by Wallace Wyss –
I realized the other day that it it’s been almost a half century, 47 years to be exact, since I published my first book, a hard cover entitled Shelby’s Wildlife; the Cobras and the Mustangs.
It was a best seller, according to the statistics of the time, at 50,000 sold. It lasted in bookstores for 17 years until other Shelby books took the market. I have read some of the newer books on Shelby and his further involvement with the Ford GT40, and think the newer authors were lucky with ready reference available on the computer, as when I wrote my book I didn’t have the internet to use as a resource.
But I did have personal meetings with former Shelby employees like the late Phil Remington, Al Dowd, Charlie Agaipou, and of course Shelby himself.
It was those little off hand remarks that I treasure now like when Al Dowd, Shelby’s right hand man, admitted “When we sold 427 Cobras, sometimes if the buyer was a do-do, we delivered it with a 428 and made a couple hundred more on it.” Today there would be screams of “fraud.” Back then it was just an inside joke.
I think the newer writers either didn’t have access to these asides or maybe wanted to do a book that would be PR-approved. In my later books on Shelby he didn’t want to talk to me, having commissioned one he would be in charge of, a lengthy tome from England, that nevertheless had one funny story of when Shelby’s wife from Texas insisted on visiting him in Los Angeles even though he lived with a girlfriend.
My memory is fuzzy now. I can’t remember when I first met him. It maybe was in Detroit when I was walking down the street and a young lady in a 427 Cobra Comp car came drifting around a corner at speed, great balls of fire blasting from the outside pipes, and pulled up beside me. She asked directions to Cobo Hall, the convention center. I said “I’ll show you if you let me ride with you.” I did so, and 5 minutes later, she pulled up in front of Cobo Hall and introduced me to her boss, Carroll Shelby.
I re-met him in the mid-’70s, when I asked him to pose for a picture with a restored 427 Cobra. When we got to the location, he looked at it and said something like “I don’t know why anybody’s still interested in that old car” (and yet went on to reproduce many a replica–er, continuation car.
I think biography is a challenge if you approach the subject too many years after their success story. I was lucky that, at the point where I approached Shelby, around 1976, he had almost been forgotten by the car magazines. Ford had dropped the Shelby Mustang and gone on with the Boss Mustangs and such. They thought they didn’t need him anymore.
Ford was out of racing, which I think is sad because they had won LeMans and were throwing that heritage away. I am still chronicling the original Shelby Cobra-GT40 era, but only in my art, a dozen of which portray Shelby Cobras, Shelby GT350s or GT40s.
I still think my old book, existing now as only a used book on eBay or bookstores, still has life. Could be a TV series but I’d prefer a series that would end in 1970 at the latest, at the end of the original Cobra era, as did the film Ford v. Ferrari.
It’d be a lot harder to dig up previously untold behind-the-scenes stories now as many of the employees from the Sixties have passed. It’s been over 60 years ago now since the days of the original Cobra. But it’s still a great American success story–failed chicken farmer from Texas invents a race car, seduces a Detroit automaker into sponsoring and racing it; and later does a joint effort to help that sponsor win LeMans, yadda yadda.
Hollywood, you know where to find me….
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss can be reached regarding art or books at photojournalistpro2@gmail.com
Wallace,
The current issue of Sports Car Market profiles the fourth Shelby ever built that recently went to auction at Broad Arrow Auctions Monterey and sold for $1,545,000. It is one of the first six that were assembled by that car dealer, Ed Hugus of European Cars, in Pittsburgh, with the 260 HiPo engine. The dealer worked for Shelby building the first six Cobras at his own expense with the promise that he would have distributorship (a promise that Shelby reneged on when Ford cut a direct deal with Shelby). This car was tested by Ford in Dearborn by Ford’s engineers and Henry Ford II to determine if they wanted to supply the engines to Shelby. The article also mentioned that Car #6 is the car bought by and still retained by musician Herbie Hancock. Forgive me is some of my details are incorrect – you are the expert, and I already passed my SCM onto to somebody else. Love your articles!
Glenn in Brooklyn, NY
I did talk to Hugus who told me he had ordered three, thinking he would be the distributor. He was still miffed that Shelby went ahead with Ford without his permission. This may all be in the biography written on Hugus. I was supposed to meet him for a follow up interview before the book went to press but as Carmel is a 1,000 mile round trip, didn’t make it and I regret it as some sources are only available for a limited time.
Wallace,
Thanks for the details! Since most original Cobras have had multiple owners, I’m guessing that the one-owner Herbie Hancock Cobra is probably worth in the neighborhood of $3 million. A while back, I read an interview with Herbie, and many years ago somebody offered him $10,000 for it. He almost sold it, but then thought better of it. Very great musician and very wise man!!!!
Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
I never had the opportunity to meet Mr Shelby but I did speak with him over the phone. I was at Joe Sheppards shop in Tampa, working with Joe on my Sunbeam Tiger project. It was just after noontime and Joe had left for lunch. He always went home to eat with his wife. He was like a father to me and he trusted me to look after the shop while he was away. No sooner had he driven away when the phone rang. I answered with the line that Joe was underneath a car and could I please take a message. The voice accent on the other end was unlike anything I had ever heard before. “Can you have him call Shelby as soon as possible “ ! I replied yes sir and took down the #. A few days later a light metallic blue GT/40 MKIII anpp on a trailer. Apparently the car just would not run correctly and Shelby needed Joe to get it fixed. Joes father arranged for Shelby to use his dealership prior to Sebring in 64/65. I can still hear that Texas twang after all these years.
Very cool memory John.