The SHELBY AMERICAN
Spring 2016 7
SPECIAL DELIVERY
We couldn’t make this stuff up,
folks. SAAC member Alan Stewart of
Merrick, Long Island was eagerly
awaiting the latest Shelby American
annual in early January when his wife
told him there was a package for him
at the front door. He went to retrieve
it and was surprised to see what ap-
peared to be a six-inch thick book. His
first thought was that it was some
kind of special, oversized edition but
on closer inspection, he found it was
actually five separate annuals, ad-
dressed to five different SAAC mem-
bers, wrapped in one clear plastic
bundle. Stewart’s annual was on top,
so the package was delivered to him.
He considered sending the other
four annuals back to SAAC so they
could be resent. But when he realized
that the zip codes were all near him,
he decided it was a nice, sunny day, so
he and a friend hopped in his Grabber
Yellow ‘69 GT350, 9F02M482632 and
made the deliveries. “
It was a good ex-
cuse to take my Shelby out for a run,
and it felt good that these members all
received their annuals when they
were supposed to. I believed that this
is just what SAAC members would do
for one another.
”
Three of the members were fairly
close by. Two were not home so he left
the annuals at the front door with a
note. The third member’s wife was
home and appreciated getting the an-
nual. She knew how important it was
to her husband. She even offered to
show Stewart and his pal their ‘67
Shelby out in the garage but he felt a
little awkward because her husband
wasn’t home, so he thanked her for the
offer and they moved on.
The last member lived a few towns
over but it turned out to be well worth
the drive to deliver his annual to him.
He was also appreciative of Stewart’s
going the extra mile, and invited them
out to his garage to show them his col-
lection of cars. They included a pair of
new Ford GTs, an ultra-rare Yenko
427 Camaro and a ‘69 Corvette Bloom-
ington Gold winner.
If Alan Stewart had just sent the
We ran this picture of Alan Stewart and
the crew of the cable television show “Car-
fellas” who are friends of his. To refresh
your memory, refer to the 2013 Annual,
page 7.
As you might imagine, the personal delivery of the 2015 Annual was an unexpected
event. Special thanks to Alan Stewart for taking the matter into his own hands and re-
solving the problem instead of shrugging his shoulders and saying, “
It’s not my prob-
lem
.” Stories like this demonstrate how really special SAAC is.
In early January of 2016 the weather was unseasonably warm. Temperatures in Long
Island were in the 50-degree range with not a snowflake in sight. Four issues between
zip codes 11510 and 11566 are about to be delivered in appropriate Shelby style.
misdirected annuals back to SAAC we
would have re-mailed them along with
an apology. The books would have
taken an extra week or two to reach
their intended recipients. We know
how much everyone looks forward to
getting the annual so when there is a
hiccup like this we take it personally.
We’re fortunate that Alan Stewart did,
too.
Is there a downside? The only one
we can think of is the precedent that
has been set. We certainly hope SAAC
members on Long Island aren’t ex-
pecting to have their annuals person-
ally delivered by someone driving a
Shelby.