The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 4 Miscellaneous Musings. Sooner or later, most Shelbys or Cobras need repainting. Not every car can be kept original forever. We thought about this after reading the July 2020 issue of Sports Car Market . Columnist Donald Osborne had written about his thoughts when it came time to repaint one of his cars. The picture at the right that accompanied the magazine’s letters column was in response to Osborne’s column. When someone repaints their car, the color choice is theirs. And the reason for that choice is also theirs. The most common decision is to repaint it the original color, with an eye to the car’s history. That’s the simplest choice – a no-brainer. If you decide to deviate from the original color the field is wide open. Picking a different original color is common. With 1965 GT350s, it’s a Hobson’s choice: Wimbleton White or Wimbleton White. With subse- quent years there are more options. If your intention is to enter in con- cours competition, your choice was just made for you. If you don’t like the original color and you also don’t like any of the other colors for that particular year, then you are free to choose any color – and there are thousands of shades and hues. Looking at color chips can make you dizzy. If the car was red but you don’t like that particular shade of red, there are hundreds of other reds. Looking at other cars is one way of choosing a color but a certain red on a Ferrari may look different on an- other car, like a Shelby or a Cobra. Many people look at cars like theirs to give them a sense of what their car will look like in a different color. The bottom line: it’s your car and it’s your choice. This picture of CSX2521 was printed in Sports Car Market’s Letters to the Editor section in their July, 2020 issue and like any Cobra, it caught our atten- tion. The picture accompanied a letter to the editor regarding columnist Donald Osborne’s column in a previous issue regarding repainting his car and choosing a different color other than the original. The Cobra, CSX2521, is now owned by Gregg Blue of Maui, Hawaii and was previously owned by Jim Farley who had purchased it from second owner Bill Whitley of Endicott, New York. Whit- ley owned it between 1967 and 1999 and kept it mostly original during the more than thirty years he owned it. Farley decided to repaint it – fromVineyard Green to black, and when Blue asked him why he had changed the color, Farley said, simply, that he didn’t like green. As the car’s owner, that explanation was sufficient. Thinking in Color The Car Was The One Mark Knopfler is one of the most tal- ented guitarists currently working, being described as a virtuoso. You may not recognize his name but you’ve heard his work. He started Dire Straits. One of his songs is written in Mark Donohue’s words, about driver Bobby Brown and a Cobra. It’s a catchy tune – you’ll be humming it the rest of the day. Listen for yourself: https/ /youtu.be/qxRwxpUdxQU