Subject: [Tigers] My Shelby story

From: "A. C. Tynes" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 23:53:39 -0500

I guess this is an appropriate time to share thoughts and stories about Carroll
Shelby, so here's mine.

I handled flags and communication for some SCCA races while I was in high
school and college. At a race in Opelousas, Louisiana in July, 1962, I guy
showed up in a new Cobra, which none of us had actually seen yet.

He said he was from the Ford zone office in Texas. He said that Mr. Shelby had
told him that the races were all done by volunteers and that he should take the
Cobra over and let the race officials drive it between practices. He said Mr.
Shelby thought we should get a little treat for our hard work. We would have
elected Shelby President by acclimation for that gesture, even though we knew
it was a good way and place to promote the car!

I don't know how many of us drove the Cobra, but I do believe we had less
practice time for the racers than usual that day. I do know we got the car hot
enough that the battery wouldn't turn it over and we had to jump it with
somebody's tow truck. Imagine being turned loose on a track with a brand new
Cobra at age 17 or 18 - I'll never forget it.

Of course, I couldn't afford a Cobra, but I did manage a new Tiger in late 1965
by trading in my TR-3A and getting my mom to co-sign the note. For $136 a month
I had a Tiger.

I year or so after buying the Tiger, the dealer called and asked me to stop by.
I got there and he had a Shelby GT-350 he wanted to trade for my Tiger. I drove
the GT-350, which had been raced, and decided I couldn't live with it every
day. It was just too brutal and that Detroit locker would have driven me crazy.

But, thanks to Carroll Shelby, I got to drive two of the greatest cars in the
world besides owning a Tiger.

I doubt the Cobra I drove was CSX2000, but it was bright blue with a black
interior.  Since I can't prove it wasn't CSX2000, I think I'll just always
think it was possible I drove Mr. Shelby's first Cobra.  

May he rest in peace.

A. C. Tynes
New Orleans
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