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| THE FIRST
SHELBY COBRA
COULD THERE BE
by Matt
Stone Consider this: How were we to select just one automobile from the last half century as the most significant subject for this 50th anniversary "Retrospect? It could have been the 49 Cadillac, a landmark machine from our first year in business. Or perhaps a vintage Corvette, Thunderbird, or Ferrari-nameplates that have been so much a part of our editorial efforts over the years. But it was Carroll Shelby who unknowingly helped us answer this monumentally complex question in July '98. |
Editor-in-Chief C. Van Tune and I were strolling through the
still-being-assembled museum/reception area at Shelby American's new Las
Vegas, Nevada headquarters. I spied the unmistakable shape of an early Cobra,
and asked Shel what the story was on this tidy blue roadster.
"Oh, that's the first Cobra," he replied, in his gravel-laced Texas drawl. "First 289, or first production 260?" I probed. 'No, the first Cobra; first one ah built." "You mean that very first mating of an AC Ace and a Ford V-8-ever?" "YUP." |
