[Tigers] Shelby and SAAC

[MWood24020 at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/9/2007 6:25:19 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
rande at thecia.net writes:

Just  personally, I think SAAC and Rick Kopec have had a great ride,  
considering
the cars are called Shelbys, and not Kopecs, and I hope no one  is surprised
that at some point, Shelby or his family might want control of  the biggest 
national
club supporting Shelby cars. 


 
I think something needs to be pointed out, here...
 
Back in the day, once the Cobra was no longer competitive and the Shelby  
Mustang no longer produced by Ford (and the royalties had stopped), Shelby  
couldn't get clear of Ford, the Cobra and the whole scene quickly enough, moving  
on to focus on his other businesses. He had zero interest in any "legacy", 
based  on his actions, ultimately moving on to form a "relationship" with Chrysler 
to  rejuvenate his cash flow. Remember, this was a point in time when nobody 
really  cared all that much about his cars, heck, you could pick up a Cobra 
for  $3-4,000 and a GT350 or 500 for about half that.  

SAAC was formed about this time, by a group that truly  enjoyed the cars and 
wanted to preserve the history, stop the practice of  "cloning" GT350/500's 
and provide a venue for enthusiasts to get  together and use the cars. And they 
were very successful in building the club,  pioneering a number of "best 
practices" which many car clubs have emulated and  also creating the template for 
the open track event which has become so wildly  popular. Shelby still had very 
little interaction with SAAC or Shelby owners, at  this point.
 
Fast forward to the later '80s, the Cobra is now worth a ton of money, the  
GT350/500 are starting to be seen as more "collectible" (particularly the early 
 GT350) and Shelby sees that SAAC has become a successful business  
enterprise...so, he begins to get more involved, mostly through appearing at  various 
events and signing his name for money for the foundation.
 
Now, twenty years later, anything with the Shelby name on it is worth big  
dollars...scratch that, anything Shelby was involved in early in his car  
building career is worth big dollars, in large part due to the efforts of SAAC!  At 
the same time, all the other "stuff" that Shelby did subsequent to the  
Ford/Cobra days has very limited appeal and negligible dollar value,  comparatively. 
So, what does Shelby do? He decides to capitalize on the work  that SAAC has 
done, work that started at a time when Shelby himself had zero  interest or 
involvement.
 
So, while I'm not saying that Kopec and his crew are wonderful, altruistic  
folks or that Shelby's vision and legacy should be in any way overlooked, I am  
saying that it isn't a simple matter of an older man trying to retake what is 
 "rightfully his" before his time on this earth is over...like they say, just 
 follow the money ;-)



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