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The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2016 9

KING OF SWEDEN CALLS FOR BAN ON BATHS

TO SAVE ENVIRONMENT. NO WORD ON CAR WASHING.

A news item on the

Daily Mail’s

Internet website caught our attention

recently. King Carl XVI Gustaf, King

of Sweden, was reported to have taken

a bath on a trip when no shower was

available and when he realized how

much water and energy was wasted he

had an epiphany. The King, now a

staunch environmentalist, suggested

banning all baths. The article also

mentioned that he now drives an eco-

friendly hybrid car, reversing his life-

long reputation as a “petrolhead.”

Back in the 1990s, also known as

“the good old days,” His Royal High-

ness was a SAAC member and owned

a couple of high octane-swilling Mus-

tangs as well as an extravagantly wasteful AC MK IV. Evidently the King has served time in some sort of Swedish en-

vironmental re-education camp and now has his mind right because the cars are gone. He is pictured, back in the 1990s,

with Carroll Shelby [

left

] and his chief car confederate Bjorn Andersson [

center

]. Andersson was also a SAAC member

and at one time lived in Las Vegas, working for Shelby in the 1990s when the CSX4000 project was in its infancy. We

have not heard from him recently, leading us wonder if Sweden has undergone some sort of purge, rounding up motor-

heads and forcing them to work on giant windmill farms.

THE DAYTONA COUPE IS TRULY A TIMELESS DESIGN

2016: the YEAR OF THE GT40

Not many racing car designs en-

dure more than a season or two, but

the Daytona Coupe (with a few mod-

ern aero updates to increase down-

force) just keeps on winning,

” said

Peter Brock in an email which accom-

panied this photo. “

This short note

from Richard really makes me smile.

Australian Richard Bendell of

Motech fame, sent the picture to Brock

with the note, “

Your baby still rocks.

As a part-time hobby, Bendell

builds and races Daytona Coupes. “

As

you might imagine,

” continued Brock,

they are far more sophisticated under

the original shape than anything we

raced back in the ‘60s, but the exterior

down under. “

Needless to say,

” said

Brock, “

they aren’t very happy to get

smoked by a 50 year-old, front-engined

dinosaur

.”

still seems to be working pretty well.

Bendell’s current iteration is more

successful than all of the modern su-

percoupes that this team races against

We’ve heard that the 50th An-

niversary of Ford’s 1966 LeMans vic-

tory will be celebrated at Pebble Beach

with a special class for GT40s. And

we’re also guessing that the Monterey

Motorsports Reunion will also be a

GT40 funfest. There will also be some-

thing special at LeMans – after all the

whole thing started there. Like the

Cobra 50th anniversary, we expect al-

most every car show and concours will

take advantage of the anniversary to

tout the GT40. Looks like it’s going to

be an interesting year.