Nazgul
Black Rider
We just went to Vegas for a couple of days for a friend's birthday. We had some time to kill, and decided to take the tour of the 'new' Shelby facility near downtown. We hadn't been there since they moved from the site near the speedway, about 10 miles north of town.
Short story, much the same, but MUCH larger facility. You can see the huge warehouse, white with blue LeMans stripes, from the 15 freeway coming in to town.
The display cars are nice and spread out, not all squeezed in together in that old small space. The service area is HUGE. Separate corners for vehicle assembly, Cobra assembly, paint, fiberglass construction, dyno, engine building, etc. The only thing they farm out is the tape stripe installation, which happens at a company 'around the corner.'
There were about 40-50 people on the tour, the vast majority international: Swiss, German, English, Aussie, and more.
Here are a few pics:
Front door:
Here is the main display floor; Cobras & original GT350's on the left, newer Mustangs on the right, Chryslers at the far end under the movie screen, and the #1 prototype Ford GT in the foreground, having been sorted out two years before they went on sale. Behind me is the #1 Cobra Carroll never sold, the one painted several different colors for the magazines(on the right).
50th Anniversary continuation Cobras:
I love the historical photos posted all around the walls!
The first-ever Supersnake; the only other one every built was sold to Bill Cosby, who sh*t his pants driving it and sold it:
(Note the hood scoop!)
A peek under the hood(twin 4v carbs, twin supercharger hats, twin centrifugal superchargers):
The following car is a double-prototype. Back when Shelby was asked to make new versions of the Mustang by/for Hertz (2007?), Ford was tickled by the idea and asked Shelby to make some more Shelby Mustangs for them. So out came the Shelby GT, in black or white with silver stripes. This was the black (obviously) prototype. Later, owners of GT500s, etc., came to Shelby and complained that, even stock, the Shelbys easily burned the tires and needed more traction. So Shelby took the GT prototype and designed the widebody mod, all steel front and rear fender mods, plus 12" wide rear tires (Corvette C-6/ZO6 size):
Here is a new Supersnake on the sales floor:
Inside the assembly area:
Behind the large poster at the end of the floor is a cyclone gate that slides open to the parts storage area:
(Note the black F-150 being modded on the rack just above the ruby red Shelby's hood.)
I spent lots of money buying Shelby stuff, so much did the heritage and vehicles touch me.
When Marg and I left Shelby, we drove over to Count's Kustoms of t.v. fame. No one from t.v. was there. We saw some of the cars that have been featured on the show. All-in-all, for me, a kind of disappointment after being at Shelby. I perhaps should have visited them in reverse order.
Short story, much the same, but MUCH larger facility. You can see the huge warehouse, white with blue LeMans stripes, from the 15 freeway coming in to town.
The display cars are nice and spread out, not all squeezed in together in that old small space. The service area is HUGE. Separate corners for vehicle assembly, Cobra assembly, paint, fiberglass construction, dyno, engine building, etc. The only thing they farm out is the tape stripe installation, which happens at a company 'around the corner.'
There were about 40-50 people on the tour, the vast majority international: Swiss, German, English, Aussie, and more.
Here are a few pics:
Front door:
Here is the main display floor; Cobras & original GT350's on the left, newer Mustangs on the right, Chryslers at the far end under the movie screen, and the #1 prototype Ford GT in the foreground, having been sorted out two years before they went on sale. Behind me is the #1 Cobra Carroll never sold, the one painted several different colors for the magazines(on the right).
50th Anniversary continuation Cobras:
I love the historical photos posted all around the walls!
The first-ever Supersnake; the only other one every built was sold to Bill Cosby, who sh*t his pants driving it and sold it:
(Note the hood scoop!)
A peek under the hood(twin 4v carbs, twin supercharger hats, twin centrifugal superchargers):
The following car is a double-prototype. Back when Shelby was asked to make new versions of the Mustang by/for Hertz (2007?), Ford was tickled by the idea and asked Shelby to make some more Shelby Mustangs for them. So out came the Shelby GT, in black or white with silver stripes. This was the black (obviously) prototype. Later, owners of GT500s, etc., came to Shelby and complained that, even stock, the Shelbys easily burned the tires and needed more traction. So Shelby took the GT prototype and designed the widebody mod, all steel front and rear fender mods, plus 12" wide rear tires (Corvette C-6/ZO6 size):
Here is a new Supersnake on the sales floor:
Inside the assembly area:
Behind the large poster at the end of the floor is a cyclone gate that slides open to the parts storage area:
(Note the black F-150 being modded on the rack just above the ruby red Shelby's hood.)
I spent lots of money buying Shelby stuff, so much did the heritage and vehicles touch me.
When Marg and I left Shelby, we drove over to Count's Kustoms of t.v. fame. No one from t.v. was there. We saw some of the cars that have been featured on the show. All-in-all, for me, a kind of disappointment after being at Shelby. I perhaps should have visited them in reverse order.
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