The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

restored car – new sheet metal, trim, etc – as a real ’66 Shelby, and even had a serial number picked out – 6S1004. There were only two problems with his business plan: his part of Oklahoma has always been a hot bed of Shelby owners, and 1004 had a solid owner- ship history that didn’t include him. The car was quickly identified as a fake and the local District Attorney convinced the seller to halt the sale by offering prison time as an alternative. This ties in well with comments from Dave Mathews, 1967 Shelby Reg- istrar. ” The 1967 Shelby clones, as long as their owners don't try to promote the car as the real thing, is acceptable to me. The problem arises when a clone is put up for sale as a real 1967 Shelby. The original builder almost always has good intentions to build the car as a project for himself to enjoy but years later after the car has changed hands a few times that could change. What I see in particular is a situation where a person with bad intentions has a Shelby tag and puts it on a clone. The car is then promoted as the real thing and fraud is committed .” Peter Brock, designer of the Day- tona Coupe and 1963 Corvette, is a proponent of clones. “ If it weren’t for replicas, fewer people would know about Cobras. They wouldn’t be as ap- preciated as they are today, and the value of the real ones wouldn’t be as high as they are now. ” His support of replicas is actually what turned Carroll Shelby against Peter. During a SAAC convention in the early 2000s, Carroll refused to sign any clones that people brought to him. Peter Brock felt so badly for these owners that he mentioned what a valuable role these tributes played in his speech at the banquet, upsetting Shelby. As I’ve come to learn, this is a touchy subject. But it’s not why I sold my ’66 Hertz Shelby tribute in 2020, for much more than I’d originally paid for it. We have a 1-1/2 car 130-year-old carriage house, and had recently pur- chased another classic car. There was only room for one, so the Shelby had to go. But my bro-in-law has several Shelby products for me to enjoy, and I’ll always be a SAAC member. Rick Kopec mentioned another drawback to tribute cars in a recent Shelby American issue. He fears that there are some individuals amongst us not adverse to vintage racing a replica, under the guise of it being the real car, thereby accumulating track time credit while not subjecting the more valuable ride to damage. In doing so, the owner enhances his Shelby Mus- tang or Cobra standing in SAAC, and thereby the car’s value. My take on this – those that go down this road are risking something more than the value of their vehicle; they’re gambling with their integrity. Once you lose that, good luck earning it back. Kopec also echoed Ned Scudder’s opinion regarding those replica Cobra The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 55