The SHELBY AMERICAN
Cowles could not seem to find the
time to review the documents so he
asked his friend Kieth Champine to
look through them and scan what was
historically important before the box
was returned to the museum. One of
the things Champine discovered was a
4˝ x 5˝ color negative of 6S1615, the
white Hertz GT350 he has owned
since 1976. The plot thickens.
Champine purchased the GT350
in 1976. He soon began a meticulous
restoration which was completed in
1986, and the car placed 1st in the con-
cours at SAAC-11.With the car freshly
restored, it was declared “America’s
Most Perfect Shelby” by
Fabulous
Mustangs
magazine. Champine had
studio photographs taken, something
fairly uncommon at that time. He sent
the studio transparency to Kopec, who
happened to be finishing the 1987
Shelby American World Registry. The
picture dazzled Kopec and he used it
on the registry’s cover.
Among the things Champine
found in the Yates box was one of the
negatives of the studio shot of 6S1615.
He was at a loss to explain how Yates
had acquired it because it was in a
sleeve from a photo shop that listed
Dallas or Atlanta locations – not the
photo studio in Green Bay where the
car had been photographed. That stu-
dio will not even release negatives to
its own customers. Since Yates is no
longer around, the question of how he
got the negative will probably never be
answered.
Another interesting twist is that
when Champine was studying the
color photo of 6S051 he noticed a
catering truck behind the GT350. One
of his other projects is continuing to
post photos on the SAAC Forum under
the “Shelby American History” sec-
tion, under the topic, “George Watters
Collection.” Watters, a long time SAAC
member, is a memorabilia collector
who has been gathering, among other
things, historical photos of Shelby
American and the cars. He grew up in
the Los Angeles area and visited the
factory many times as a teenager
(sometimes only peering through the
chain link fence). He also poked
around Hi-Performance Motors quite
One day Watters drove his ‘65
GT350 to work (it was on a weekend)
and that prompted May, a car guy
himself, to recall that in 1965 and
1966 when he owned his catering
truck one of his stops – three times
every day – was at Shelby American at
6501 West Imperial Highway.
Prompted by Watters, May re-
called that his favorite cars were the
ones built by Shelby and he loved vis-
iting Shelby’s factory every day. Did
Shelby or Ken Miles ever come out to
the truck? May recalled that, at one
time or another, almost everyone came
out to his truck. He said Shelby would
come out once and a while and was al-
ways very cordial. Miles never had
much to say and was very cut and dry.
May also related other experiences
about his visits to Shelby American
but in the intervening forty years,
Watters can’t remember the exact de-
tails. However, after that day he and
May spoke often about Shelby Ameri-
can and the cars. May had a couple of
pictures of his truck taken at Shelby
American and brought them to show
Watters one day.
Jack May worked at Paramount
for a couple of years and then went to
work at Universal Studios. Sadly, he
got sick and passed away around 1985.
He was in his 50s.
Is all this too much information
(TMI)? You be the judge.
a bit and has had a long time interest
in photos from that era.
Champine is posting some of Wat-
ters’ photos on the forum, giving peo-
ple the opportunity to see and
comment on them. The topic currently
occupies 51 pages on the forum and
the last time we looked, 92,171 people
had viewed this thread.
Champine emailed the color pic-
ture of 6S051 to Watters and asked
him about it. Incredibly, Watters iden-
tified the catering truck in the picture
and knew its owner, a guy named Jack
May. In the late 1970s, Watters and
May were both sound editors at Para-
mount Studios, occupying offices
across the hall from each other. May
had a picture of the catering truck on
his wall and one day Watters asked
him about it. May said it was his old
catering truck and it brought back
memories.
Spring 2016 10