The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

The SHELBY AMERICAN $1 Mil Raised at Barrett-Jackson to Aid Ukraine How Did This Slip Past Us ? A special auction was held at the Palm Beach Barrett-Jackson auction this past April. Two cars were do- nated – a 750 h.p. 2009 Shelby GT500 Super Snake and an 1986 Corvette Indy Pace Car Edition – by George Shinn and Mark Pieloch, respectively. The winning bidder was NASCAR rac- ing legend Rick Hendrick who paid $1 million for both cars. The money went to Samaritan’s Purse, a non-denomi- national Christian organization that provides medical supplies, food, water, blankets and hygiene kits during in- ternational crisis. It will be used to fund humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. In addition to the $1 million that Hendrick bid, his generosity inspired others at the auction to donate an ad- ditional $650,000 to the charity, in- cluding $100K each from Shinn and Pielock, $100K from Craig Jackson and Steve Davis, and $250K from other bidders in the audience. Hendrick maintains a collection of 210 cars in Concord, North Carolina, including 150 Corvettes. His Hendrick Automotive Group is the largest pri- vately held automotive dealership group in the U.S., numbering 140 deal- erships in 13 states. They sell around Summer 2022 20 200,000 cars a year. Hendrick also owns Hendrick Motorsports which oversees four Chevrolet NASCAR teams. They employ more than 600 people. If the name Mark Pieloch sounds familiar, it’s because he owns the American Muscle Car Museum in Mel- bourne, Florida. We’ve done articles about it in the past. Mark’s wife, Tetiana, is from Ukaraine and grew up only thirty miles from the Russian border. Her family members fled to Poland, then to Germany and then to the U.S. Her father and brother are still there defending the country. The Corvette they donated is one of 735 Indy Pace cars and has 9,325 miles on it. It will find a spot in Hen- drick’s Corvette collection. On the eve of the opening of the New York Automobile Show (April 13, 2022) the Hemmings blog ran a short pictorial about concept and show cars at the NYAS in 1992, 2002 and 2012. Funny, they looked cutting edge back then, but now they’re just “Meh.” The NYAS is billed as the longest-running automobile show in the country. The first one was held in the original Madi- son Square Garden on November 3, 1900. The show is returning to the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan after a two year covid-hiatus. In 2012, CSX2000 was on display during the show’s “Media Days,” the days preceeding the show’s opening. Funny, but we don’t remember that. It eventually sold for $13.75M at the 2016 RM Sotheby’s auction in Mon- terey. That, we remember. The second generation Ford GT was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in 2002 and made a second splash at the 2002 NYAS. By 2005 it was in pro- duction. During the two years it was available they made 4,038 cars.