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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 19
SHELBY – The Complete Book of
Shelby Automobiles – Cobras Mus-
tangs and Super Snakes
by Colin
Comer. Hard-bound; 10 ̋x 11 1/4 ̋, 256
pages; 139 b&w photos, 309 color. Pub-
lished by MBI Publishing Co., Min-
neapolis, MN $45.00
.
If you have a good memory, you’ll
recall that we reviewed this book in
the Fall 2009 issue of this august pub-
lication. SAAC member Colin Comer
has managed to keep himself busy
writing books on Cobras and Shelbys
and he does a masterful job. His books
details are accurate because we have
it on good authority that Comer relies
heavily on SAAC’s registries, and this
is one of the reasons why we published
them. We believe in sharing the infor-
mation we unearth, whether it is used
by enthusiasts, owners or authors. So
we had no problems with the accuracy
of Comer’s books.
He authored a Cobra book in time
for that car’s 50th anniversary and
when the 50th for the GT350 rolled
around two years later, Comer’s pub-
lisher thought it would be the perfect
time to update his 2009 book: a new
cover, a quick rewrite of the portions
that indicate Carroll Shelby and Phil
Remington were still alive, and includ-
ing details on the Shelby Mustangs
produced between 2009 and 2015 in
Las Vegas. The book was still selling
well for Motorbooks International (in-
cluding being printed in three lan-
guages).
So, it is truly a revised and up-
dated edition, but not anything “new”
which would necessitate it being pur-
chased by someone who already has
the 2009 edition – with the exception
of the most seriously deranged Shelby
literature collectors. And how about
this: anyone in that deep will also
have to have a copy of the book in the
three other languages. Yikes!
THE ART OF THE MUSTANG
by
Donald Farr, photography by Tom
Loeser. Hard-bound; 10 ̋x 12 1/4 ̋, 240
pages; 240 color. photographs. Pub-
lished by MBI Publishing Co., Min-
neapolis, MN $50.00
.
This book is exceptionally well
done. It is well written (as we have
come to expect from Donald Farr) and
the photographs are top shelf. Photog-
rapher Tom Loeser shot 29 cars for the
book in a studio, demonstrating that
he knows what he is doing behind the
camera. The photos are spectacular.
There are between six and ten
photos of each car, including several
that are printed full-page or across
two pages. Each one is in sharp focus
and the lighting is perfect. The book is
separated into four sections: early
Mustangs (1964 1/2 - 1968); the Mus-
cle Mustangs (1969-1976); Fox Body
Mustangs (1984 - 2003); and Modern
Mustangs (2005 - 2015). Rather than
attempt to include every year and/or
model, choice examples were selected
to represent the more valuable or un-
usual Mustangs. For example, instead
of a GT350 R-Model, which you might
expect, one of the 1965 GT350 Shelby
Driving school cars is included. The
1967 independent Trans-Am Mustang
notchback owned and raced by J. Bit-
tle, prepared for current historic rac-
ing, is restored to 1968 race specs.
Bittle also supplied a ‘66 Mustang
Super Pro bracket race drag car. The
Bittle-fest continues with a 2014
Cobra Jet factory drag car and a 1989
JBA Dominator Fox-body, a tuner
model Bittle’s speed shop created,
based on a Saleen.
This book represents the present
and future of Mustangs. Only a third
is dedicated to the early cars. The re-
mainder of the book highlights cars
made after 1969. The newest cars are
becoming classics before our eyes.