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Bill Cosby’s farewell to Carroll Shelby.
8 Comments on “Godspeed, Carroll Shelby, With Dual Everything...”
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This was recorded in 1968, so I’m not sure how it was a farewell to Shelby.
Is anyone in the US able to see the video?
Not me.. damn WMG… It’s a good bit to.
“And on the hood there’s.. a hicky. That hicky man, that’s where the Superchargers live.”
This one works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3-JQksYxgM0
Thanks!
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/
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.
Man… that one’s a classic… and a fitting tribute…