The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

TALBOTT: Yes. One day we went down to visit my Mom, and I called my old friend Tom, and asked him how he was doing. He said he was fine. “ How’s your Shelby? ” I asked. He said he was thinking of selling it. I said, “ Why don’t I come over and talk to you about that .” I had really wanted an earlier car but I couldn’t find one and couldn’t afford one if I did. I went over to Tom’s place. We talked for a little bit and while I was talking with him the phone rang. It was his brother, who said “ What are you doing? ” He said, “ I’m thinking of selling the Shelby. I’ve done everything I wanted to do to it .” He hung up and we agreed on the price. I wrote him a check and handed it to him. The minute I did, the phone rang again. It was his brother. I was standing close enough to him and his brother was talking loud enough that I could hear him. His brother said, “ Dad and I will give you a thousand dollars more than this guy is offering for the car. ” And I could feel this car slipping through my hands. Why would my friend sell me the car at a thousand dollars less than his brother would pay? Tom thought for a second and said, “ You know what? When I went to sell my Bronco last year you and Dad did the same thing to me. You screwed me out of the sale because you said you wanted it, and then you changed your mind. This car is sold. ” That’s how I got my ‘69 Shelby. SAAC: That’s a good story. When was that? TALBOTT: In 1988. I had been a SAAC member for eight years. I kept the car until 2006. I took it to the next year’s convention in 1989 in Pocono. That convention was only 75 miles away from home. I drove it up there and didn’t stay overnight. But I did do the open track. That was one of the things that really drew me to the club – the ability to drive on a real race track. The dash plaque said “ Tri- Oval, Triple Digits .” In ‘91 the conven- tion was at Charlotte. That year we made it a whole family event. Not only with Gwenn and our two daughters but Gwenn’s parents went with us. I’ve often felt like I won the in-law lot- tery; her parents have always been great. We rented a van and borrowed a trailer and towed the car to Char- lotte. My father-in-law dropped me off at the track that morning and said he would come back and pick me up off the grass at the end of the day. I said I would be fine. Of course, it was very hot and I didn’t want to pay $3 for a soda. I can still remember that the water fountain had a copper tube that ran along the side of the building and was in the direct sun all day, and the water was boiling hot – it was too hot to drink. So I didn’t drink enough water. I was laying in the grass outside of the track and my father-in-law had to literally pick me up. I was totally ex- hausted but I enjoyed myself. One of the things that really made a big dif- ference for me was when Chris Liebenberg must have seen me flog- ging the car asked me if I wanted a lit- tle instruction on the track. I said, “ Yes, I have no idea what I’m doing .” He told me about things like the turn- in point, the apex and the track-out – all the things I had never heard about before. He was very helpful and it in- creased my enjoyment immeasurably. SAAC-20 in 1995 was in Atlanta and the six of us went to that. In 1996 we went to Lime Rock and ‘98 we went to Charlotte again. In ‘99 we went to VIR. In 2000 we went to Lime Rock again as a family. In 2001 we went back to Charlotte. I have great memo- ries of a lot of these conventions. SAAC: We had pretty thoroughly hooked you by then. TALBOTT: Yes. But another thing that was happening, unbeknownst to me, was that I was meeting more and more people at conventions. Some of the guys our age will tell you that their best memories are not of the cars but of the people they met at conven- tions. I met a lot of great people. SAAC: What were you doing for a liv- ing at that time? TALBOTT: In 1990 I had gotten my MBA from Lehigh University and I was working as the comptroller of a small, family-owned hardware store. They consolidated some businesses and brought the accountant from one business to take care of both of them and I was out of a job. I went to Ohio to talk to my dad’s brother, who I re- spected immensely, and he said I ought to go into business for myself. I said, “ I wouldn’t know what to do .” He said, “ Well, what do you like? ” I said I was sort of getting the hang of this computer stuff, and it’s really coming on strong. I know businesses who have spent $7,000 to buy computers and they don’t know what to do with them. I said I was good at learning this stuff and I can pick it up. I can see how it works in business and I could train people. So I went into business in 1990 and I was doing a lot of different things at that point. I was buying equipment and installing it and train- ing people to use it, and putting net- works together. I enjoyed that a lot The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 82