The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

We would occasionally tune this bike for him, but didn’t for this particular jump. I’d see his bikes routinely in our back cage, waiting for service. He al- most killed himself on that jump. “ Don Roberts was extremely suc- cessful racing CSX2473 but eventually sold it in 1968. In 1972, Don ap- proached me about this car, explaining that the last owner had filed for bank- ruptcy and there was going to be a sealed bid sale. Included were a spare set of tires and wheels, some suspen- sion parts, a transmission and a trailer. Roberts wasn’t in a financial position to bid and suggested I do so. He handled the submission of my sealed bid, for $4,500, but I really was- n’t interested in owning this Cobra. I thought, ‘Where am I going to drive it?’ I wasn’t planning on racing it my- self. “ Of course, we won the bid. Roberts borrowed my pickup truck, drove to San Francisco and picked up the car, trailer, and spares, and drove back to Phoenix. And we were back in the rac- ing business. I towed the car to At- lanta for a race and it was snowing there. I spent the night in a motel and didn’t drain the water out of the en- gine. Wouldn’t you know it, the next morning I discovered the block was cracked. We got to the track and did a quick engine change. After three or four years I sold #89. “ I had one other 289 Cobra, but don’t recall anything other than it was a street car with wire wheels. I don’t remember the color, and only owned it for about a month. “ I bought a factory racing Porsche from Richie Ginther after seeing his ad in ‘Competition Press’ and flew out and talked to him. I had no idea who he was. When I arrived, I noticed he had a pretty nice shop. Some time later I learned that Ginther was the Director of Racing for Porsche on the West Coast. Richie led me across the shop floor to the Porsche. It was gleaming, just a gorgeous automobile. And I said, ‘Yes, I’ll buy it’. This 1970 914–6 cylinder Porsche was an SCCA Production C factory car driven previ- ously by Elliott Forbes-Robinson, and was inexpensive at that time – $5,500. “Richie Ginther was a great guy, and we got along well. After signing the paperwork we went out to lunch. I decided to have a mechanic tow a trailer over to take the car, driving all the way from Phoenix to Richie’s shop in California. So that left me hanging out in the office with him all day, wait- ing on the trailer. Later I discovered that not only was he a factory Formula 1 driver but was also the first guy to pilot a Formula 1 Honda. I was so glad I didn’t know this at the time because I would have treated him like a god. And that’s why we got along so well. “The Collector Car want ads in the ‘Sunday LA Times’ were fun to peruse. One day I noticed an older car listed that piqued my interest, so I flew to Los Angeles with a buddy of mine and I bought the car – a 1956 300 SL Mer- cedes Gull Wing. It was red with a tan interior. We drove it back to Phoenix, with $5,500 less in my wallet. The for- mer owner’s girl friend had been driv- ing it, but he didn’t elaborate as to why she was no longer behind the wheel. He met us at the airport in the Gull Wing, and boy was it tight. My friend had to ride in the back where the spare tire was! I lost a main seal back in 1970 and you couldn’t go out and find a main seal for this car. I had a friend who was a mechanic that took this car in a trade. The windows were not the roll up – you either left them in or removed them. And yes, there was no A/C. Keep in mind it gets hot here in Arizona. The acceleration was as poor as the handling. So, this par- ticular model wasn’t a fun car to drive . “ The photo of the me standing be- side the Ford GT40 was taken at Bill Watkins Ford, and is one I didn’t own. But I did acquire one from Harley Cluxton in the mid-1970s, a white GT40 [P/1062] that had mag wheels. I traded Harley my Ferrari 512M race car for it. The Ferrari had been run at LeMans in 1971 by Michael Parkes. It had a flat V-12 that carried 48 quarts of oil and would take time to warm up. We would take it out to the PIR track in Phoenix occasionally. You had to have a starter battery on hand to crank it, and we always had to squirt starter fluid into carbs to get it going. The SHELBY AMERICAN CSX2473 CSX2473 Fall 2021 80