Godspeed, Carroll Shelby, With Dual Everything

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Bill Cosby’s farewell to Carroll Shelby.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Enderw88 Enderw88 on May 13, 2012

    Is anyone in the US able to see the video?

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    • Enderw88 Enderw88 on May 13, 2012

      @Ronnie Schreiber Thanks!

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on May 13, 2012

    If you're interested in the early days of Shelby American and Carroll Shelby's racing teams in the 1960s, a commenter here at TTAC pointed out the other day the Benson Ford Research Center has the David Friedman collection. Friedman still works as a photographer and back in the 1960s he worked first as a staff photographer for Shelby American and then in '66-'67 for Ford Racing. Much of the collection has been digitized and there are links here: http://trackthoughts.com/2012/01/23/friedman-collection-at-the-benson-ford-research-center/

  • Rudiger Rudiger on May 13, 2012

    FWIW, the car that Cosby is talking about is one of two twin Paxton supercharged 427 Cobras that Shelby built. Both were automatics, and the first was Shelby's personal car. After Cosby received his, due to the uncontrollable nature of the thing (as he alludes to in his famous comedy routine), Cosby didn't drive it much (although he didn't return it immediately). But it was back in Shelby's hands within a month. It was sold to a San Francisco Ford dealer, who subsequently resold it to some fellow named Tony Maxey. Maxey managed to drive it off a cliff into the Pacific ocean, killing himself (it's speculated that he was either trying to commit suicide or the throttle stuck open). Regardless, the car was essentially destroyed beyond repair. It was parted out but, eventually, decades later, someone in England took what few original pieces were left (like the drivetrain and VIN tag) and used them to build a reproduction that was supposedly as close to what the original car was as possible.

  • Niky Niky on May 14, 2012

    Man... that one's a classic... and a fitting tribute...

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