Carroll Shelby International, Inc, has announced that founder Carroll Shelby, one of the 20th century’s last automotive icons had died on Friday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas at the age of 89.
Born Carroll Hall Shelby on January 11 1923, the Texan truly lived the American Dream by becoming a championship-winning racing driver, wartime pilot, entrepreneur, chicken farmer, racing team owner, car builder and philanthropist.
After serving in the US Army as a pilot, Shelby was involved with rubbish disposal trucks, farming chickens and a sports car dealership. With his business partners Jim and Dick Hall, Shelby created “Scaglietti Corvettes”- based on Chevrolet’s new roadster of the time. His need for speed saw him travel across the States, racing everywhere he could in his spare time. And when his chickens died (thankfully) of limberneck disease, Shelby focused on his career behind the wheel.
In the shortest time he became a dominant figure in racing circles and captured the attention of the biggest names of motorsport, including Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati. Shelby netted three national sportscar championships, set numerous land speed records and even won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans.
After his heart condition halted his racing career, Shelby turned his attention to automotive manufacturing and approached GM because of his former experience with Corvettes. Eventually, Shelby turned up at the door of Ford Motor Company’s Lee Iacocca with the idea of using the Blue Oval’s newly-developed small block engine in the small British two-seat sportscar called the AC Ace – which had lost out on an engine deal.
When Ford agreed to provide funding, Shelby founded “Shelby American” with a group of Californian hot-rodders. Together they gave the lightweight Ace a new heart and dubbed it the Cobra. That was the first of a line of performance specials that have captured the imaginations of many a generation – names which include the Shelby GT350, GT500 Super Snake, Daytona Coupe Cobras and 427 S/C.
Shelby also led a team of Americans to take on the Europeans at their home turf in GT racing, and at the behest of Ford, started fielding the then unsuccessful but promising Ford GT40 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team put the Ford name on the world map when they won the world’s toughest endurance race four years in row.
When his old friend Lee Iacocca, who had become an executive at Chrysler, wanted to up the ante of the brands performance cars, Shelby wasted no time in redeveloping the K car, creating the “Muscle Truck” and being one of the co-developers of the Dodge Viper. That made Shelby arguably the greatest name to be associated with all of Detroit’s “Big Three”.
Shelby considered his greatest achievement however to be the Carroll Shelby Foundation, which was created in 1992 while he was awaiting a heart transplant – a charity which provides medical assistance to those in need and educational opportunities for young people in automotive and other training programs.
Shelby is survived by his three children Patrick, Michael and Sharon, sister Anne Shelby Ellison and his wife Cleo.
CAR extends thoughts and condolences to the Shelby family.