2nd Annual Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show
Entry Written and Photography by: Brandon O’Brien / Motor
Driven Images
The weekend of May 17, 2014 was a big one for Carroll Shelby
fans in the greater Los Angeles area.
The single day event took place at the new home of the Carroll Shelby Automotive Museum at 19021 S.
Figueora Street, Gardena,
California. It featured at least one
original example of the cars produced during the life of Carroll Shelby.
The only models that appeared to be absent
were the Toyota 2000 GT, and the Dodge powered Shelby’s. Did you realize that
Shelby had a hand in these?
Featured speakers included the legendary Bob Bondurant who
was a factory team driver and co-drove with Dan Gurney the 1964 Le Mans winning GT class Daytona Coupe; A.J. Baine a
journalist and author of “Go Like Hell”; Lucas Foster a film producer; Lynn
Park an avid Cobra collector and a close friend of the late Carroll Shelby; and
finally Aaron Shelby, Carroll Shelby’s grandson. The fans loved hearing the many stories from
these individuals.
The car show featured over 75 Ford and Shelby offerings
including authentic early and current Shelby American cars as well as some very
historic Cobras. The building which also
houses the Shelby American engine shop was full of the authentic Cobras while
the outside area contained all the old and current Shelby American offerings as
well as “replica” cars including, Cobras, Daytona Cobras, and a GT-40.
Shelby AC Cobra badge. Image Credit: Brandon O'Brien - Motor Driven Images (2014) |
Those historic Cobras included the prototype 260 Cobra CSX2000
that was assembled during one long day and night in 1962 at Dean Moon’s shop in
Santa Fe Springs; CSX2005 another 260 Cobra was used exclusively by the Shelby
School of High Performance Driving located at Riverside Raceway; CSX2589 the
final 289 Cobra built, personally owned by Carroll Shelby until the time of his
death; and CSX2299 the 1964 Le Mans winning Daytona Cobra. For Cobra fans these
can be considered “holy” (images below).
This was a fun filled event and we can now look forward to
the 3rd Annual Tribute and car show next spring.
NOTE: The Carroll Hall Shelby Trust unveiled plans for the
new Carroll
Shelby Automotive Museum (CSAM) at a founder’s reception on May 16, 2014, in
Gardena, California. The museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization created to
educate the public about the high performance automotive industry. The CSAM is being formed by the Trust around the private collection of Mr. Shelby to celebrate
his legacy and to inspire future generations.
... notes from The EDJE
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