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to leave every-
day life behind. Making that break
even sweeter is when you can take
your life companion – in my case, my
wife Mollie – on a great adventure. In
a GT350. We drove over the river and
through the woods last mid-October
for three full days of excursions ex-
pertly planned by Tom Cotter, noted
automotive author (“Cobra in the
Barn”) and car collector, who is also
known for his Cobra driving tours. The
purpose was to celebrate the 50th an-
niversary of the GT350. After ten
years of Cobra tours, Tom has the
whole process down to a science, in-
cluding every last detail – except for
the weather. I’ll get to that later.
Tom and his wife, Pat, the gracious
hosts of the driving tour, went out
weeks in advance and drove all of the
routes, making very exact and detailed
driving directions. Tom made very pro-
fessional tour guide books for each
participant. Each book not only con-
tained the route directions but also
contained past and present photos of
participants and their cars, which Tom
had requested in advance.
The home base for the GT350 tour
was the historic Snowbird Mountain
Lodge, owned by Robert Rankin. It is
located on the mile-high scenic Chero-
hala Skyway in the Natahala National
Forest, about fifteen minutes west of
Robbinsville, North Carolina. The
lodge was built in 1940 and sits high
up on a mountain top with amazing
views of the surrounding mountains.
The driveway leading up to the lodge
was steep enough to challenge the
strongest mountain goat and it sure
sounded good to hear the GT350s
working their way to the top.
We all met at the Snowbird on
Sunday afternoon to settle in, get the
cars lined up and relax before the tour
started on Monday. It was a good time
to catch up with old friends and meet
new ones. The parking area of the
lodge was packed with thirteen
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 31
– EARL MORRIS
6S2301
It is a rare occasion
October 26-27-28, 2015