 powerplant. Note the DOHCs and the rocker-arm suspension setup.

Above: Shelby American CEO Don Rager took over for a portion of the Series1 tour.

and a tour of Shelby's 7000-Series 289FIA prototype...
(remember, most of these photos are hot-linked)

 

Above: The cockpit. Note the 'backbone' structure down the center. The original FIA didn't have this backbone, but the Daytona Coupes, which used the 289 chassis, did. This feature significantly adds rigidity to the chassis and reduces stress on the body.

Above: Authenticity is adhered to at every corner of the car; note the original-style transverse leaf springs.

Above: The rear-end setup. Note how the backbone flows into the rear superstructure, making for a far more rigid foundation than that of the original 289s and FIAs. Again, true to form, the transverse leaf spring.

The conference room:
Shelby dealers & corporate management...

Above, left to right ("SD" = Shelby Dealer):

SEATED:

SD Roy Hunt--Finish Line Motorsports, Las Vegas (702-643-7994)

SD Karman Cusack (pink shirt)--Rocky Mtn. Motorsports, Conifer, CO (303-674-3672)

SD Bill Ockerlund (white T-shirt)--Midwest Motorsports, Holland, Michigan (616-335-8188)
STANDING:

Tom Conley, Director, Cobra Sales

Sara Moore, Executive Assistant

Eric Davison, Director, Series1 Sales

Dave Parcell of TMC Marketing/Public Relations--Newport Beach, California

Wayne Stoker, Director-Admin & Finance
SEATED:
starting at rear center:

SD Lee Benson (in white shirt)--All Pro Cars, Muncy, Pennsylvania (717-546-5759)

SD Jim Bartlett--Echidna Racing Ltd., Minneapolis, Minnesota (612-379-0643)

SD Jim Harrell--Nostalgia Motorcars, Ltd., Rock Hill, South Carolina (803-324-2277)

SD Billy Andrews (stars & stripes)--HRE Motorcars, Freeport, Long Island (516-378-5461)

SD Kermit ONeal (blue denim shirt)--Alamo Sports Cars, San Antonio, TX (210-828-5511)

not shown: SD Craig Zinn--Craig Zinn Auto Group, Hollywood, Florida (954-964-3184)

And on the road course with a
dynamic duo of Shelby Series 1's...

Above: The track event on Las Vegas' 1.8-mile, 8-turn "Classic Road Course" began at about 1:00pm Thursday. Behind the wheel for each pilot run is Shelby's Director of Marketing and driver par excellence Gary Patterson. Below are a few of the "through-the-windshield" shots I got with Gary skillfully maneuvering the Y2K motorcar around the track. Scott Maxwell piloted the menace-in-the-rearview-mirror Black Mariah...
   

Above: Heading down the straightaway approaching Turn 4 at... who knows? 150 mph?
Gary Patterson behind the wheel, me behind the shutter.

Gary pushing the envelope on Turn 6...
 
 

then onto the next straightaway. Brisk acceleration and pancake-flat cornering. The Shelby Series1 is one exhilarating drivin' machine.

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