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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.