The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Summer 2022 6 We can all agree that it’s a more dangerous time right now. We’ll leave it to others to offer solutions; that’s outside of our lane. But what can you do to protect your- self and your car from the real or imagined lawlessness? First, it probably goes without saying, but have insurance. Good insurance! You get what you pay for. If you use the same insurance company for your everyday car or house you will be fine as long as you don’t have any claims. Once you make a claim you may find yourself hav- ing to educate your insurance company because your car is unique and not something they usually deal with. And it is valu- able. Your insurance company could very well become your ad- versary. Insurance companies don’t like to just write a check. There are plenty of companies that specialize in special interest insurance: Hagerty, Heacock (now American Modern), Grundy, Amer- ican Collector’s and J.C. Taylor are a few. There are others. You don’t want to discover the difference be- tween your normal company and one that specializes in classic cars after you submit a claim. Next, think about security. If you have an enclosed trailer it might seem cool to have a large picture of your car on the sides. In- stead of feeding your ego, think stealth. Why advertise what’s in- side your trailer? When you’re traveling, keep your trailer hitched to your truck. Don’t leave your trailer in the hotel lot while you drive over to Arby’s. And con- sider a thick security chain be- tween your receiver and your trailer tongue. How thick? A seri- ous thief will have industrial- strength bolt-cutters, so your chain should have links that are too thick for him to cut. Thicker than your thumb. You may even want to run a thick chain through one of the trailer’s wheels so it will be impossible to drag away. The more obstacles you present may convince the thief to move on. Forgotten GT350 vs Aston Martin Video Not much gets past Dave Redman and that includes this short, five- minute, 42-second Ford Public Rela- tions movie that promoted the Mustang. After a little more than a year of sales, Ford had sold more than a million of them. Redman saw it men- tioned on the Hemmings website. The movie (a video now) was made by Ford on January 24, 1966, a few days after the Monte Carlo Rally. A six-mile seg- ment of the road, full of switchbacks as it climbed into the French Alps, used as a special speed section of the rally was utilized in Ford’s film. An Aston Martin DB-5 was pho- tographed competing with a 1966 GT350. The drivers were Alan Mann team drivers Peter Procter in the Aston and Andrew Cowan in the GT350. It was no coincidence that a silver Aston Martin was used. The movie “Goldfinger” was only a year old and was still fresh in the public’s mind. In fact, it was mentioned in the film. A coin toss determined which car started first – the Aston won the toss – and by the top of the climb the GT350 had passed it. Hard to say if that was planned, but without the GT350 com- ing across the finish line first there wouldn’t have been much point in making the movie. George Merwin [ pictured, right ], the team manager of Ford’s Monte Carlo rally team, appeared briefly at the beginning and the end of the film. A Mustang finished third in the 1966 Monte Carlo rally. Merwin headed the Ford team the previous two years when Falcons were campaigned. He worked for Ford’s public relations de- partment and was temporarily trans- ferred to Shelby American in 1965, where he designed advertising and dealer literature for the GT350s and 427 Cobras and set up Shelby Ameri- can’s dealer network. When Shelby closed down he went back to Dearborn and then retired.When Shelby started building Chrysler-based cars at Shelby Automobiles he cajoled Merwin to come back to put together a dealer network and write advertising and create dealer literature for those cars. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/4WyooktIMLA