The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 4 We are at the end of an era... ...whether we recognize it or not. We are witnessing the end of the ascendance of the internal combus- tion engine in the high performance car and the dawn of the electric era. We are talking specifically about performance cars here, not to be confused with those vehicles de- vised purely for transportation – driven or driverless. The Shelby GT350R is no more. The Dodge Hellcat is gone. The GT500 is at the end of its evolution. It had a good run – longer than anyone might have predicted al- most twenty years ago. The first ex- ample of the new era is Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. We haven’t driven one yet, but we know people who have. They have come away with rave reviews about it’s civility, handling and acceleration. Espe- cially the acceleration. The only frown that crosses their face is when they describe the silence that accompanies the acceleration. In a high performance car you expect to be able to hear what’s happening under the hood. Noise equals power. That has been in- grained for the past sixty years. This new silence is something that will take some getting used to. And being that it is something we are all going to have to live with, some- thing we cannot change, we will find a way. Some will surrender to it more quickly than others. Like the technology of today’s iPhone, some will accept it, get used to it, and eventually sing its praises. Others will reject it. You know a few Neanderthals who steadfastly refuse to carry an iPhone. You can easily spot them because when they exit a store, restaurant or movie theater they do not immediately stare at a small rectangle in their hand to see what King of the GT350 Hill Recently 1965-66 Shelby Registrar Howard Pardee received an inquiry asking who has owned the most 1965 and 1966 GT350s. Finding himself with nothing better to do (“Judge Judy” was in reruns) he consulted his registry database, looking for likely suspects. The top seven are listed at the right. All happen to be dealers or in businesses connected to the cars (no surprise) and some cars could have had quick turn-arounds, being pur- chased and immediately sold. Not listed are cars which were brokered for particular owners. The accuracy of these numbers reflect only what has been reported to the registrar. Due to client privacy issues some dealers do 5S184 6S996 not divulge their transactions, so the numbers could be higher. There were a few non-dealers who had numbers in the teens but Pardee chose not to dig that deep. We will do a follow-up in a future issue and provide a list for Cobra own- ers and 1967-1970 owners just to keep the playing field level. TOP 1965-66 GT350 Owners Curt Vogt.........................107 Wayne Conover................59 Bret Matteson...................54 Colin Comer......................49 Bill Collins.........................45 Tony Conover....................44 Craig Conley.....................38