The June 1993 AC Owners Club newsletter ACtion contained a reprint of a
story which originally appeared in the L.A. Time on April 17th of
this year. I thought a few excerpts from the article might be of
interest. I'll start with ACtion's preface:
Autos: Questions have been raised over Carroll Shelby's claim
he's building 43 of his classic Cobras using original chassis.
Shelby says he's the victim of a business feud.
Excerpts from the article follow:
Despite Shelby's statements of authenticity - widely quoted by
automotive magazines and newspapers including the Times -
engineers involved in his project say there are few items of
original metal or equipment on the reissued 427SCs. The motors
and transmissions are 1965 rebuilds; chassis, suspension, body
and most other parts are newly manufactured.
And that, say some car specialists, make these Cobras facsimiles
worth little more than a dozen other replicars on the market, the
best of which sell for only $65,000.
Other experts say that because the new cars have been touched by
the master they're worth much more...
Forty-three chassis Shelby said had been in storage since 1965
were actually built in 1991 and 1992 by a Torrance [CA] company
McCluskey Ltd. A McCluskey engineer says all frames are precise
copies of Cobra 427 chassis originally built for Shelby by AC
Cars Ltd. of England, with McCluskey workers even duplicating
the coarse welds and rough saw cuts of 1965 metal workers...
Wednesday a DMV spokesman said the matter is now being
investigated by the Los Angeles field office of DMV's
Investigation and Occupational Licensing Division.
In a series of recent interviews, over three weeks, Shelby, 70,
offered several explanations regarding the chassis before
admitting they had been built in 1991 and '92 by McCluskey....
As part of the certification process for racing the 400-plus
horse power Cobra 427 model, AC and Shelby-American assigned that
series a block of 100 numbers. But not all 100 cars were built.
According to AC's 1965 records, the company shipped only 55 Cobra
427 chassis to the US....
Richard Kopec, national director of the Shelby American Club in
Sharon, Conn. says it is a case of Shelby being Shelby and
'selling a little bit of truth, a little bit of snake oil and
some things best left unsaid.'
The article goes on to describe the ongoing Feud between Shelby and the
current head of AC Cars, Brian Angliss, over who's Cobra is the more
authentic, et cetera. Angliss' builds the Autokraft Mk IV Cobra.
Angliss also manufactures a replica of the earlier Mark II (289) Cobra.
Shelby's version of the 427 SC sells for $500,000, considerably more
than the MK IV.
Roland
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