Carroll Shelby Goes Racing with Ford – 1965 Video
Most car fans will be somewhat familiar with the story of Carroll Shelby. Born in 1923, he raced during the 1950s, competing in Formula One and winning the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans with co-driver Roy Salvadori.
After retiring from racing, he assembled a team of hot rod builders to combine a Ford V8 with the AC Ace chassis and created the AC Cobra (England), and Shelby Cobra (U.S) – he’d apparently spotted the handling of the AC Motors cars back at Le Mans. He then created one of the most beautiful racing cars of all time, the Daytona Coupe, and the Mustang-based Shelby GT350 and GT500.
He went on to work with Dodge on the Shelby Charger, Charger Shelby, Omni GLH and Viper RT/10 CS in the 1980s, created the Shelby Series 1 roadster using an Oldsmobile V8, and more.
But one of the biggest triumphs was building the Ford GT40 to take on the dominance of Ferrari at Le Mans. This fascinating film was made in 1965, just a year before the GT40 would start a run of four consecutive Le Mans wins, and isn’t just presented by Shelby himself, but also features drivers Pete Brock, Ken Miles and Dan Gurney.
Shelby passed away in 2012, but his legacy continues with the recent announcement of the 2017 Ford GT, and the 2016 Shelby GT350 R Mustang.