Shelby’s 60th Anniversary to be celebrated at Motorclassica
Shelby American, the sports and performance car company created by Carroll Shelby in 1962, turns 60 this year and Motorclassica will celebrate the birthday with a special display. After being cancelled for the past two years due to COVID-19, Motorclassica is back in 2022 and will be held at the Royal Exhibition Building from 7 to 9 October.
When his successful racing career (that included victory at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Aston Martin) was cut short by a medical condition, Carroll Shelby turned his hand to making fast cars rather than driving them, with the first product of ‘Shelby American’ going on to become one of the best known and most copied sports cars in the world – the Shelby Cobra.
By combining the Ace roadster from British brand AC with Ford V8 engines and transmissions, Shelby set a template that would become extremely popular and go on to inspire similar V8 engine insertions from other British manufacturers, like Sunbeam, TVR and MG.
An association with Ford set up by the Shelby Cobra was parlayed into the GT 350 Mustang from 1965, GT500 and other Shelby Mustang variants that followed, with Shelby also having a role in the development of Ford’s GT40 during the 1960s.
Lured to Chrysler in the 1980s, Shelby would later build a car under his own name – the Shelby Series 1 – before reuniting with Ford in 2003, starting a new run of Shelby Mustangs that continue in production to this day, as well as Shelby-modified F-Series pickups.
“It’s exciting that Motorclassica is returning in 2022 to coincide with worldwide Shelby 60th anniversary celebrations,” said Jon Treherne, Motorclassica Event Director.
“With power, handling and presence, we are proud of the Shelby collection that we have arranged, with the assistance of board member Nez Demaj which covers a wide array of the brand’s vehicles from the early years to the present, showcasing the evolution of the marque.”
Shelby cars that will feature at the 7-9 October event include a 1965 Cobra 289 'Slalom Snake’ prototype, which dominated the club autocross scene of the era, while a 1965 427 Cobra is one of only two genuine 427-engined Cobras that reside in Australia.
On the Shelby Mustang side of things, there’s a 1965 GT350 Fastback, a GT350H from the Hertz “Rent-A-Racer” programme that had been drag raced in Japan and a 2020 Carroll Shelby Signature Series with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 pumping out 825hp, showing how far performance has come.
“The Shelby display is just one attraction of our reimagined event, which covers every motoring taste, from classics to contemporary, and muscle car power through to sleek sports car styling gathered from right around the world.
“Motorclassica will also feature a wide range of new attractions, which will add to the spectacle that the team has developed over the past decade.”
For further details, including opening times and to secure tickets to Motorclassica 2022, click HERE.
