A brand bathed in history
Carroll Shelby.
From East Texas to Le Mans. The man who changed American performance forever.
Carroll Shelby's Early Days
Carroll Hall Shelby was born in 1923 in Leesburg, East Texas. As a youngster he sometimes accompanied his father, a U.S. Postal worker, on his route. He had one sister, Lula, who was three years younger than Carroll.
Shelby's interest in automobiles began at a young age. He could not wait to own a car and by age 15 he was driving and caring for his father's two-door Ford sedan.
After graduating high school, Carroll Shelby enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He soon earned his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Although Shelby requested combat duty, he was kept in the USA to train other pilots — a common practice for the best fliers. His favourite aircraft was the B-26 bomber, faster in a straight line than any enemy fighter of the era. He was mustered out in 1945 when the war ended.
Carroll Shelby the Driver
When World War II ended, Carroll tried many businesses, but Shelby had a real need for speed. Winning his first race in 1952 in an MG-TC got his road racing career on a fast track. Soon Shelby was driving Ferrari and Maserati sports racing cars, winning 12 races in two years.
Impressed by his driving talents, Shelby was invited to join the Aston Martin factory team in 1954. The pinnacle of his driving career came in 1959 when he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans — the crown jewel of international sports car racing — driving an Aston Martin.
A heart condition caused Shelby to retire from racing in 1960, but his greatest chapter was still ahead.
The Cobra Years
During his international racing career Carroll Shelby drove the fastest and most expensive sports cars of the day. He was impressed by their speed but frustrated by their unreliable, complex engines. He began to dream of a sports car that combined European handling with a simple American V-8 — and could be sold for half the price of a Ferrari.
During a dream, he came up with the name: the Cobra. His idea became reality when AC Cars in Great Britain lost their engine supplier. Shelby contacted AC Cars, then proposed the concept to Ford Motor Company, who liked the idea of a sports car to challenge the Chevrolet Corvette. In 1962, Shelby created Shelby American in California.
Equipped with Ford 260 and later 289 cubic-inch engines, the Cobra dominated Corvettes across North America. On July 4, 1965, the Cobra — in roadster and Daytona Coupe form — won the World Manufacturers' GT Championship, soundly defeating Ferrari. Shelby American remains the only American manufacturer to win this prestigious title, before or since.
The Ford Years
The Ford Mustang was a huge sales success when introduced in spring 1964. However, Lee Iacocca was concerned it lacked a performance image. He called Carroll Shelby and asked him to make the Mustang into a sports car. The result was the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350.
Competing in the SCCA's B Production Class against the Corvette Stingray, Jaguar XKE, and Ferrari, the GT350 dominated, winning the 1965 B Production National Championship. The GT500 model was added in 1967 after Ford enlarged the Mustang to hold a big-block V-8.
In early 1965, Ford handed a struggling GT racing programme to Carroll Shelby. In just months, Shelby American transformed the Ford GT from a corporate loser to an instant winner. By 1966 the programme was all-conquering, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 1-2-3 finish. Carroll Shelby is the only person to win Le Mans as a driver (1959), as a manufacturer (1964), and as a team manager (1966 and 1967).
The "Retired" Years
When Ford assumed production of Shelby automobiles in 1968, the vehicles moved further from the sports car Shelby American had envisioned. In January 1970, Carroll Shelby retired from the automobile and racing business.
In the early 1970s, Carroll travelled to Africa for around nine months every year, exploring and recharging after a long decade of racing. Back home, he expanded his Goodyear Tire distributorship, founded the Shelby Wheel Company in 1971, and in 1972 launched Carroll Shelby's Original Texas Brand Chili Mix — a huge success across the country.
He was also one of the founders of the world's first Championship Chili Cook-off, held in Terlingua, Texas in 1967. Retirement, it turned out, was never really in Carroll Shelby's vocabulary.
The Dodge Years
In late 1978, Lee Iacocca moved to Chrysler Corporation to save it from bankruptcy. By 1982 he wanted to re-establish Dodge as the performance division of Chrysler — and he called on Carroll Shelby to make it happen.
The collaboration began with the 1983 Dodge Shelby Charger. Shelby was also the driving force behind the Dodge Omni GLH ("Goes Like Hell!"). In 1986, Shelby brought limited production models in-house to Shelby Automobiles in Whittier, California, launching the GLHS series with turbocharged four-cylinders that performed like V-8s of two decades earlier.
During Shelby's time with Chrysler, a total of 22 different Shelby Dodge or Dodge Shelby models were offered. The 1989 CSX was the first American production car to use a Variable Nozzle Turbocharger, and the first to use composite wheels on a production car.
The Carroll Shelby Foundation
As a heart transplant recipient, Carroll Shelby understood the stress and worry felt during the wait for a viable donor organ. He established the Carroll Shelby Children's Foundation in 1991 to help children in similar life-threatening situations.
The organisation's name was later changed to the Carroll Shelby Foundation (a 501(c)3 charity) as its mission expanded to include supporting organisations that provide medical assistance, funding scholarships, the Shelby Automotive Foundation, and programmes related to automotive education.
Most Shelby-related activities and events offer chances to make a donation to the Carroll Shelby Foundation. The Foundation has helped numerous children facing life-threatening illnesses and made donations to paediatric care hospitals worldwide.
The Modern Pony Wars
Following the introduction of a capable, retro-styled new Mustang for 2005, Shelby began producing a string of special high-performance Mustangs. The econo-performance CS6 led to the CS8. In 2006, Shelby and Hertz reunited for a 40th anniversary GT-H, and the public clamoured for a street version — resulting in the Shelby GT.
When the supercharged Ford Shelby GT500 arrived in 2007, Shelby Automobiles was ready. Working closely with Ford, the two companies offered the GT500KR through Ford dealers and the GT500 Super Snake directly from Shelby. In 2011, Shelby American brought the GT350 back to life with the new 5.0L V8 — for the first time since 1970, both the GT500 and GT350 were available simultaneously.
Carroll Shelby passed away on May 11, 2012. He lived long enough to guide his namesake company into a bright future. The Shelby story makes for exciting reading, but the final chapters have yet to be written.
Performance Is Our Business
The modern era at Shelby American has spawned a powerful array of fast Mustangs. But the Shelby lineup today has expanded to include the hottest trucks on the planet — the Shelby Raptor, Shelby F-150, Shelby F-150 Super Snake, and Shelby F-250 Super Baja.
Shelby American moved to its current headquarters just off the Las Vegas Strip in late 2013. Today it is far more than a manufacturing facility — it has become a destination, with a heritage centre and car collection worth a trip to Vegas by itself.
When Ford launched the global S550 Mustang platform with right-hand-drive production, it opened up markets in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and South Africa. Shelby American has been at the forefront of these markets — with GUA B.V. as the authorised distributor for Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Experience the legacy.
GUA B.V. is the official Shelby distributor for Europe and Asia-Pacific. Every vehicle we deliver carries an official Shelby serial number and is fully EU-homologated.
GUA B.V. — Official Shelby Distributor