The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

“We had a barn on our property – I enjoyed having horses. Our oldest daughter was 11 at time, a real tom- boy, and she’s 53 now. She helped me take the headers off the GT40, parked in the barn, which were a very intri- cate ‘bundle of snakes.’ They came in sections, some as short 3-4 inches, and had tabs to hold them together. She and I took them apart and used safety wire on each of the 65 separate pieces to attach a numbered tag to aid in re- assembly. We then dropped them off to have a flash nickeled finish applied, which is a beautiful satin silk applica- tion that works well on metal that gets hot. I had used this same plating place because they did a good job, and three weeks later they called to say they were done. I went down to pick them up, and you guessed it, all the num- bered tags were gone. They did a beau- tiful job, but how was I going to reassemble this mess? Fortunately, Harley had a GT40 Mirage, M1-10001, at the time and I used it to see how to put mine back together. “My GT40 was a right-hand drive, right-hand shift car, so to pass some- one you had to put your passenger into the ‘danger zone’ to see if any cars were coming. Keep in mind, I could have been going 120+ mph. [Laughs.] I can still recall blowing four-foot flames out the rear exhaust when shifting at night. Those Weber carbs ran way too rich. My GT40 was fun to drive, but it was limited fun. The car had tall gearing and as you’d expect, was tough to get in and out of. It was fantastic if you craved attention. Peo- ple always thought it was a kit car. The GT40 was sold back to Harley Cluxton around 1979. “Harley and I took the Ferrari 512M out, after the trade, to the Phoenix airport and back at speed, and didn’t get caught by any cops on the way. You bet we were looking. We got back to the shop, laughing, because we were flying and had expected to draw some attention from the local po- lice force. Then, all of a sudden, the po- lice pulled into Harley’s shop and asked if we were driving the Ferrari just now to the airport. The engine was still ticking, not yet cooled down. ‘No sir, not us,’we both replied. “ I picked up a sleek Lola T190 and didn’t waste any time pushing it to its limit. We took it out to a local track in Phoenix right after the purchase and began to see what it would do. That was a fabulous car, built back in 1969. I assumed we were nearing the end of our interview, thinking that no man could have owned and driven any more cars than this. Just to make sure, I asked Emert if he was forget- ting any other memorable rides, and lo and behold, he had. The car pictured is his McLaren, and Jim is about to take it for a ride on the track. Harley Cluxton is to the right of Jim, leaning over the cockpit. I was afraid to ask if The SHELBY AMERICAN Cluxton [ left ] and Emert with the 512 at Phoenix International Raceway. Jim, suited up, next to his McLaren F 1. Fall 2021 81 6S2363