The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 117 CHARLES McHOSE January 31, 2021 Charlie was best known for the design of the exterior of the 1967 Shelby. He attended the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, Cali- fornia and then went to work at Ford in Dearborn. He worked as a designer at Ford and in May of 1966 he was temporarily dispatched to Los Angeles to work for Shelby American on the design of 1967 Shelby. It had to be completely dif- ferent from the previous model. His design studio at Shelby Amer- ican was on the second floor. They used a forklift to hoist the damaged unibody of a 1967 Mustang proto- type into the room and it became the full-size clay model of the new car. Every day to get there he went past GT40s in the race shop. They provided the inspiration for the new car’s scoops and rear spoiler. He also designed the 1967 coiled snake badge. Shelby told him he wanted the new badge to be different from the circular Cobra logo. He wanted it to have “the Tiffany touch.” The result was the coiled snake logo seen on 1967 and later Shelbys. In one form or another it continues to be used to this day. While at Shelby American, McHose was given a ‘66 GT350 to use. The car acquired a spoilered rear trunk lid. He was rear-ended by a drunk a few weeks before he was finished at Shelby American work. When the design was final- ized McHose went back to Ford in Dearborn. Others on his team, like Farrar, remained to work on the 1968 Shelby model which only had a few changes from the 1967 cars. After leaving Shelby American he went back to Dearborn where he worked in the Lincoln studio and then at Ford’s advanced concepts studio. After leaving Ford in 1968 he moved back to California and eventually went to work for Mattel. He left there after ten years and worked at another toy manufac- turer until he retired. Charlie was a quiet, modest man who never sought praise or ac- knowledgement for his work. He let the design speak for itself, which it did, eloquently. He was 86 and the car was declared a total loss. McHose had several other individ- uals on the design team, including Joe Farrar who handled most of the clay