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.