The SHELBY AMERICAN Spring/2011 11

SHELBY AMERICANAThe ultimate Shelby t-shirt collection?

These five would do it. The yellow one is theGoodyear Bluestreak shirt that Peter Brockcame up with for Shelby’s Goodyear distrib-utorship in the early 1960s. He created thesilkscreen by coating a Bluestreak tire withblack paint and rolling it over a large pieceof butcher paper. The type was added later.The idea was to publicize Shelby’s business,which was selling Goodyear race tires.Brock preferred a high quality shirt but hewas over-ruled by Shelby who wanted topinch some pennies. He bought the cheap-est shirts he could find. Brock recalled thathe bought them from India, by the bale.After one washing you could see throughthem, but Shelby said he only needed peo-ple to wear them once—on race day. Afterthat it didn’t matter. This is probably whyso few exist today.

The best known shirt is white withCOBRA-COBRA-COBRA-COBRA-COBRACOBRA Powered by Ford on the back anda large “CS” on the front with “ShelbyAmerican, Inc.” below it. The originals carrya tiny Cobra logo on the label sewn on tothe back of the neck. After Shelby Americanwon the World Manufacturers Champi-onship, the t-shirt was updated with “1965World Champion” on the front, above the“CS.” These shirts were made by the Rus-sell company (“Russell” labels are the mostcommon). Since the 1970s this t-shirt hasbeen reproduced by many, many vendorsand none to the exact specifications. How-ever, if you’ve never seen an original you’llnever know the difference.

In 1965, when the GT350 was un-leashed, Shelby American had white t-shirts with twin blue stripes down the frontand back. The front had a round Cobra stylelogo (with GT350 lettering) and the backhad a break in the stripes and said“SHELBY Racing Team GT350.”

Below the GT350 shirt is the white1968 “CS SHELBY” shirt. In 1967 Shelbysold the rights for the “Cobra” name toFord. Rumors abound regarding what he re-ceived but the fact is that no one knows ex-cept Shelby, his lawyers and accountantsand Ford’s lawyers and accountants—andthey’re not telling. The downstroke wasthat Shelby could no longer sell anythingwith the name “Cobra” on it. This is whyvalve covers, intake manifolds, air cleaners,catalogs and logos all suddenly said “CSSHELBY.” And why the sports car he wasworking on to replace the Cobra roadsterwas named the Lone Star.

This design was rejected because, Brocksays, the snake looked too friendly. It lackedthe open mouth and fangs that appeared onthe final badge design. In the “truth isstranger than fiction” dept. once the Cobranose badge was finalized, that logo wasnever used on a t-shirt by Shelby American.

The final shirt is the one that willmake drool run down a true memorabiliacollectors’ chin. It is the very first Cobra t-shirt designed by Peter Brock. It’s a one-of-one. Brock created this design before he didthe now-familiar, round Cobra logo which isused on Cobra noses and trunks. It is blueand white; only the snake’s eyes are red.

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Welcome to Dullsville. Population: PhilMurphy. It’s obvious there wasn’t muchgoing on in Shady Side, MD the day Mur-phy decided to google the Movie PosterShop <www.moviepostershop.com> andpunched in “Cobra” to do a search. Hefound posters for the four films picturedhere. They all share two things in common:1) a Cobra roadster was not used in any ofthese films, and 2) none were nominatedfor an academy award.

We haven’t seen posters as nice as these in a long time. They are the handiwork of artistJim Gerdom. He not only has these three available but his order form lists 40 differentones in all: everything from new Ford GTs to Bosses, GT350H, R-Model, Thunderbolt, oldand new Bullitts, GT/CS, 427 Cobra, 5.0 Mustang and new Shelby GTs, GT500KRs andGT-Hs. There is, literally, something for everyone. They are all full color, signed and num-bered and printed on acid-free archival paper. Sizes vary from 12” x 24” to 18” x 24” to16” x 30”. They are $40 each plus $5 shipping. Give them a look-see: www.designfactor-yart.com or if you want a flyer and order form sent the old fashioned way the address is:The Design Factory, PO Box 14037, Lenexa, KS 66285. Phone orders are accepted 24hours a day: 888-268-9933.

HOWARD PARDEE

The SHELBY AMERICAN Spring/2011 13

Young claims to have spent a couple of hours intensely studying this ad for Grundy in-surance in an attempt to ascertain if the car is a GT350 Hertz model or just a clone. Ifthe car had standard 15˝ Magnum 500s wheels it might be an easier call, but the 18˝diameter wheels make it tough. Young also notes it has a roll bar. It it’s a real car, willthe owner fess up? Otherwise, we expect Young will continue his scrutiny. Maybe heshould start a “Studies and Observation Group.”

We have a feeling that this battle of theEagle Eye masters will continue for aslong as each of these guys’ eyesight holdsout. We don’t know how they are able to at-tempt to out-do each other for every issue,but it sure is entertaining to stand backand watch. We continue to be surprisedthat no one else in the club has weighedin to join the competition.

The problem with putting a chocolateCobra in your collection of memorabilia isthat it doesn’t last very long. The aroma at-tracts you first, and then your resolveweakens and you decide to just bite off afender. But that leads to another fender;then a wheel and then the windshield. Be-fore you know it, all you have is chocolateon your finger tips. Hutchison discoveredthis 4-inch 427 Çobra on the website<www.classicchocolatecars.com> (Lud-dites can also call 562-863-9125). If thismakes your sweet tooth begin to tingle, fig-ure on spending about $6.95 for one ofthese. If you can only eat one!

Not to be outdone in the edible Cobra de-partment, Young surfed the Internet andfound a bakery in Cape Town, South Africacalled The Chocolate Moose (their logo is alikeness of Bullwinkle) that makes customcakes. This picture of a Cobra cake was ontheir site. It was created for someone as a40th birthday surprise, and a note saidthat the guests at the party—all adultmales—took pictures of the cake but noone was allowed to cut it.

It was hard for Jim Hutchison to miss thecobra bangle bracelet on the cover of theMetropolitan Museum of Modern ArtStore’s catalog. “After Egypt came underthe rule of the Helenistic Greeks in 323B.C., the snake became an important jew-elry motif, well suited to coiling around theneck and wrist, and valued for its associa-tion with Asclepius, a god of healing. Thebracelet with 24K gold overlay is $150. The24K gold over 14K gold ring is $395.

The catalog entry said “Shelby StorageTower,” so that was enough for Hutchisonto put it into play. The long descriptionmade no further reference to Shelby, so weare at a loss to explain why they chose tocall it that. It is modeled after an antiqueprinter’s cabinet. Actually, we prefer to callit “Hutch’s hutch.”

HUTCHISON-YOUNG WAR CONTINUES UNABATED

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How about these shelves for your playroom or workshop? They are made out of cast resin and areonly about a foot-and-a-half wide, so we’re not talking about 1:1 scale. They stick out of the wallabout 8-inches. Not cheap at $79.95. Does Jim Hutchison have one? He didn’t mention it when hesent us the page from yet another catalog.

Young carries his digital camera wherever hegoes because you never can tell what you’ll see.Take this Cobra travel trailer. We can just imagineits owner, at a swap meet or car show, saying,“Yeah, I have a Cobra. I like it a lot. It’s whiteand it doesn’t have blue LeMans stripes like justabout every other white Cobra you’ve seen...”

Hutchison never misses a chance to browsethrough the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog.When you touch the head of this plush king cobrait sways and hisses and rises from its basket. It is46˝ long and the body can be bent to your desire.And best of all, it’s on sale. We expect we’ll seeat least a few of these at car shows sitting on thefront seat of someone’s Cobra or Shelby.

Leave it to Young to find a cobra on a cruise ship.He was dressed in his white linen suit, not ableto make up his mind whether he was John Tra-volta in “Saturday Night Fever” or Mr. Roarke in“Fantasy Island.” Our choice? Tattoo on steroids.“Da plane, Boss. Da plane!”

Young was in a hardware store when these workgloves practically jumped off the rack at him. Itwas, of course, the name “Shelby” on the labelthat made him do a double-take. He didn’t needthem but he couldn’t help himself—he bought apair. But rather than rush home, put them on anduse them to do some heavy manual labor, theyare still stapled together with the label and hangproudly in his garage. Maybe he is saving themto use to work on his Shelby. Yeah, right: weshould live so long.

It’s an interesting story, and Hutchison came across it in the 5/25/08 issue of the “New York Times.”Tim Heiler was on his way to being a slacker as he entered high school in Pennsylvania. One of hisinterests was sports cars and especially Cobras. To get him on the right track his father Fred promisedto buy him a Cobra kit if Tim maintained grades in high school that put him on the honor roll. Thecarrot worked and Tim graduated with honors and went off to college. When he returned home forThanksgiving break, he and his dad visited ERA in New Britain, Connecticut and left a $500 depositthere. The following June the kit was delivered and the two Heilers rolled up their sleeves. Sometime later their car was finished and it was difficult to tell who was prouder—dad or son. It was aninteresting story with a happy ending and a good moral.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

BROCK OF THE MONTH CLUBThe Brock Photo Archives has somethingfor every Brockophile: period DaytonaCoupe photos; the BRE Datsuns (2000s,240Zs, 510s); BRE’s Formula 5000; some ofthe early prototype designs; and today’sSuperformance Coupes. There are alsosome terrific shots from some of the cur-rent events that Peter and Gayle attend:Baja and Pike’s Peak, some compellingLand Speed Record photography and cur-rent LeMans and American LeMans races.These aren’t just snap shots; they are pro-fessional photographs, and they are pricedaccordingly. All photos can be personalizedand signed by Peter Brock. Check the BREwebsite for details. www.bre2.net

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We have not received the letter yet, but we’re waiting. Somebody is goingto buy a 1957 Goliath and then want to know why these cars are not listedin the registry. All we can say is that it’s a good thing Carroll Shelby didn’trace one of these cars and have a lot of success. There might not havebeen a Cobra. But you’d be getting excellent gas mileage in your Goliath!

If you’re reading this magazine, you are almost certainly aware of whatGriot’s Garage is. They regularly send out a slick catalog full of upscaleauto care products and garage-friendly tools. It does the same things forcar guys that those fashion and body treatment catalogs do for their betterhalves. And Griot’s can always be counted on to use great looking cars intheir catalog photos. Example: this Guardsman Blue 427 Cobra (orCSX4000 or replica Cobra—it’s impossible to tell with these days). It cer-tainly caught the attention of Ted Warren of Bossier City, LA. We’ll admitto a little personal animus towards owner Richard Griot. Many years agowhen we first saw a ‘65 GT350 pictured in one of his first catalogs, wesent him a copy of The Shelby American and included a nice letter askinghim why he happened to choose the GT350 for an appearance in his cata-log. What did we get in return? Crickets. Nobody appreciates a snub. Wefigure that Mr. Griot must have been just too busy to favor us with a re-sponse. We haven’t bought anything from him since.

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SSSSSHHHHH! Be quiet or we may spook him.We’ve begun getting Eagle Eye sightings fromTed Warren of Bossier City, Louisiana. At thispoint, we’re not sure if this is an honest attemptto take a seat at the ongoing Hutchison/Younghigh stakes Eagle Eye poker game or just the co-incidence of having spotted a few of things allwithin a brief period of time. We’ll have to waitand see what develops. After all, sending in a fewsubmissions doesn’t guarantee anyone a seat atthe table. Warren will have to ante up before theseguys elbow each other aside to make room forhim. This is the Big Leagues. Once he gets there

Warren’s Auto Repair (no relation), sporting thatfamiliar ‘66 GT350 clip-art image on their sign,was located right down the street from Ted, in thetown of Monroe, Louisiana. He said he neverknew the place existed, much less that it sharedhis name. At least there’s a place close by wherehe can get work done on his car. Right?

he will experience the pressure of having to perform. He will have to send a half-dozen sightings (ofthings that haven’t been used in any of the previous 85 issues of The Shelby American) every two orthree months—just like Hutch and Young do. We’re not sure if he knows what he’s getting into. Hemay have been temporarily blinded by the bright lights, glitz and bling. We shall see. Stay tuned.

Dura-Block is advertised as the perfect blockingtool. It is designed to accurately block slightlycurved or flat panels on almost any vehicle with-out digging into body filler. It used a full 9˝ x 11˝sheet of sandpaper. It was hard for Colin Comerof Milwaukee, WI to miss the display which useda bright red 427 Cobra. Interesting to note thatthe car is LHD with a right hand roll bar. Thismust be for the driver who likes to live danger-ously but a passenger is more conservative.

This Girl Scout merit badge pictured in eBay wassent to us by Phil Murphy of Shady Side, MD.The title of his post exactly reflected our firstthought when we saw it: “I hope Pardee doesn’thave anything to do with this.” The merit badgeis for recruiting a new Girl Scout and we readeverything on the aBay site without finding outwhat “SAAC” means. Anyone have any ideas?

It’s enough to make us take up stamp collecting.Doug Richmond sent us a letter with a personal-ized postage stamp featuring a picture of hisRoush Mustang at a vintage race at Daytona. Atthe S/F line he had to be doing at least a buck-sixty as be blurred past the yellow bow tie.

Mary Sue Powell of Englewood, CO saw thisneat looking logo on the Rocky Mountain Vin-tage Racing website. You don’t see many greenCobras in a logo like this: most are red or blue.Could it be that’s why it caught her eye?

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Bob Barranger of Toms River, NJ has beenbusy lately. He spotted this new ‘68/’67poster [above] among artist Dave Chappel’sportfolio <www.autoart.com> if you thinkyou might want one. Hagerty Insurancepublishes a magazine full of insurance tips,Qs&As and other neat stuff. Owner McKeelHaggerty owns a Lime Gold ‘67 GT500. Themagazine also had a blip about a ‘67 GT500[left, center] and one of Hagerty’s ads showsa red ‘67 Shelby. Are all these ‘67 Shelbysjust a coincidence? Don’t bet on it!

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Tony Porte of Monee, Illinois was in a localauto parts store recently when he spottedthis headliner repair kit. The car picturedon the cards hanging from the counter dis-play rack was what caught his attention.The average person would have seen awhite 1965 Mustang fastback but Porte’seagle eye saw the hood scoop and rockerpanel stripes, and no corral and horse in thegrille. He couldn’t help himself: he boughta few packages.

SAAC member Tom Corcoran of Key West, Florida has been a disc jockey, bartender, Navyofficer, screenwriter, freelance photographer, computer graphic artist, journalist and editorof Mustang Monthly. He has written a couple of excellent books about Shelby Mustangsas well as several books on Key West subjects like architecture and Ernest Hemingway.His latest achievement is successful mystery writer. He has published a series of six AlexRutledge books. The hero is a part-time crime photographer in Key West who just happensto drive a clapped-out ‘66 GT350 Hertz car. The books are good reads; the Hertz car is abonus. In “Gumbo Limbo” Rutledge is getting gas in Key West and begins talking to atourist at the next pump. The guy, described as “a big guy with a red beard” is driving ablue Explorer with “Eddie Haskell” lettered on the doors instead of “Eddie Bauer.” Hetries to buy Rutledge’s “old Mustang” but it is clear he knows what it really is. Who couldthat be? Tom is presently working on his seventh book in the series, and he asked us ifwe knew the serial number of any Hertz cars which were still “owner unknown” so hecould reference a serial number without worrying about offending anybody. “It’s a workof fiction,” we told him. “Why not go with a car that is already known?” We suggested6S1900. We don’t want to give away the whole book, but here’s a small taste of Corcoran’sHertz reference:

“I’ve got a real one. It’s a former Hertz rental car. Bought it when normal people couldafford them.”

“What color?” he said, his disbelief hidden in his nonchalance. “Originally black with gold stripes, but now it’s in primer. The guy who sold it to me

installed a fresh T-10 four-speed.” “A true Hertz car?” he said. “What’s your VIN code?” “It’s 6S1900, delivered originally somewhere in Ohio.”

He opted for diplomacy. “Hey, your car, you’re the expert. Why primer?” “The previous owner drove it all over the country, even on amateur race tracks. I was

having it spruced up, and the paint shop went broke halfway through the job. I decidedto keep it looking rough. I want people to think it’s an old beater instead of a treasure. Idrive it all over the Keys and no one suspects that it’s worth stealing.”

Shelby American only created one print adfor the 427 Cobra, and it was only run inone publication: the 1965 New York Auto-mobile Show program. It was a full page,color ad based on an original George Bartellillustration. Why weren’t there any factory-generated print ads? Because the numberof 427s produced was very small, and ad-vertising was left up to individual dealerswho were the ones selling the cars.