When Carroll Shelby built the hot little Cobra roadster, he couldn’t possibly have imagined the stir it would make with sports car aficionados. The year was 1962 and Shelby-American, under the guidance of Carroll Shelby and his crew, took the racing world by storm with a little car that had a lot of power under its hood.

Shelby’s career started in 1952, following a stint in the US Army as an Air Force test pilot, and an attempt at chicken farming. He needed his farm to provide a home and food for his wife and three children until his career as a race car drive and automobile designer took off. In the meantime he’d race from the farm to the track with his signature hickory-smoked bib overalls on, getting more attention from that than anything. But it didn’t take long for the Texan to have a flourishing career. His calling as a racecar driver was evident, gaining him honors and awards, but it was his innovative automobile designs and sophisticated styling that would be his claim to fame.

Shelby’s first race was no more than a quarter-mile drag meet in his hot rod, and because of who he was and what he sought, his hot rod had more power under the hood then one would imagine. Then at Norman, Oklahoma, he proves himself for real, driving an MG-TC, where he took first place against other MGs. Later he beat out a hot like XK 120. He was on his way as one of the hottest racecar driver around.

Shelby was on a Roll

His achievements in racing followed him for the next several years, taking him all over the world. 1954 proved to be one of his greatest years in racing. His stats go something like this:

· 1954 - Shelby drives as Aston-Martin DBR3 at Sebring, Florida for John Wyer,Aston  Martin’s team manager.

· Shelby drives an Aston-Martin DBR3 in Europe for Wyer where he finishes second against hot little Jaguars. This win takes him to the Le Mans in June of that same year.

· Carrera Pan American race in Mexico. Unfortunately, this is the race where he T-bones a large rock and flips the Austen-Healy four times, causing a year of pain and surgeries.

· 1955 - Shelby wins the Torrey Pines race with a Mexico Ferrari, defeating Phil Hill. From there he goes to Las Angeles to race then on to Europe.

· 1957 - Sports Illustrated names him "Driver of the Year."

 · 1957 - Shelby wins a 100-mile race in Riverside driving a V-8 Maserati single seat racing car.

· 1959 - Shelby co-drives an Aston Martin DBR1/300 and wins the 24 hour Le Mans.

· 1960-He won first place at the Continental Divide Raceways and breaks a course record.

Yes, the life of this race car driver was long and intense, giving him the name that he deserved in the racing world. He would go down in history. But then, something happened that would change all that. In 1960 he began to develop chest pains and was forced to leave the racing world and its stressful lifestyle. His last race was in December of 1960, the third annual Los Angeles Times-Mirror Grand Prix driving a Type 61 Birdcage Maserati. He finishes fifth, but overall, wins the USAC driving championship for 1960.

But he was not about to leave the world of roadsters, racing, and the lifestyle he had come to know so well.

When Shelby saw the Ace roadster, a product of an England based company called AC Cars of Thames Ditton, owned by Charles Hurlock; he saw a thing of beauty and design. When he heard that AC had lost their manufacturer for the lightweight and powerful Bristol motor, Shelby made a proposal. He suggested they continue the production of the Ace chasses as a platform for a U.S. made V-8 engine. Hurlock agreed as long as Shelby could provide a suitable American manufactured motor. With Shelby’s ambition, this would not be a big undertaking and soon he discovered the Ford small-block V8 that would fit under Ace’s hot little hood.

So began Shelby’s career headed in a different direction. In 1962 that little roadster, with its new engine, enters the Sebring in the prototype class and for the first time ever, a Cobra heat a GTO! Then that same year, the Cobra beat a Ferrari in the biggest race in Europe, the Le Mans. And from there it was uphill all the way with the Cobra on a wining streak throughout the sixties. In 1967, production stopped, and replicas begin popping up without hesitation. In 2003 the finest "replica" ever made came from Shelby himself.

By James Martell

James is the publisher of KitCarConnection.com, a website devoted to kit car aficionados, James Martell has long been an admirer of Carroll Shelby. As an avid fan, he owns a Shelby Cobra kit car that he drives in his leisure time. In his spare time he attends car shows, works on his website, and spends time with his family.