The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

“ No, Jack Strouse sold them to a junk dealer .” Until recently the car didn’t have the rare slide windows either. It seems they were left behind by Jack at a house he’d lived in many years ago, and the present owners had a yard sale two years ago. A tractor-pulling friend of Rocky’s came across the win- dows, still in the shipping packaging from Shelby American, and knowing they went to a Cobra, made the $20 purchase and delivered them to Rocky. Jack had told Rocky he’d purchased them years ago, but couldn’t find them. Mystery solved. Our interview was complete, or so I thought. I was reminded of a great story a previous Shelby American sub- ject, David Kerr, had told me – after the piece was published. Kerr, a black ’66 Shelby Hertz owner years ago, mentioned to me that he and Mark Popov-Dadiani, a Shelby American mechanic, spent the night at Peter Brock’s home after a Riverside race in 1968, with Brock fixing them a lavish breakfast the following morning. His proof: Brock’s Shelby American busi- ness card he still possessed. Not want- ing to repeat my recent escapade of neglect, I asked Rocky if he had any other interesting stories, and lo and behold, he did. When quizzed about the movie, “Ford vs Ferrari,” he had this to say. “I loved that movie. In fact, I’ve built forty replica Cobras so far, from Cobra Auto Works in Oklahoma, and later B&B Manufacturing. I took quite a few of the original parts from my Cobra and made copies to use on the replica Cobras. Most were 427 bodies, but the seats and other parts are iden- tical to mine. I’ve also built three Day- tona Coupes, and three GT40s (GTD replicas). “Three years ago at last Hershey Hill Climb in 2018, they put me up in a hotel as incentive to bring my Cobra. I took 87-year Jack Strouse up the hill one last time, along with a half-dozen other folks that paid the Hershey Mu- seum $150 for the thrill of a lifetime. Wayne Carini and his friend Ralph Marano were there that day as well, racing 1930s cars. Unfortunately, the hill climb race is no longer held. And Jack Strouse has since passed away.” Rocky Meisel ended our interview enthusiastically saying that I really needed to be in the Cobra and go for a ride, before I wrote this article. Unfor- tunately, there is no way for that to happen. But I told him to be looking for me this coming summer. There is no doubt this man really loves his Cobra roadster. The SHELBY AMERICAN Summer 2022 67