Ok Ok Time To Stir The Pot Just A Little.... Carpeted Package Tray....1965 GT350

[Chris Thauberger]

Best thread on this forum in a long time.

[Vernon Estes]

Hi Vern and all,
So from now forward we will class 65 Cars with carpeted rear trays and coathooks as "Deluxe"
Interior cars.....Next for bonus points will be to find out the trim shop that made the carpet
Possibly the same place that later did the vinyl top car?
R.R.

Oh boy... back on the coat hooks... don't get me goin again! Haven't found a single unrestored late car yet with hooks yet...

As for the question of what shop did the carpets... I have been spinning my wheels on that but might have just now come up with a pretty decent suggestion who it was. 

In the attached photo, it has written on it "6-8 weeks ?from? AC" and then "Should we order more? No minimum quantity."

I was on the phone with John Brown yesterday and he said that he has seen reference to "AC" in factory correspondence about interior stuff but didn't know what company that stood for... by the nature of the part its either an upholstery shop or an accessories company.

AMCO= American Carry Products, Co. American Carry="AC"

AMCO is best known for producing bumpers for Cobras, wind wings, visors, etc. They also produced many interior components for other cars... you'll find a bunch of mentions online in relation to MG interiors. Attached is a famous ad they ran with a Cobra in it... as well as an ad from 1959 where they list carpet as an offering.

Nothing super solid... but if you had a gun to my head and forced me to guess... I'm going with AMCO at the current moment.

[Vernon Estes]

Vern,

Thank you for posting and populating this substantive thread. Really 'ups the game' for our forum.
Two points:
-McCoy Ford is still around, under the same family ownerwship: https://www.ocregister.com/2012/11/14/after-75-years-ford-dealership-keeps-rolling/;


-Steve A

They did move locations though. The old building is still there but it is now some kind of self storage place I believe. My post about them having their franchise dropped was in reference to their Shelby American franchise, just to be totally clear... not their Ford franchise.

Of course, I've been scouring the web trying to find all the  tchotchkes that I can related to the dealership 

An interesting note about the first owner was that he actually first shopped for a GT350 at Hi-Performance Motors. I dont know why he didnt buy there.. but he says in a later letter to Dante Cardone that he regretted not purchasing his car there as that sales staff was the only dealer staff he felt was helpful to him.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

He probably shopped at HiPerf Motors and then bought close to home.
In 2016 we bought a car from McCoy Mills. They were the only ones that had one with a trailer package in the area. It was X plan and I had to fight them for every little thing that the plan allowed. NOT a stealership I'd recommend to anyone. They really whined when they had to honor the "Extra $1,000 Off" 4th of July sale offer - I'll wager they added X plan excluded in their next sale.

[Vernon Estes]

Not to confuse things too much, but all this has me going down a deep, dark rabbit hole.

A few days ago I posted on social media about the CONECO Cobra Floor Mats which were present in 5S345. These were sold as an accessory in the 1966 Shelby parts folder... not many sets floating round out there today.

I was looking at other AMCO accessories for other makes and models (mostly MG, Healey, etc etc) and noticed that AMCO floormats bear a lot of similarities to CONECO mats. Then I found a set of CONECO Healey Mats online.

I started trying to find info on "CONECO" as a brand and I cant anything about it existing as a standalone company. I am starting to suspect that CONECO is merely a sub-brand of AMCO... Just as Ray Brown, American Safety, and Impact were simply different labels or sub-brands within one company.

[Vernon Estes]

AMCO and CONECO mats for comparison.. all the examples i can find have very similar raised heal pad sections in the rubber.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

My motivation in starting this thread is only to bring the carpeted package tray to people's attention and hopefully we can all learn something that, while small and pretty darn unimportant in the scheme of things, is an interesting footnote in these cars' history. I hope we never get to the point where something new isn't being discovered.

Edsel started pushing for a Model T replacement 100 years ago. 99 years ago they started building the Model A (Nov 1927). There are estimated to be 1/4 million of the 5 million still in existence. Their Judging Standards book has gone through 4 revisions when new stuff has been found. They are in the process of finalizing the 5th revision for publication later this year. In 100 years there may be something found that adds to the SA knowledge base when some ones heir finds a receipt or letter.


Ford Model A Restoration Guidelines & Judging Standards manual. 500 pages of reference, with over 800 detailed photos, is something you will refer to often as you restore and repair your Model A and AA car or truck.

[Vernon Estes]

Brian Littlefield reached out to ask why I was assuming the 6-8 week blurb had to do with the carpet and not the paragraph above it about Cobra wheels....

6-8 weeks makes a lot more sense for something that needs to cross and ocean to get to SAI... as opposed to a cheap piece of carpet from across town.

No minimum order quantity on something like a wire wheel seems odd.

AC would be a pretty obvious abbreviation if you wanted to buy a Cobra wheel

I had never considered the hand written portion referring to the wheel paragraph as I perceived the line visible as pointing at the carpet paragraph but at this point I don't know for sure one way or another.

[Steve McDonald Formally known as Mcdonas]

Reading this has taken me away from the scandalous Olympic Curling Cheating. It's refreshing and just amazing, just when you think when everything has been found out about Shelby American in the 60's something like this pops up. Thanks to all for all of the input, I love this kind of stuff.
I'm hoping someone will publish the magic formula for Pit Stop Deodorant     

[Harris Speedster]

My car, 5S131, is documented as being a factory carpeted package tray car. Somewhere it says one of six factory cars. I have the documentation in my files.

I had a 65 that had a documented, by Shelby invoice/pricing, by Mr Liska, that it had a SHELBY plate on the dash as a special build. Carpeted tray, right side mirror, AC installed and a few other tid bits.
What about gold lower stripes over factory black paint on a early 657 350 ?
Shit happens !

[Road Reptile]

Hi Vern and all,
Think the comments from the letter are about AC in England. One wheel is not a strange order when you consider spare wheels....so a comment about no minimum makes good sense to me, Shelby could easily use spare wheels to help with the shortage and keep customers happy.
As mentioned Tony Nancy did some work and L.A. had a ton of shops that could make up a carpet.You are a nice example of what enthusiasm does for this hobby, as interest in this thread proves.
Keep it fun and it does not seem like work.
 Now very curious about John's post....67 with Gold stripes??? Sounds like the Hertz plan that fell through but that should be in a new thread.
R.R.

[Vernon Estes]

My car, 5S131, is documented as being a factory carpeted package tray car. Somewhere it says one of six factory cars. I have the documentation in my files.

I had a 65 that had a documented, by Shelby invoice/pricing, by Mr Liska, that it had a SHELBY plate on the dash as a special build. Carpeted tray, right side mirror, AC installed and a few other tid bits.
What about gold lower stripes over factory black paint on a early 657 350 ?
Shit happens !

What was the serial number of the 65 you're referring to?

[Vernon Estes]

Hi Vern and all,
Think the comments from the letter are about AC in England. One wheel is not a strange order when you consider spare wheels....so a comment about no minimum makes good sense to me, Shelby could easily use spare wheels to help with the shortage and keep customers happy.
As mentioned Tony Nancy did some work and L.A. had a ton of shops that could make up a carpet.You are a nice example of what enthusiasm does for this hobby, as interest in this thread proves.
Keep it fun and it does not seem like work.
 Now very curious about John's post....67 with Gold stripes??? Sounds like the Hertz plan that fell through but that should be in a new thread.
R.R.

I'm not 100% sold on it being AC in england and in reference to the wheels but I do absolutely agree that it is probably a much more likely explanation. Its an example of tunnel vision on my part when reading the docs... with the line connected to the carpet paragraph, I didnt even bother to read the paragraph above 

And appreciate your kind words btw... for me anything to do with 345 isn't work. The car is a keeper and I promised the 92 year old owner that I wasn't buying the car to sell it. Hard as it may be to believe, some dealers actually mean that when they say it   

In general, I buy and sell the cars for a living because I love the cars, not because I love money. Could have made a lot more, a lot easier, doing something else. But if I did something else, I couldn't fart around with these old cars all day long. Or.... chase down research on ratty old pieces of carpet

In terms of potential manufacturers... I still think it could be AMCO regardless of whether or not the AC reference is made towards the carpet.  I agree that it certainly could be a tony nancy thing as well... that would be awfully cool if that could ever come to light as he was a total legend in the SoCal hotrodding world.  And I would say at this point maybe the most likely explanation is that it was just some random upholstery shop local to SAI who made other stuff for them. For example, has anyone ever figured out with absolute certainty who made the spare tire covers? Would seem logical to me to assume that maybe SAI/Remington would have gone to whoever was stitching those together and requested that a carpet piece like this be made? All speculation but fun to think about.

Kind regards,
Vern

[Harris Speedster]

road reptile,
 Now very curious about John's post....67 with Gold stripes??? Sounds like the Hertz plan that fell through but that should be in a new thread.
R.R.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I was skeptical about the gold stripes until I stripped the original paint off.
Made it a point to take pictures of a sanded area, layers are red oxide, grey sealer, black paint, gold paint, no excuses.
I have sent a few pics of that to a few select saac members, and a well known restorer/owner.
Something else, all scoops, rear tail light panel , in yellow marker, has my cars serial number on them. I put clear satin lacquer over the marks to retain them. Many more oddities about the car.
John
ON THAT VERY POINT OF DISCOVERIES;
One never knows when history can be changed by real pictures and docs.

I did just that in a 2 day world symposium at the Watkins Glen Race track Media Center, by finally presenting 27 of our 130 docs on Harris, SCCA and his 1935 supercar.
We waited decades to prove it without doubt so there would be NO arguments. This involves rules, formulas and regulations you guys still race under to this very day, 70 years after the fact !
 
Proud to say that after 26 years I finally found a picture of Juan Fangio, Sterling Moss, Ben Harris and Wacky Arnolt in the winners circle from 1952. Proudly added to the pics of Ben with Shelby, Gurney, Madsen Gregory Harley Earl and more legends, Best regards,

NEVER give up on research !
John

[Bob Gaines]

road reptile,
 Now very curious about John's post....67 with Gold stripes??? Sounds like the Hertz plan that fell through but that should be in a new thread.
R.R.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I was skeptical about the gold stripes until I stripped the original paint off.
Made it a point to take pictures of a sanded area, layers are red oxide, grey sealer, black paint, gold paint, no excuses.
I have sent a few pics of that to a few select saac members, and a well known restorer/owner.
Something else, all scoops, rear tail light panel , in yellow marker, has my cars serial number on them. I put clear satin lacquer over the marks to retain them. Many more oddities about the car.
John
ON THAT VERY POINT OF DISCOVERIES;
One never knows when history can be changed by real pictures and docs.

I did just that in a 2 day world symposium at the Watkins Glen Race track Media Center, by finally presenting 27 of our 130 docs on Harris, SCCA and his 1935 supercar.
We waited decades to prove it without doubt so there would be NO arguments. This involves rules, formulas and regulations you guys still race under to this very day, 70 years after the fact !
 
Proud to say that after 26 years I finally found a picture of Juan Fangio, Sterling Moss, Ben Harris and Wacky Arnolt in the winners circle from 1952. Proudly added to the pics of Ben with Shelby, Gurney, Madsen Gregory Harley Earl and more legends, Best regards,

NEVER give up on research !
John

John, I would love to see some pictures of the stripes especially those that have the cars vin in the fiberglass . MY email is under my avatar name. Bob