The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 3
SAAC-41 POSTERS: LAST CHANCE
PHOTO FROM SEMA’S ARCHIVES
Larry Gardinier created another con-
vention poster for SAAC-41, based on
the convention illustration he did for
the event t-shirts. The posters sold
faster than ice cream cones at a chili
tasting festival. He still has a few left,
so if you didn’t get a chance to invest
in your art collection at Mid-O, or if
you want to allow people to think you
were there when they see one hanging
in your garage, here’s where you get
them. They come in two sizes: 11˝ x 14˝
($15) or the Garage Mahal size, 18˝ x
24˝ ($45). All posters are signed by the
artist so they are sure to appreciate
after his demise (Spoiler Alert: he
looks pretty healthy right now). Prices
include shipping inside the U.S. (it’s
slightly higher outside our borders).
PayPal, credit cards, a check or cash.
Contact him at gardinier@comcast.net or give him a call at 770-924-5722.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) was formed in 1963 by
nine people in the speed equipment business (it was originally called the Spe-
cialty Equipment Manufacturers Association but the name was later changed
so the group did not to appear so exclusive). Among the founders were Bob Hed-
man (Hedman Headers), Dean Moon, Vic Edelbrock and Phil Wieand (intake
manifolds) and Roy Richter (founder of Bell Helmets and Cragar wheels).
SEMA provides its members (currently 6,383 companies worldwide) with leg-
islative and regulatory advocacy, professional development and market re-
search. It also holds a major show in Las Vegas every November. SEMA’s
newsletter recently included pictures from early shows. This one has Shelby
American’s display but was mislabeled 1963. They didn’t have GT40s or Paxton
superchargers at that time. The picture is likely from the 1965 show. The car
is GT40P/1018.
Keith Martin, editor and pub-
lisher of one of our favorite maga-
zines,
Sports Car Market
, put forth
an interesting opinion in his
weekly email newsletter. Essen-
tially he was suggesting that
maybe it was time to prohibit his-
torically significant and largely
original vintage race cars from
being put at risk in vintage compe-
tition. Cars that had already suf-
fered damage or were otherwise
not “original,” well, meh.
His idea, while maybe well-
meaning, went decidedly against
our grain. Do we detect the whiff of
the nanny state, here? It seems to
be trying to creep in, little by little,
to nibble away at our liberties in
other areas. A handful of politi-
cians, bureaucrats and other un-
elected and unappointed ruling
elites think that they know better
than the rest of us what is best for
us. It starts with very minor cues
to change our behaviors, like mak-
ing large soft drinks unavailable,
eliminating salt from the tables on
restaurants or forcing single occu-
pant drivers into the snail lanes. It
is a slippery slope.
If we were to accept Martin’s
premise (and we certainly do not),
who, exactly, would determine if a
car was historically important
enough to keep it from being raced.
And who would decide if a particu-
lar car had a sufficient amount of
previous damage or non-original
parts that would allow it to race?
Would the owner have any say in
this determination?
It seems to us this is an exam-
ple of someone attempting to as-
sert control over the actions of
others, based on their belief that
they know best. We see it as a mat-
ter of private property rights. The
owner is the only one who has the
right to decide how his car should
be used. If the nannies among us
want to protect their vehicles by
keeping them in a protective co-
coon, let them. But leave the rest of
us alone. Isn’t that libertarianism?