The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 119 LEONARD PARSONS February 18, 2021 Leonard was born on a large wheat farm in Ducor, California, 40 miles due north of Bakersfield. He honed his mechanical skills on the equipment and trucks, but his natu- ral curiosity was to lead him far from rural Ducor. After high school he enrolled in San Jose State in 1948. His older brother had re- turned from the Pacific theater with the Marines and Leonard soon de- cided the Corps was the way to go. In 1949 the Marines were downsiz- ing and after an honorable discharge he enlisted in the Air Force where he was eventually a multi-engine pilot trainer in Texas. Leonard married Roseanna Silva in 1950; he was 21, she was 19. The young couple bought a Piper J-3, a Jaguar 140 and eventually a Porsche 356. Friends convinced them to move to Los Angeles in the early ‘60s where Leonard dabbled in acting and even turned down an offer to become the “The Marlboro Man.” He did take a job as production manager with Reventlow Automobiles, Inc. in Jan- uary 1962. By mid-summer of 1962, Ford was coming out of the shadows behind Carroll Shelby and when Reventlow exited his Scarab busi- ness, Shelby was there to take over the lease on the building, plus the equipment and the few people that were left at 1042 Princeton Drive. Phil Remington was one of those people and he was quickly detailed to the racing side of the business. Another of those people was Leonard Parsons, a some-time street racer who was a skilled fabricator and builder in his own right who, being older (he was 32 after-all), was named Production Manager in July 1962 for the 289 street Cobra pro- gram at Shelby American, a position he would keep until September 15, 1964. All but a couple of dozen 289 Cobras were built by Leonard Par- sons and his crew at Princeton Drive. He designed and built the ramp system seen in the shop pho- tos which allowed them to “stab” the company facilities and tools at night and weekends, and they would get the company tow truck and trailer, plus gas money, but that was it. Under the direction of Parsons, they produced and drove CSX2019 in 1963 and CSX2357 in 1964. The Dragon Snakes provided Ford and Shelby American a great deal of publicity those years. Roseanna remembers spending many weekends at the drag strip because it was the only time she saw Leonard. Peter Brock recalls Leonard Parsons to be a good guy who was respected by those he worked with at Shelby American. But as Ford increased its involve- ment with the company and brought new priorities which in- cluded the GT350 and GT40 pro- grams, their interest in the Cobra waned. Shelby had signed a con- tract for 300 big-block Cobras, but sales were wanting, and Ford had other uses for Carroll Shelby. Like so many others of the original crew of hot rodders, Leonard Parsons was gone from Shelby American around the time of the move to LAX. Leonard signed on with Bill Lear, who in the late ‘60s made the last serious effort to build steam- powered cars and buses. Lear’s The Dragonsnake Team. Parsons is in the sweater. engine and transmission into the car. He often drove a newly produced Cobra home at night to test it, making roadside adjustments when necessary. Two of his production crew remember him well; Tony Stoer and Jere Kirk- patrick recall him as being an excell- lent manager and they give him credit for getting the Dragon Snake program off the ground. In 1963 they started bugging their boss about drag racing the company parts-getter, a hopped up Fairlane, on weekends. Parsons took their “ask” to Shelby who eventually caved, with an unexpected twist; he didn’t want the company parts-getter wrecked, so he told Parsons to let the boys pick a Cobra off the line and with a small budget, prepare and race it on their own time. They could use the