Yesterday, May 10th at age 89.

Legendary car designer, racer Caroll Shelby dies at age 89 - Motor News | FOX Sports on MSN

the flags fly at half mast along mustang ally

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it just needs more voltage

automotive master!

little car big motor whats not to like.

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George Jamison

From the Chaparral to the varied Cobra’s, Shelby was a true American original.

One of the greatest auto men of all time. His stock answer whenever he was asked what was his favorite car that bore his name, "The next one."

CW

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I met him at EAA airventure in 06 or 07 ... we got to talking a little about builds. My stang bears his autograph as a result.
I am tempted to go fire up old street lethal and demoralize a few rice rockets.

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it just needs more voltage

His Can-Am cars were the favorite of most of my friends and I. He saw ground effects when many just wanted brute horsepower. The ground effects car with the sucker fans driven by a two stroke engine were unforgettable. Shelby, innovator who achieved what others never had the conviction to try.

Hey venom, how about some pictures?

Andy

RIP .

RIP Mr. Shelby and thank you Sir!

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Jorge

The end of another era..........................................RIP

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Go big or stay home

Darn. Another mark on the calendar of life.
He was huge car icon in the Motor City. The good side is, he lived a long and full life.

RIP Mr. Shelby. He was a great American automotive genius. He will always be remembered.

R.I.P. Mr. Shelby. What an Icon he was. Words just can't fit as to what the automotive world has lost. There won't be another one like him anytime soon.

Thanks Carroll. A true Texas original. When I first saw the 1967 GT500 in an ad in Playboy, I thought it was the best looking car I had even seen, then I saw the Daytona Cobra Coupe. Made a pretty fair bowl of red, too.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

As big as he was in Detroit, he was even bigger in Terlingua.

We just lost a great American...RIP Mr. Shelby.

While it's not a Shelby Mustang, it's all I own, and it inspired him to build his wonderful cars. RIP, Carroll, you will be sorely missed by ALL of us in the Mustang world, as well as the automotive world in general. A true innovator, don't forget when remembering his Mustangs and Cobras, he also led Ford to a huge upset victory at LeMans in 1966 over Ferrari with his GT40's. He was the only one who could take that big 427 in those cars, and make it not only OUTRUN Ferraris, but OUTLAST them too.

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MARK

well lets see if I cant share a few.
Anyone who has a beloved machine knows they aren't bought but rather earned with your lifes blood.
first on deck is a pic just after the vital organ transplant. 289 K code fitted with a fully updated EFI system and supercharged with a then bleeding edge P600B procharger supercharger.
I couldn't wait for paint to try it and I sorely underestimated it when I dropped that crankshaft into the richmond gear R.O.D. six by way of the SVO 10.5" clutch

the next stage of evolution of course, was giving it the war paint. This would be a few weeks prior to passing everything but a gas station on the way to EAA Oshkosh

this one .. well if you never have fun with it, you've probably missed the whole point

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it just needs more voltage

He was a great man and an inspiration to all us young motorheads who loved our big block Fords and dreamed of thousand horsepower MG's and Triumphs.....RIP Mr. Shelby...

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Even older, even crankier....

I met him a few years back at a Mustang meet where he signed the dash of my friend's KR500...RIP Caroll...

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

I saw the debut of the 2J "sucker" car at Watkins Glen, I think in '71 or '72. Jackie Stewart was driving and the only color on the all-white car was his royal Stewart tartan helmet decoration. It circulated the track for a while and then Stewart lit off the JLO snowmobile engine powering the vacuum fans. Within a couple of laps, he had taken two seconds off the Group 7 (CanAm cars) lap record at the old 'Glen track. The powers-that-be banned the car because the fan blades were judged to be "movable airfoils". I believe that was the last Chapparal car.

Ya gotta love a man with a racetrack in his back yard.

I believe that the original small-block Cobras were the better-handling ones. The 427s were real fast but they didn't want to turn. Just my not so humble opinion.

Russ

Always lusted after his cars. Never came close to having the money, not yet anyway.
My only connection to him is his chili. Our local supermarket sells Caroll Shelby Chili Preparation mix. That stuff is GOOD!!
Make up a bowl in his honor.
Jim

For a few years I had a pit pass at the Monterey Historics. During the lunch break they would put some famous cars out on the track. One year I was within touching distance of Carroll Shelby and Ray Salvadorl in the Aston Martin that they had driven to a win at LeMans. Quite a thrill!!

I'll miss Old Shel too. Ever drive a Dodge Omni GLHS? (Not just a GLH but with the S added.) It was his attempt to outrun a Ferrari on the track with a car you could buy with pocket change. It worked, but as you might guess there were compromises.

As much as I admire the Chili king, I believe it was Jim Hall who built the Chaparral and the infamous sucker car.

Ed

Amazing.... he was still developing cars at age 89.
What an influence he had on the industry.
A true master.
RIP

"As much as I admire the Chili king, I believe it was Jim Hall who built the Chaparral and the infamous sucker car."

You are absolutely right those #65 and #66 were Jim Hall's work totally. I need to wait for Speed Network to rerun America's Greatest Sports Car and refresh my memory.

There must have been some sort of Ferrari gathering here in NH today. It is rare to see one, let alone 2 on the same road.
All I could think about is having a 427 Cobra and passing those Ferrari's over and over...

RIP Mr Shelby and thank you for the long list of fine automobiles you created and helped create. America loves you!

PS
The price just went up.

The only man to ever win Le Mans as a driver, owner, and manufacturer.
And I still regret I sold my Shelby Mustang.

Ed, thanks for the correction. It was Jim Hall with the Chaparrals. Bummer on getting old! It's Hall with the track in the backyard too. Shelby did make some magnificent cars and was a heckuva racer.

God speed Carrol Shelby.

Russ

Damn shame but they don't make men like Carrol Shelby or Chuck Yeager any more. A pioneer in automotive industry who i got to see drive the pace car here at INDY twice !!! Back when we still made things in this country that we're worth something. Now we've become a service provider. What a travesty this is.


Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

While Shelby did a lot of things in the world of racing, it was Jim Hall who designed, built and drove the Chaparrals.

I was watching something on the Speed channel Saturday morning. Grabbed a cup of coffee and the paper. There was a commercial on with Carroll Shelby hawking some additive product. Then I picked up the paper and saw his obit while the commercial was still running. Weird.

He sure had a varied and very interesting life.

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Tony

An original for sure.