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Spring 2016 17

The SHELBY AMERICAN

We sent out a survey to SAAC

members back in February in an at-

tempt to put together a profile of

SAAC members. Our goal was to see if

we were moving the club in the right

direction; if we were emphasizing the

right things. We compressed the re-

sponse window to three weeks so we

could compile the results in a timely

fashion. We shared the survey results

in the March issue of SAAC’s email

newsletter.We weren’t fishing for feed-

back but when we received this

thoughtful email

from

long-time

SAAC member Ed Murphy from Lans-

dale, Pennsylvania (who is also a

Pennsylvania State Trooper) we

thought it was worth sharing.

I

read the latest survey with

great interest. I just wanted to take a

moment and thank you and the mem-

bers of the board for the work you put

into SAAC.

I have been a member since 1978.

I have never owned an early Shelby.

At this point I am not sure I ever will.

I can remember when 427 Cobras

were $35k. I passed on a ‘68 GT350 for

$5500 as that was all the money in the

world to a 17 year-old. (Of course I

later paid $3k for an ‘80 Pinto!) Life al-

ways seems to get in the way.

watched my ‘87 GT raced at Milan

Dragway (and later had a stretched

timing chain covered under warranty).

I got Larry Shinoda’s autograph, met

Chuck Cantwell, and ridden in a Ford

GT. I’ve seen a Daytona Coupe up

close, heard one at speed, and I can re-

member seeing Bob Bondurant doing

180-degree bootleg turns on the track

in a rental Cougar. I’ve seen a T/A

Boss 302 dicing with a ‘66 GT40 MkII.

I’ve listened to Allen Grant, Bob John-

son and a lot of other notable people in

the Ford performance world whose

names I can’t remember. If I stop a

Smith Trucking driver, I know Barry

Smith likes the same cars I do. And

I’ve been passed on I-80 by Ross Myers

in an original 289 Cobra being driven

from Pennsylvania to Michigan. And I

can’t believe I didn’t make it to Down-

ingtown all those years ago.

All of these opportunities and

memories are due to SAAC and the

people who run it. I am sure that

without the club they would have oth-

erwise not have occurred. So it’s not

just the cars, the conventions, the

magazine, or any of that. It’s the hard

work of the people in the club that

make it all happen.

Thank you. Ed

I have owned a ‘69 Mustang coupe

and a ‘70 fastback with a 351C and a

factory shaker. I am getting to the

point that when I retire I can purchase

the car I have always wanted (or, at

least, something close). My toughest

decision will be choosing between the

performance of a new GT350 (not an

R, of course) or a ‘69/‘70 Boss, or an

early Shelby. Or maybe I need to save

it for retirement and a used ‘12 Boss

will have to do.

The greatest value I’ve seen in the

club is the access it has given me to

places and people I wouldn’t otherwise

have had. I met Carrol Shelby several

times and had a brief conversation,

one-on-one, at a restaurant in the

Dearborn Hyatt Regency. I met Jay

Leno in the parking lot while he was

doing burnouts in a Cobra. I’ve driven

an ‘87 Mustang GT at Charlotte and

Mid-Ohio, I’ve ridden in a Pantera, a

‘66 GT 350H, a ‘69 Boss 302, and an

AC MkV at Pocono, and driven a ‘66

Mustang at the Ford test track in

Utica (and later helped install a new

U-joint at a gas station in Ohio at 10

pm so we could get home!)

I drove an ‘87 T Bird Turbo at

Pocono. I’ve driven my ‘03 Mach I at

VIR, NJMSP, and Watkins Glen. I

SURVEY RESPONSE RESPONSE

WE TOLD YOU SO

Back in the Summer ‘15 issue we predicted that it

wouldn’t be long before the folks at Revology would be

taking their retro-Mustang up a notch. At Amelia Is-

land they unveiled a ‘66 GT350 decked out in Hertz

togs. It was a very nice presentation, with its 5.0-liter

Ti-VCT Coyote DOHC V8 that really filled up the en-

gine bay.We liked the 16˝ x 8˝ aluminum-rimmed Mag-

num 500s. The sticker price was a tad north of $158K.

A bit spendy, but you’re getting a brand new, zero-mile

car with all the bells and whistles.