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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 11
– Howard Pardee
work order and Shelby would then re-
imburse me for the part. I would pay
for the labor. I agreed to this, thinking
that something was better than noth-
ing.
The repair was done and I sent
the paid work order to them. A cou-
ple of weeks later I received the Shelby
American check for both the part and
labor. I didn’t look a gift house in the
mouth. It was almost Christmas and I was
very glad to get the additional, unexpected
money.
The phone call came about forty-five
years later and it turned out to be from
Rinsey Mills, the author of “Carroll
Shelby–The Authorized Biography.” It
I was working on my computer one af-
ternoon, back in 2011, when my phone
rang.
Me:
Hello?
Voice with thick British accent:
Howard C.
Pardee?
Me:
Yes.
Voice:
USCG Academy Band, New London,
Connecticut 06320?
Me:
Yes, that was my old work address.
Voice:
When were you an employee at
Shelby American?
Me:
I was never an employee of Shelby
American.
Voice:
Then why do I have a check from
Shelby American made out to you?
The story of the check began in the
late fall of 1966. I had purchased 5S357
from Larsen Ford in White Plains, New
York in September 1965. I was driving the
car down a street about a year later and
tried to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. The
clutch pedal went right to the floor. I was
lucky that Whaling City Ford in New Lon-
don, Connecticut was only a few blocks
away and I drove straight to their service
department. When they had a free me-
chanic we pushed the car onto a lift and
immediately noticed that the aluminum
bellhousing had a jagged hole in it and the
pivot for the clutch pedal was completely
missing. The only fix was to replace the
bellhousing and I gave them permission to
do so.
After the bellhousing was replaced
and I got home, I was thinking that the
hole had to result from a defect in the alu-
minum casting. I called Shelby American
and got the Warranty Manager, Harry
Neumann. He explained that the 90-day,
4,000-mile warranty had long expired as I
had purchased the car more than a year
earlier. I countered that this was obviously
a manufacturing defect by Ford Motor Co.
We went back and forth for a bit and he
eventually suggested that I pay for the re-
pair and send Shelby American the paid
Pardee
now has the
actual check,
which he has added
to his personal treasure
trove of Shelby memora-
bilia. This one, however, is no
doubt valued more highly than
most other things in his collection be-
cause of its personal sentimental value. It
was signed by Helen Green who auto-
crossed a 289 Cobra with her husband
Chuck, who ran the parts department.
The original bellhousing was replaced (that was
before the days when an owner kept everything
taken off his car). The circled area was where
the clutch pivot attaches. It was probably a cast-
ing imperfection that caused the bolts and sur-
rounding area to tear out. Pardee swore that a
powershift was not involved and obviously War-
ranty Manager Harry Neumann bought it.
turned out that Carroll had given Rinsey
a number of old Shelby American cancelled
checks. Rinsey and I worked out a friendly
deal and the check was finally returned to
the person who had cashed it decades be-
fore. Me.
The SHELBY A ERICAN