The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

golden arches down on the corner). He had contacts that were very helpful. So, I do have a few extra pieces put away. SAAC: Do you have any plans for these parts; to build complete sys- tems? DISHER: My goal, right now, is to find an original ‘69 EFI car. I’ve been look- ing and bugging Vinny Liska but I haven’t been able to turn one up yet. I know where most of them are and most of those owners have restraining orders against me to keep me from calling them all the time. Eventually one of these guys will crack, or a car not in the registry will show up and I’ll jump on it. During the time I was working on Jose’s car I contacted Craig Jackson because I knew he would be someone who was interested in the EFI set-up and would become a paying customer, and he helped fi- nance some of this as well. I used some of my money but I mostly used other peoples’ money for this project. I actu- ally finished the system on Craig’s “Green Hornet” before I finished Jose’s car. I thought it was important to help Craig in return for his financial assis- tance and to gain the knowledge from the Green Hornet. SAAC: So there are now three cars with Conelec systems. DISHER: Well, I have decommis- sioned my own car (‘69 #1088). I did that about four years ago to recreate the parts, but I have the original sys- tem that was on that car. It is the only original system (the rest are made from reproduction parts) and I’m hop- ing that will go onto an original EFI car. I’ve had some inquiries from three or four people who were building restomods and they wanted to know about using a Conelec system on the cars and I politely said, “ I don’t think so .” A couple of owners of original EFI cars asked if they could use one of these systems on their cars, and I said, “ You can, but you can’t, because it’s in- credibly expensive .” SAAC: What would you estimate the cost to be for a reproduction Conelec EFI system? DISHER: If I would estimate the time I have involved and the price of the parts would probably cost about $20,000 per car. A significant price. I look at it this way: there are only 14 EFI cars. If I help three guys complete their cars, that leaves only 11 cars without them. So what happens to the price of car with a Conelec system? I’m not sure I want to contribute to that kind of price escalation. SAAC: You have a strong presence on the SAAC Forum and when you post a comment on a thread it has a ring of authority to it. Do you ever think about that? DISHER: Yes, I do. I haven’t posted for probably about two weeks. I’ve been kind of frustrated with the Forum. Not with one thing specifically, but I feel there are a lot of people who post regularly on there who don’t have much credibility. I have a sarcastic side to me, and I’ll be the first to admit that. It probably shows through on some of my posts. But I also try to post only things I believe are true and try to have facts to back them up. If we’re talking about special paint cars I have a history with them and I’ve contacted dozens of owners of these cars. If we’re talking about judging I have those ex- periences, and likewise engineering cars. Those are the subjects I feel I have the most confidence in. I try not to get too involved on an individual basis. The Forum is kind of like the wild west, at times. I enjoy helping people and guiding them in what I feel is the right direction. But there are other people who seem to like taking shots at people and that irritates me, somewhat. I’ve been thinking about that over the last few weeks and tak- ing a break from it. SAAC: The Forum serves a useful pur- pose in the club. When we first started SAAC, back when the earth was still cooling, we didn’t know a fraction of what we know today. And it seemed like everyone – members and non- members – would have questions. And a small handful of us would answer them because, well, that’s what they club was for. But a lot of the questions were repetitive. We would try to an- swer them in the magazine but people didn’t want to wait three or four months to have their questions an- swered. And if you weren’t a member you didn’t read the magazine anyway. Now the questions we used to answer are answered on the Forum and it’s al- most instantaneous. And that’s a big help. DISHER: There’s no question that we know more today than we’ve ever known about these cars. The concours is responsible for a lot of that knowl- edge. But I’ve become increasingly frustrated with the whole concours structure and the way things are han- dled. I’ve become a lot more interested in the history of the cars. I don’t find the minutiae of details – the finish of specific bolts or which wiper blades were original – that compelling any more. I think we make it more difficult than we need it to be. The one question that frustrates me more than any other question on the Internet is, “ Is this part acceptable in a concours venue? ” It’s your car. You can put any part you want on your car. If you want concours points you have to be very specific. But the best answer is, “ Does it look like the original part? ” If it does, you’ll get more points and if it doesn’t you’ll get less points. To me, it’s not that hard to figure out. I think if you go from that aspect of it, we could make things a lot less painful for peo- ple. We should try to be more inclusive and try to keep people interested in- stead of trying to beat them over the head with judgements; your bracket is 75% glossy instead of 50% glossy. I’ve found myself becoming much more in- terested in the history. I enjoy finding things that nobody else has found. A lot of this stuff is out there, but people don’t recognize it. I like putting that puzzle together and figuring out what happened. The SHELBY AMERICAN Green Hornet as it was received at Shelby American prior to modification. Fall 2021 40