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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?