The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 120 closed circuit steam turbine engine technology never came to fruition and Parsons moved on to the Orange County Schools vehicle maintenance facility, then to San Joaquin Helicop- ters back up north of Bakersfield and then to Post Falls, Idaho where he continued to maintain helicopters at Pappy Boyington Field in Coeur d’Alene. He and and his wife long shared a mutual interest and curiosity in the spiritual side of the human ex- istence. In 1960 they joined Subud, an international spiritual non-denomina- tional brotherhood of like-minded souls. That shared vision carried them through 70 years of marriage. Leonard Parsons passed away from non-Covid related pneumonia. He was 91. CARL V. NICHOLSON March 30, 2021 Carl passed away at the Founda- tion Park Alzheimer’s Center in Toledo, Ohio following a lengthy ill- ness. He served in the Army in Viet- nam as a First Lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Star. He worked on his first car when he was twelve years-old. He was self-em- ployed and restored classic cars. In 1972 he purchased a ‘65 GT350, 5S351. The car was originally a drag unit; after completion as a Shelby it was sent to Performance Associates to be converted into to drag specifi- cations. As soon as it was finished it was driven by Don McCain at Lion’s Dragway, August ‘65, and set an AHRA record of 12.98 sec. @ 108.50 mph. The car was then purchased by George May Ford in Lorian, Ohio. Nicholson was it’s second owner and he continued to drag race the car, then painted black with white LeMans stripes. He eventually stopped racing it and re- stored it to drag racing specs and repainting it the original white. He trailered the car to SAAC Does Vegas-2 in 1998 where it won the Best of Show award. The car was one of four factory drag cars in 1965 and Nicholson’s ownership contin- ued until his passing. He was 73. JIM REED April 17, 2021 Jim was an active vintage racer on the West Coast and his gold/black stripes ‘66 GT350 was a fixure at the Monterey Historics. 6S2134 was raced from new, in SCCA nationals sponsored by the Golden Nugget casino and Marv Tonkin Ford in Portland. In the mid-70s it made the change to vintage racing. Reed also raced a ‘69 Camaro, originally driven by Brock Yates, with the His- toric Trans-Am group. Jim was born in Fullerton, California and gradu- ated from the University of of Southern California. He settled in Newport Beach and was a big sup- porter of the Trojan Knights. In ad- dition to vintage racing he included motorcycles and good wine. He pur- chased Clarke Marine, a yacht bro- kerage, from his uncle in the late 1970s. Over the years he grew the business and operated across the U.S. and in Europe and expanded to insure everything from boats and homes to high-rise commercial buildings. He had a 2007 Shelby GT500 and when it was rumored it that the original Cannonball would be resurrected, he planned to enter the GT500 with his son and a friend as co-drivers. Unfortunately, the event never came off. Jim was al- ways optimistic, upbeat, fun-loving and a great friend to those who knew him. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was 68.