The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 1
IDLING IN NEUTRAL.
Over the past year or so we
have noted a quiet but steady in-
crease in the values of 1965
GT350s. This is not to say there
hasn’t been a corresponding in-
crease in the values of other year
Shelbys over the same time frame;
we are just putting the 1965s
under our microscope here.
A side note: it is not our intent
to publicize prices. We have no de-
sire to create any self-fulfilling
prophesies. If SAAC were to say
that, “
1965 GT350s are worth X
dollars
(pick a number)” most ‘65s
would suddenly be advertising
prices in that neighborhood with
owners justifying it because,
“
that’s what SAAC thinks they’re
worth
.” If prices are going to rise,
they can do it without our help.
Without pinning a value on
any cars, we tiptoe around this
subject because we think we may
be seeing something happening
with the values of these cars that
reminds us of what occurred about
thirty years ago, when Cobra
prices began to really take off. In
the 1980s, their rise had been
steady but not meteoric. By the
end of the decade, however, it
seemed like every time a Cobra
sold, it went for $5K or $10K more
than the previous one. Keep in
mind, this was before the instant,
real-time communications af-
forded by the Internet. Back then,
it took time for word to spread.
At any rate, when Cobra val-
ues rose to a certain level, it be-
came very difficult for an owner,
who had purchased his car years
ago for, say, $20,000 to justify not
selling it for $150,000. Very few
owners were looking at long range
appreciation, and nobody believed
Cobras would sell for a million dol-
THIS JUST IN: CSX2000 sells for $12.5M
News flashed across the Internet
on Friday night, August 19th that
CSX2000 sold at the RM Sotheby’s
Auction in Monterey for $12,500,000
(plus a 10% buyer’s commission). The
bidding started at $5M and rose to
$10M where it stalled. Bids after that
were slowly coaxed out of bidders until
they reached $12.5M and it was clear
they would not go any higher
Predictions that the car would sell
for $22M to $25M turned out to be lit-
tle more than wishful thinking. Prices
of most of the Shelby cars (CS’s per-
sonal collection as well as other histor-
ical cars) seemed on the soft side.
CSX2000 was purchased by the Larry
Miller Collection and will be on occa-
sional display at the Shelby American
Collection in Boulder, Colorado.
SCHORR’S FORD BOOK WINS SILVER AWARD
We are happy to report that SAAC
member and long-time automotive
journalist Marty Schorr of Sarasota,
Florida, was recently awarded a Silver
Medal for his book
Ford Total Perform-
ance
(reviewed inWinter, 2016 issue of
The Shelby American
). The presenta-
tion was made at the International
Automotive Media Competition
(IAMC) at the Concours d’Elegance of
America in July. The event, held at the
Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michi-
gan was formerly known as the
Meadow Brook Concours. Schorr was
the editor of several performance car
magazines in the 1960s, so he writes
from experience. Kudos, Marty!