The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

said. “ No, JR and Jim will be here to- morrow morning for the Cars & Cof- fee. ” Sure enough JR, myself and Mike Haines were there bright and early as always. We normally walk to Panera Bread for breakfast after we park. This morning we noticed an old black Hertz car sitting in Tony’s showroom covered with dust. We walked in and checked it out. Dale put a sold sign on the windshield and said, “ It’s yours. ” It was far from a running car be- cause it had been in storage for over thirty years. For the next month Tony’s shop worked on the car: it got a new gas tank and carburetor, new points and condenser, new wires, spark plugs, heater core, brakes and exhaust from the headers back before it was running. His ace mechanic and painter, Jeff Wentz, buffed the Raven black paint out. Tony called me to come up to take the car out for a spin. JR and I went for a drive and I asked JR if he liked it. He said yes, and that’s all it took. We purchased it. For a little history, this Shelby is SFM6S678. It was one of four Hertz cars shipped from Shelby American to Berry Motors in Paramus, New Jersey for dealer prep prior to duty at Philadelphia International Airport. After that it was then sold as a slightly used, low-mileage Shelby in A-1 condi- tion. It was repainted in the early ‘80s. It won 3rd place in the concourse at SAAC-8 in 1983 at Dearborn, MI. The car changed hands several times after that. The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 66