The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Summer 2022 12 Speaking of Dave Wagner, he told a great story about his days at Ford that is worth repeating. In the mid-’80s he was in Product Development and his mission was to push Ford engines into unrelated markets. In this case, Dave was working on getting Mercury Ma- rine up in Wisconsin to “marinize” Ford engines for use in boats. As the pitch unfolded, it came time to bring the VPs of Engineering and Product Development and their teams from Fond du Lac to Detroit to see the Ford operation. Dave was no stranger to Special Vehicle Operations at Ford, so he arranged for the use of the Ford test track and a Ford development driver for some hot laps at lunchtime. All was good until he took a phone call just days ahead of the meeting with the news that another group was going to need the track that day for work on the GN-34, a distant precur- sor that would ultimately become the 2005-6 Ford GT. In a panic, Dave called the SVO de- partment head to see if he couldn’t somehow piggyback onto the session for just an hour or so while his guys got a ride around the track. To Dave’s surprise, the manager informed him that the car would not be ready in time for the test that day and, by the way, could Dave use the test driver Ford was flying in from Europe? He happened to be three-time F1 World Champion (Sir, as of 2001) Jackie Stewart! Dave allowed that he could make that work, so the meeting laps with Stewart talking the whole time about the need for a proper driv- ing position, light hands on the wheel, brake late into the turn, find the apex, roll on the gas, out fast, keep it smooth, eyes down the track – a com- plete tutorial on racing, well-remem- bered 37 years later. As an aside, Dave’s long career at Ford saw him in many areas which gave him access to the Dearborn test track. Sometimes at lunch he’d grab a sandwich and head over there to see what was under development and he’d jump in whatever was there for some hot laps. His best time around the track was about 10 seconds slower than Stewart’s. A mere mortal, that Dave Wagner. By the way, he didn’t get the order from Mercury Marine. The Grand National Roadster Show was as interesting as always, this being my third trip. An offering of about 1,000 hot and street rods, cus- toms and motorcycles covered all facets and even the dark corners of the hobby. This year the featured cars were Volkswagens, over 100 of them, each modified to the owner’s taste and carefully presented, plus a 90th An- niversary celebration of the ’32 Ford. The cars were incredible, topped by the 12 roadsters that were competing for the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award and the 16 vehicles competing for the Art Slonaker Memo- rial Award. And of course, the Suede Palace is always entertaining for its pure, OG, hot rod offerings. There was one key takeaway. We talked a lot about the difference be- tween a hot rod and a street rod. There certainly is a ton of overlap between the two, but the best answer we came up with was that you can see the traf- fic light you’re stopped at from a street rod. No way from a chopped hot rod. with Mercury Marine went ahead. Dave didn’t let it drop who the test driver would be and when the time came, he left the meeting to bring the driver in. As they were walking back toward the meeting room (Sir) Jackie wanted to know who his audience was and what the goal was for Ford. That was the extent of the pre-meeting brief and in they walked. The first thing out of somebody’s mouth was: “ Hey look, they got a guy who looks like Jackie Stewart to drive us around .” Dave told us it was a vir- tuoso performance from Stewart; he waxed eloquently about how you could look out that window to the left at Greenfield Village and 100 years of Ford’s history and out the other win- dow to the right at the Dearborn Prov- ing Ground where 100 years of Ford’s future would be found. Off they went to the track where everyone got a ride in an SVO Mus- tang prototype with (Sir) Jackie Stew- art at the wheel. Dave’s job was to get his guests strapped in and helmeted for each run. When it was over, Stew- art asked Dave if he’d like a ride around the track. There was no need to ask twice.With Dave in the car they proceeded to rip off a series of 1:20 Morrison Productions’ Cobra and GT350 Tour Videos 2015 Shelby Cobra Yooper Tour/Sildes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txwi_eDgmp8 2015 Shelby Cobra Yooper Tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVA0to553WM 2015 GT350 50th Anniversary Tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2TlbhSIQnl 2010 Cobra 1000 Tour https://youtu.m5aJpiZTKAM Roger Morrison has participated in a number of Cobra and GT350 tours over the past few years and at some of the early ones he used a Sony pocket camera to shoot videos and stills. He warns they are not pro- fessional quality as is possible today, but the price is right. Here are the links. Have at it! 2011 Cobra Snakes in the Grass Tour https://youtu.be/1DxYjY8MVAE