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prototypes to be finished in time for
the Detroit and Los Angeles automo-
bile shows in January of 1997. The
cars would also appear at a large
Oldsmobile dealer meeting in April
and one would be the pace car for the
Indy 500 in May (the first IRL race
where the Northstar engine would be
used). In return for all of this expo-
sure, Olds ponied up $1,000,000 to get
the prototypes built. At this point all
that existed were drawings of what
the prototype car might look like.
Shelby provided the general
guidelines. The car had to be fast, but
it also had to be light—because the en-
gine would only be 4.0 liters. To aid in
balance and weight transfer it was de-
cided that the transaxle unit would be
mounted in the back while the engine
would be up front. That would provide
a 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribu-
tion. Peter Bryant was the car’s de-
signer. He had an extensive resume.
He had worked as an engineer for
Aston Martin when Shelby drove for
the factory in 1959. He had also
worked for Shelby American on the
Daytona Coupes and more recently
had put together the Can-Am team
that built and raced the Ti-22 cars. He
was a very talented guy and there
wasn’t much he couldn’t do. Once
again, Shelby had found the right man
for the right job at the right time.
As the project got off the ground it
was anything but smooth sailing.
Some within Oldsmobile were against
it, mainly because of the N.I.H. men-
tality which permeates Detroit (“not
invented here”). Others were con-
cerned that money allocated to this
project would have to come out of
someplace else in the budget and
feared it was their’s. And some failed
to see the need for a sports car built in
such limited numbers.
The next meeting was held later in
the year and the long knives came out.
Rager and Davison left the meeting
with a commitment for a lot less than
the original promise of $1,000,000,
less technical support and they even
lost the Indy 500 Pace Car promise.
Rager was basically offered a take-it-
or-leave it deal, and in order to keep
the project alive (and not face Shelby’s
wrath) he grabbed it like a drowning
man lunges for a life preserver.
By this time Shelby had success-
fully undergone his kidney transplant
and the company was operating out of
a small-ish building on the north side
of Las Vegas because their new facility
out at the track was under construc-
tion. Cobra CSX4000 series cars were
being built there.
As work on the two Series 1 proto-
types progressed off in one corner,
there was another meeting in Las
Vegas. Shelby and Rock both attended
this one (it was the first time they had
actually met) and in light of Oldsmo-
bile’s reduced financial investment, it
was suggested that dealers help fi-
nance the construction of the cars.
Finding the capital to build the proto-
types was, at that point, the over-
whelming obstacle. Everyone realized
that Shelby’s oft-quoted retail, price of
$75,000 was just bluster that made
good press. Rock suggested the cars
could be built for $60,000, sold to the
dealers for $80,000 and the dealers
would sell them to the public for
$100,000. This, without even seeing a
completed car.
Oldsmobile’s suggestion of putting
together a consortium of dealers which
would bankroll production costs for a
car that had not yet been built was an
idea that must have been generated
under the influence of hallucinogens.
Nevertheless, Rager approached the
dealers at a meeting which had been
set up in Las Vegas. The entire Series
1 dealer network consisted of 26 deal-
ers. Only a few were large enough and
successful enough to bankroll even a
portion of the Series 1 project – if they
had wanted to. And they didn’t.
Work on the prototype car contin-
ued. The original shape (as pictured in
the first press photos that Landy had
handed out) resembled a Daytona
Coupe in roadster form. It was a visu-
ally pleasing design that had been
penned by an illustrator from Col-
orado named Michael Mate. That de-
sign had been fresh several years
earlier but now there were other cars
in production that resembled it—espe-
cially the Jaguar XJ Coupe. So a new
design was required. Shelby, Rager
and Bryant all agreed that the shape
had to harken back to the original
Cobra roadster: it should be powerful
looking and aggressive. Bryant found
three new designers who set to work
creating what would become the Se-
ries 1 shape. Most of the dimensions
would be dictated by the car’s weight.
The engine would not be capable of
500 horsepower but Shelby insisted
that the new car perform like a Cobra,
so everything would have to revolve
around light weight.
Peter Bryant headed a team of de-
signers and engineers whose resumes
included aerospace experience as well
as automotive production and racing
backgrounds. Rather than build the
prototypes in Las Vegas, the decision
was made to construct them at
Shelby’s facility in Gardena, Califor-
nia. Shelby liked that because he
spent most of his time there and he
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 39