The RIP Thread...

[woodworkingboy]

Whichever one didn't look like a mustang, so the AC I think it would be...and if you are offering to supply me with one, Mike, the 283 engine would be sufficient over it's big brother. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Strikermike]

1967 at Ritar Ford in Norwalk, Connecticut. I tried to get my father to buy one. His response..... I am not spending 4000.00 dollars on a car with no air conditioning. Would not have been a bad investment seeing as it would now be worth north of 1 million dollars. He never listened to me when it counted!!!

 

[GASoline71]

I've never been a Mustang fan... Ever. Don't really care for the Cobras either. But what Shelby did for hot rodding and motorsports is insurmountable.

RIP

Gary

 

[woodworkingboy]

Living in Southern California I would see the Shelbys running about. Toured his plant once too, right next to LAX. I have always liked the body design of the AC cobras. The 427 model did go vroom vroom.

 

[GASoline71]

I went to Shelby headquarters in Las Vegas 3 years ago. It's located at Las Vegas Speedway... while we were touring the facility... a cat came in to pick up his Shelby Mustang "Super Snake". Holy shit that thing was fast! The tech that brought it out did a little demo in the parking lot for the customer. Sounded mean as all get out too. The cat that bought it was a complete tool. He couldn't even take off in first gear without jerkin' all over the place. Must be nice to pay cash for a $175,000 dollar car.

Gary

 

[MasterBlaster]

I love how you call people 'cats.'

Ha!

 

[Paul B]

RIP indeed, I loves me some muscle cars and I respect that cat, carrol shelby.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

He was always nice to everyone at our family owned answering service. Always brought us in his chili mixins That was back in the late 70s.

 

[stig]

The AC Cobra is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time. The idea of combining the handling ability of an European sportscar with American muscle was not new, but Shelby was the first one to really make it work.
It got a ride in a 427 copy some years back,quite a thrill.

 

[GASoline71]

An ex-girlfriend on mines dad had an Alpine Sunbeam with a dual carbed 289 in it. It was shoehorned in there by none other than Shelby himself in the 60's. The car was stupid quick... even for a 289. What a cool ass car. No idear if he still has it or not... that was a eons ago.

I love how you call people 'cats.'

Ha!

HAHA!

Gary

 

[MasterBlaster]

LOL @ Top Cat!

 

[GASoline71]

That was one of my fave 'toons when I was a yung'un!

Gary

 

[MasterBlaster]

You're just a cool cat. I was a big Batman fan!

 

[Strikermike]

An ex-girlfriend on mines dad had an Alpine Sunbeam with a dual carbed 289 in it. It was shoehorned in there by none other than Shelby himself in the 60's. The car was stupid quick... even for a 289. What a cool ass car. No idear if he still has it or not... that was a eons ago.
HAHA!

Gary

That would have been a Sunbeam Tiger. I think actually it was a 260 v8. A friend of mine from high school had one. IN order to change the last sparkplug on the passenger side, you had to remove a panel from the dashboard and go through an access port in the cowl. He traded it for a TVR Griffin that was even faster.

 

[GASoline71]

I couldn't remember if it was an Alpine or a Tiger... I had a 50-50 shot.

That car was damn cool... and now prolly worth a boatload of cash if still in original condition.

Gary

 

[pigwot]

One of my customers, "Frank" has an early Shelby Mustang in his garage under a breathable dust cover; very low mileage. I jokingly said he could leave it to me in his will (never married, no heirs) and get free tree care for the rest of his life. He just laughed. His mother just turned 106, and he is in his early 80s, and doesn't look like he is going anywhere anytime soon. I'll see if he'll let me take a photo next time I'm over there.

 

[vharrison]

RIP Carol Shelby

 

[woodworkingboy]

A guy in the old neighborhood had a show car. He dropped a blown 427 into a vw bug body. There was only the back seat to sit on after the modifications, and you pretty much had to drive it with your head out the window to see where you were going. He would start it up and drive it down the street every now and then, but I think most of the neighbors didn't much appreciate the noise. It was cool to see. I never saw him crank it up very high, that might have been dangerous.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I remember that car. It was amazing as hell.

 

[woodworkingboy]

It was a pretty regular at car shows in the area and beyond. He had a lot of money invested in it.

 

[Al Smith]

It's a matter of "designation " The Tiger as it were was a model in the Sunbeam "alpine series " Evidently the type one had in fact the little Ford 260 while the later type 2 used the 289 . When Crysler acquired Sunbeam the 272 cubic inch V8 engine they produced would not fit in the engine comparment without modifications because it used a rear mounted ignition distributer where as the small block Fords were front mounted .

Most likely what had happened was probabley after a period of time the 260 was dropped from production making the 289 the only available option .The 289 was eventually dropped and replaced by the 302 .

Ford small blocks evolved just like Chevy small blocks .The early ones were I think either 221 or 223 cubic inch where the original Chevy was 265 .

During the time period ,early 60's they all experimented with small V8s' Fact of the matter that aluminum block Buick ole Rotax runs on the super saw came from that period of time .

From what I gather the Sunbeam model was dropped from production in 1967 .They were fast though that much I remember .

 

[MasterBlaster]

One of those redneck brothers from Swamp People kicked the bucket.

 

[Al Smith]

I just read that myself .

 

[Husabud]

Didn't know him but a good story none the less.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...4IjMCQ&usg=AFQjCNEcZRWC1jN--pcgUP088n1LnEIA8A

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's darn cool.