Ford Shelby and its creator

In 1961, the current racing driver, league champion in 1959, Carol Shelby, invited the British firm AS to use the Ford V8 engine on their Cobra cars. It is this event that marks the birth of the legendary sports car Ford Shelby Cobra. The British auto-cars gave their consent to the assembly, which immediately began in Caroll's own workshop.

After one year, engineers decide to replace the engine, and equip the car with a new 4.7-liter "monster". Issue Shelby Cobra stops in 1966, stopping at the mark of 1140 cars.

In 1965, for her offspring Ford Shelby, Carol Shelby uses a chassis from Ford Mustang. The first prototype was named Shelby 350GT. Further, it was converted into a more serious Shelby 500GT, which was in production until 1970.

The history of the Shelby relationship with Ford's auto giant was developing as well as possible, especially for Carroll. The result of close cooperation was the Ford GT40, and most importantly, the fact that for two years Shelby manages to collect cars at the factory price of his partner.

To legitimize his activities, Carroll creates his own automobile company "Shelby American". The company is only engaged in "pumping" of existing cars, for which it falls under the hail of criticism from authoritative auto specialists. But this city is drowning in a sea of positive reviews about the Ford Shelby 500GT and, of course, Cobra.

Carol Shelby, having problems with the heart, got involved with racing in 1959, but the passion for motorsport did not fade in his veins. With the financial support of Ford b Goodyear, the Shelby team, since 1963, has won the SCCA race three times in a row.

Despite the huge popularity, in 1970, the love of muscle-cars, including the Ford Shelby, went down sharply. And in the same year the production of the legendary cars was completely curtailed . But the world will forever remember two legendary cars, which to this day amaze with their power and beauty, about which I would like to say a few words separately.

Ford Shelby GT350. Produced from 1965 to the 1970s. Despite the fact that this car was a Mustang upgrade, most motorists call it a real Shelby.

The engineers of the mini-company managed to assemble a car that surpassed all the parameters of the Corvette, which dominated at that time in all the country's auto racing. During the assembly time the power increased from 306 to 400 hp. In production, many innovations were used to achieve the cherished goal.

GT500 - Ford Shelby, 1967-1970

The GT500, a new car, has cardinal differences from the Mustang. This "monster" gets a new engine with a reduced speed, but an insanely high torque. Working volumes of engines were 7 and 6.4 liters and had a power of about 400 hp. An interesting fact is that, in order to reassure the insurers, Shelby and his partners went on a cunning and deliberately underestimated the power ratings of new engines to 355 and 335 hp, respectively. And the roof of the car was reinforced with special beams, for the protection of the driver and the passenger when turning over.

In 1968, the latest version of the model, called the GT500KR, was released. This car was designed for customers who prefer not only powerful, but also luxury cars. The new model had an air conditioner and even an automatic four-speed transmission. The windows were already tinted. The dimensions also grew. In this regard, the mass of the new supercar reached almost 1.7 tons.

In the next two years, the popularity of the model, like the entire muscle class in America, has declined. And, as we already know, in the beginning of 1970 the project was curtailed.

Further history of Carol Shelby is marked by symbiosis with such companies as "Crysler" and "Dodge". But that is another story.