>From the Shelby America Web site.
http://www.carrollshelby.com/timeline.htm
Excerpts involving England.
August 1954 - Donald Healey of Austin-Healey in England, invites Carroll
Shelby to help set 70 new Class D records at the Bonneville Salt flats in
Utah.
June 1959 - Carroll and Ray Salvadori co-drive an Aston Martin DBR1/300 and
win the 24 Hours of LeMans
September 1961 - When AC Cars of Thames Ditton, England, loses the source
for its six-cylinder Bristol engine for its two-seat roadster, Carroll
Shelby airmails a letter of proposal to the company to keep building the
chassis for a special Shelby sports car to be powered by an American V8. As
yet, he knows nothing of a new lightweight, thinwall-cast, small-block Ford
V8.
October 1961 - Charles Hurlock, owner of AC Cars, returns Shelby's letter,
stating he would be interested in Shelby's plan as long as a suitable engine
replacement could be found in the States. The same month, Shelby finds out
about the new 221-cube Ford small-block and dispatches a letter to Dave
Evans explaining his idea for a sports car and his need for a V8.
February 1962 - The first 260 Roadster, minus engine and transmission, is
air freighted on February 2, 1962, to Shelby's shop in Southern California.
Carroll has a dream revealing to him the name Cobra appearing on the front
of his car. In Carroll's words, "I woke up and jotted the name down on a pad
which I kept by my bedside-a sort of ideas pad- and went back to sleep. Next
morning when I looked at the name 'Cobra,' I knew it was right." In less
than eight hours, a 260 HiPo and Borg-Warner four-speed are installed and
Shelby and friend Dean Moon test drive the new Cobra, looking to bait
Corvettes, but none are found.
April 1962 - CSX 2000, the first Cobra, is painted a pearlescent yellow by
Dean Jeffries and shipped to the New York Auto Show where it appears in the
Ford display. Dealers begin ordering and with deposits in the bank,
Shelby-American formally commits to building its new Cobra.
May 1962 - Shelby promotes his Cobra by offering test drives to the
automotive press, who respond with superlatives. The May 1962 issue of
Sports Car Graphic describes its acceleration as explosive. CSX 2001 (the
second Cobra built) is shipped by air from England (minus engine,
transmission, and rear end) to New York and is prepared by Ed Hugus in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CSX 2002 is air freighted to Los Angeles and built
into the first competition Cobra.
June 1962 - Production is slow as Shelby-American wrestles with start-up
problems due to the fact that the AC chassis requires extensive engineering.
Meanwhile, CSX 2000 is repainted a different color each time a different
magazine test drives it, giving the appearance of many cars in production.
The Cobra has a 1-ton advantage over the Corvette.
August 1962 - Shelby-American submits papers to homologate the Cobra as a GT
III car in the eyes of the FIA, the Federation Internationale de
L'Automobile. On August 6, the FIA homologates the Cobra in the more-than
2-liter class for the FIA Manufacturers' Championship. At least 100 cars had
to be built within 12 months, but at the time of approval, just eight Cobras
had been completed. According to Carroll, he contemplated switching the
chassis and body to an alternative due to continued problems.
October 13, 1962 - Shelby-American enters the Cobra in its first race, a
three-hour contest with Bill Krause behind the wheel, opening the Los
Angeles Times Grand Prix. Krause, with a poor start, falls back, then takes
the lead at lap nine, but breaks a rear hub and does not finish. The Cobra,
however, is definitely lighter and faster than the new Corvette Stingray.
Phil Remington at Shelby-American goes to work building stronger rear hubs
starting with forging blanks from Halibrand.
January 1963 - Dave MacDonald and Ken Miles sign to drive Cobras for
Shelby-American and place first and second at Riverside, beating the
Corvette Stingrays. Miles is so confident, he pits for a drink of water and
relaps the Corvettes to finish behind MacDonald. Ian Garrad, an Englishman
living Southern California, feels he could imitate the Cobra with a 260 Ford
version of the little four-cylinder British Sunbeam Alpine roadster. Ken
Miles is first hired to build a prototype "Tiger," a job that is handed over
to Shelby-American.
October 1964 - The prototype 427 Cobra, under development, is tested at
Silverstone in England and later in the States
September 1967 - Production of '68 Shelby Mustang moves to Ionia, Michigan,
and the A.O. Smith Company. The Lone Star, to be the successor to the Cobra,
constructed in England by John Wyer's JW Automotive Engineering.
Patrick Elliott
(916) 857 6420 Desk
(916) 803 3775 Cell
(916) 857 6437 Fax
Signaling Network Operations team.
10030 Goethe Road.
Sacramento, Ca. 95827
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