The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

registrars began keeping accurate records, it has become difficult – if not impossible – to pass off a Mustang with Shelby stripes and badges as an original car. If they do their research, buyers have confidence that they are not purchasing a fake, but rather, the genuine article. Accurate record keep- ing and the confidence that ensued helped cause the value of the “origi- nal” cars to skyrocket. That and the law of supply and demand. You can argue with this next state- ment all that you want, but I am a firm believer in the fact that SAAC is directly responsible for the value and popularity of these cars today.Without SAAC, the Shelby and Cobra market would be like the wild west. No one would have confidence in what was real and what was not. The rising tide would not have lifted all boats. Supply and demand caused the prices of many cars to escalate out of reach for those who wanted them, so what happened? Opportunistic manu- facturers stepped in to create vehicles to meet the demand. Companies started making replicas. ERA, Shell Valley, Factory Five, Unique Motor- cars, Everett-Morrison, Lone Star Classics, Backdraft, Kirkham and Su- performance are all well known Cobra manufacturers. Even Shelby Ameri- can is producing Cobras. On the Mus- tang side, Classic Restorations, Revology and others are making Shelby replicas. Some are better than others and like everything, it’s caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). Another side effect of the popularity of Shelbys and limited supply of origi- nal cars is that Ford is making Mus- tangs called Shelbys and has been making them in some form or another since at least 1984 when they offered a Fox-platformed GT350, much to Car- roll's consternation, mainly because he was working with Lee Iacocca and Chrysler at the time. By 2007 the wounds had been healed and Ford was producing a new Shelby GT500 with Carroll's blessing. Those cars were so desirable that dealers were asking for – and getting – $5,000 to $20,000 over sticker price. The following year the situation got crazier, with some dealers demanding $50,000 or more over sticker for 2008 GT500KRs. This came as no surprise, since the 2005-2006 Ford GTs were selling for way over sticker, even though the list price on those cars was already $145,000. Politics and ugly law suits aside, the issue first and foremost is that people want to buy cars with some connection to a company that beat Ferrari at his own game. And while the only connec- tion to the “original” Shelbys and Co- bras may be a pair of LeMans stripes or a badge, it provides the owner with the feeling that he or she is now part of history. From an enthusiast’s point of view, this is all well and good. So how does SAAC view these cars? The word “view” may have many sub- texts, so let's look at a few of them. Sometimes when this question is asked, the real question is, “ Can I join SAAC? ” Of course we would be glad to have another member. The only real requirement is enthusiasm, and just the fact that people ask us that ques- tion indicates that they are enthusias- tic. So yes, we certainly want people with non-original Shelbys and Cobras as members. After all, there is much more of a demand than there is a sup- ply. There are just not enough origi- nals to go around for everyone who wants one to have one. A thornier issue has to do with the Registries. SAAC is currently produc- ing the 5th edition of the Registry. While CSX4000, Superformance and Kirkham cars were included in a prior Cobra Registry, they were put there intentionally to help people under- stand the differences between the CSX2000 / CSX3000 cars and subse- quent Cobras. SAAC does not have the manpower nor the interest to keep track of the cars outside of the 1962 – 1970 cars from Shelby American. Other organizations are already keep- ing some of this information, so it makes no sense to keep two sets of records. Another reason we are not keeping a registry of new cars is that there are way too many of the post-2006 GT350 and GT500s. At least 60,000! Most of The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 93 Revology GT350H Kirkham Daytona Coupe