The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

t’s rare that I meet someone whose car stories leave me in awe, my mouth suspended in a prolonged state of ‘ Wow. ’ Wayne Carini comes to mind. After glancing at these photos and reading his stories, you’ll want to add Jim Emert to this short list. I did. Jim Emert began his automotive odyssey in October, 1967 when he stepped inside the Phoenix, Arizona Ford dealership. He had a new 1968 Corvette on order but a friend sug- gested he check out the Cobras that had just arrived at Bill Watkins Ford. Emert had just turned twenty-one and his wife of two years was four months pregnant, so a two-seater sports car was not on her shopping list, but it was on his. The Watkins salesman told him he had to place a check for the full price of the Cobra on his desk before they would take him out for a test drive – and Jim would have to ride in the pas- senger seat. If he liked the car, they would keep his check and he could take the car. In other words, he would not be allowed to drive the car until he’d purchased it. I thought that was insane, but Emert explained this is probably how Ford GTs are sold today. There were two Cobras in the show- room, a red and a blue one. Emert’s test drive was in the red roadster, a 427. He liked it, so he said he’d take the blue one. “ Ah, that one is already sold ,” he was told. So, he bought the red one, CSX3356, one of the last coil spring Cobras produced. He paid $7,850. His car payment was $265 a month [ note: this is about $2,000 today. ] I forgot to ask him how much the car insurance was. Four months later, Jim recalled, “ One day my wife took the car out by herself, and the guy that sold me the The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 77 – Jim Kreuz I CSX3356 CSX3356 CSX3356