Hi-Performance Motors Logo - The George Watters Story...

[Vernon Estes]

Had never seen that one...awesome ad!

[honker]

Here's a bunch of Cobras, my file says HPM '68, looks like a '68 Ford wagon in the garage beside the Cobra. Would that be on

Sepulveda in that time frame ? I think this was up on forum 1 ?

I count 11 Cobras, including the one you can just see the fender, in the foreground.

Mike

[honker]

Here's another one, looks to be the same day, you can see more of the Cobras against the fence, and a '67 GT500 ! my file say this is #2705 ? ? from the 2011 registry " shipped 7/5/67 to Menlo College...Shelby American company car...assigned to Edsell Ford 11 Factory production order form marked...deliver to Fred Goodell Eng. Dept...del'vd to Menlo College 7/6 Shelby driver.

Mike

so another two Cobras in that back row, that makes it 13, ready for delivery 

[honker]

Kieth, thanks for starting this thread, great story, I hope I'm not diverting from the thrust of the thread with my posts ?

Mike

[SFM66H]

HPM ad for the Tiger from a Riverside program '64.

Mike

Thanks Mike - George had a color version of this one as well!

[SFM66H]

Kieth, thanks for starting this thread, great story, I hope I'm not diverting from the thrust of the thread with my posts ?

Mike

Nope, no problem Mike. It's all HPM, so it's all good!

Kieth

[FL SAAC]

Very kool stuff thanks for sharing

Another great story from George!

Speaking of HPM stuff...I purchased the estate of Ray Wolff recently who was the General Manager of HPM. Here are a few neat little HPM pieces!

[camp upshur]

George through Kieth:
Just cannot thank you both enough for George sharing and Kieth for bringing to us this absolutely essential SAI history. The former (now lost) thread was IMO the biggest singular treasure lost. To whatever degree any parts of it can be reconstituted, and saved, is of incalculable value to our hobby for us and those who follow.
We are almost down to sole-source contacts for this type of original or near-original attributable information.

A most minor vignette on a 'day-in-the-life' at HPM is the transaction regarding the purchase of my car 5S339: The original owner (I am second owner) had a new black 1965 271HP 4sp 2+2 when he drove by HPM on the way home from work and the cars caught his eye. After stopping and 'getting the bug' he returned and traded in his slightly used HIPO 2+2 for a slightly used 'company' GT-350. His dealings were w Lew Spencer directly and the GT-350 was a driver used by his then wife, Faith, who also worked at HPM. Years later I discussed this in detail w Lew. FWIW Lew & Faith in the HPM days lived on Cheviot and Motor.
I never figured to ask Bill, the original owner, why he just didn't have his car updated w 'Cobra Kits', et al, by HPM at the time instead. Nobody was buying these as an investment then, in fact Lew commented that they had a hard time moving them.

One other 'super-anal' piece of HPM trivia: 5S339 has one of the near sequential HPM CA license plates NQR 8XX which really helps with the timeline regarding ops at HPM.

Steve A

[Side-Oilers]

Thanks, camp upshur, for the additional details.   Cheviot at Motor was, and still is, a beautiful affluent area of rolling hills and lovely 1930s-1950s era houses.  It is in West L.A.

[Szabo]

Hello,

after a longer time not visiting the Forum i am very glad there is a Thread from you two guys.

Thanks for sharing Memory from the past with aknowlege from the present.

i save a pic from an old Visitcard from HPM 1...

Greets from Germany

Stephan

[martyjac]

Here's one from the '67 Shelby introduction.

[SFM66H]

George through Kieth:
Just cannot thank you both enough for George sharing and Kieth for bringing to us this absolutely essential SAI history. The former (now lost) thread was IMO the biggest singular treasure lost. To whatever degree any parts of it can be reconstituted, and saved, is of incalculable value to our hobby for us and those who follow.
We are almost down to sole-source contacts for this type of original or near-original attributable information.


Steve A

Steve A,

Thanks for the kind words, it's very nice to know that it meant so much to others too. Speaking for myself, the loss of the George Watters Collection had quite an impact on me. I really felt back then that all the time and effort we put into it was worth it because it would be there for posterity, you know? I saw it as our contribution to Shelby American history that could always be accessed by future generations. Yes, I realize now how naive that was. It's what I call a harsh 'life lesson.'

Thank goodness I still have all the scanned photographs, but George's words and the comments and reactions of the members are all lost. And those were as much a part of the story as the photos themselves. I got jaded by the loss of Forum 1.0 - you know, the old "burn me once" thing. Once enough time had passed though, I noticed that I would still get a spark of enthusiasm now and then, but I felt I had to rein it in. It's not like I'm sitting around pouting or anything - things happen, I get it. But I also don't find myself wanting to plunge in headfirst again on another full time effort like that either.

As you can see by our recent HPM1 post though, the excitement of a new discovery or revelation can still pull me right back into posting mode. But I keep at arms length to avoid another colossal disappointment like the last time.

Thanks for letting me vent. And again, much appreciation from George and I for all of your appreciative comments over the years. It's something we all got to experience together here, and that was very cool. One thing that always keeps me excited though, is the proof from past experience knowledge that we are all going to see something new this year that we have never seen before. That has happened time and time again. We've "seen it all" right? And then that French video of LAX falls out of the sky! THAT's what keeps the fire lit for me.

I want to add here too, that despite the sad demise of 1.0, the SAAC Forum in and of itself is an incredible mechanism for sharing. I have learned so much from it that it is invaluable to me. And truth be told, I have acquired some of the closest friends I have thru it. That's an amazing thing to me, and proof of its value right there.

Thanks again,
Kieth

PS - Oh, and Steve A, a VERY cool story about your 5S339, it's original owner and HPM 1. Thanks for sharing it. How would we all have ever learned that except thru this Forum?

[6R07mi]

When I need to save and document information published on a web page, I have found it's useful to print the page to a PDF.

You loose some but the essential text and photos are archived.

I don't know what copyrights are involved but for personal reference it's a tool

jim p

[427hunter]

George through Kieth:
Just cannot thank you both enough for George sharing and Kieth for bringing to us this absolutely essential SAI history. The former (now lost) thread was IMO the biggest singular treasure lost. To whatever degree any parts of it can be reconstituted, and saved, is of incalculable value to our hobby for us and those who follow.
We are almost down to sole-source contacts for this type of original or near-original attributable information.


Steve A

Steve A,

Thanks for the kind words, it's very nice to know that it meant so much to others too. Speaking for myself, the loss of the George Watters Collection had quite an impact on me. I really felt back then that all the time and effort we put into it was worth it because it would be there for posterity, you know? I saw it as our contribution to Shelby American history that could always be accessed by future generations. Yes, I realize now how naive that was. It's what I call a harsh 'life lesson.'

Thank goodness I still have all the scanned photographs, but George's words and the comments and reactions of the members are all lost. And those were as much a part of the story as the photos themselves. I got jaded by the loss of Forum 1.0 - you know, the old "burn me once" thing. Once enough time had passed though, I noticed that I would still get a spark of enthusiasm now and then, but I felt I had to rein it in. It's not like I'm not sitting around pouting or anything - things happen, I get it. But I also don't find myself wanting to plunge in headfirst again on another full time effort like that either.

As you can see by our recent HPM1 post though, the excitement of a new discovery or revelation can still pull me right back into posting mode. But I keep at arms length to avoid another colossal disappointment like the last time.

Thanks for letting me vent. And again, much appreciation from George and I for all of your appreciative comments over the years. It's something we all got to experience together here, and that was very cool. One thing that always keeps me excited though, is the proof from past experience knowledge that we are all going to see something new this year that we have never seen before. That has happened time and time again. We've "seen it all" right? And then that French video of LAX falls out of the sky! THAT's what keeps the fire lit for me.

I want to add here too, that despite the sad demise of 1.0, the SAAC Forum in and of itself is an incredible mechanism for sharing. I have learned so much from it that it is invaluable to me. And truth be told, I have acquired some of the closest friends I have thru it. That's an amazing thing to me, and proof of its value right there.

Thanks again,
Kieth

PS - Oh, and Steve A, a VERY cool story about your 5S339, it's original owner and HPM 1. Thanks for sharing it. How would we all have ever learned that except thru this Forum?

Love the history and photographs - Thank you!

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Here's another one, looks to be the same day, you can see more of the Cobras against the fence, and a '67 GT500 ! my file say this is #2705 ? ? from the 2011 registry " shipped 7/5/67 to Menlo College...Shelby American company car...assigned to Edsell Ford 11 Factory production order form marked...deliver to Fred Goodell Eng. Dept...del'vd to Menlo College 7/6 Shelby driver.

Mike

so another two Cobras in that back row, that makes it 13, ready for delivery 

Same background building. Original was probably taken where parking structure is now. The street has been renamed Pacific Coast Highway and turns back into Sepulveda a block north of here.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9285489,-118.3968876,168a,35y,39.49t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&authuser=0