Shelby American Dealers Meeting 1999

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Shelby American Dealers Meeting 

June 1999, by Curt Scott

Shelby-American headquarters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott

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. 

 

Your photo tour of Shelby American’s Las Vegas showroom…

4000-Series 427 ‘Continuation’ Cobra at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott
Lineup of Shelby GT350s, Petersen Automotive Museum
Showroom in Shelby-American headquarters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott

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…

lineup of Shelby Series 1 cars in production at Shelby-American headquarters in Las Vegas, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott
Shelby Series 1 Oldsmobile aluminum engine, ready for installation

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.

Don Rager at Shelby-American headquarters in Las Vegas, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott

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…

dashboard of 3000-Series 289FIA ‘Continuation’ Cobra at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott
Shelby rear-drive assembly at assembly plant in Las Vegas

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…

 

Shelby-American dealers meeting at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 1998. Photo by Curt Scott

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

SEATED (REAR, LHS):

SD Roy Hunt (light blue shirt)—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)

present, but not in the photo: 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 1:00 pm 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 Series 1 is one exhilarating drivin’ machine.

*****

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