Yahoo Autos Shelby Tribute at Petersen Museum Is a Blue and White Delight With Hundreds of Mustangs, Cobras, and Historic Racers
Normally, in eco-obsessed Los Angeles, the smell of hydrocarbons in the air might prompt a visit by the Air Quality Management District, but marinating in the pungent fumes that only pony cars of a certain pedigree could emit-whether running or simply parked-is exactly what attendants of the Petersen Automotive Museum's annual Shelby tribute event came for. Well, that and the sight of scores of menacing Mustangs, curvaceous Cobras, and historic race cars in historic liveries, all sauntering in with a rumble loud enough to register on the Richter scale.
The Petersen's weekend celebration of Ol' Shel's 96th birthday started the evening before with a 90-minute panel discussion featuring some of the men who worked with Shelby in his glory days in the 1960s, during which he helped make American cars and drivers powerhouses on the world stage. The panel included Allen Grant, who started as a welder in Shelby's Venice, California, shop in 1963 before racing quite successfully for Shelby two years later; Lance Stander, CEO of Superformance, which builds continuation models of Shelby 427 Cobras, GT40s, and Daytona coupes, among others; Vince Laviolette, vice president and head of R&D at Shelby American, which continues to work with Ford to produce steroidal road cars under the Shelby name in Las Vegas; Ted Sutton, who went to Shelby's Venice shop looking for parts and wound up tasked with race-prepping an AC Cobra chassis and who is credited with building the first 427 Cobra. The final panelist is onetime Shelby fabricator Jim Marietta, who was 17 when he helped build the original 36 Shelby Mustang GT350Rs in 1965 and who, along with Sutton and Shelby designer Peter Brock, formed Original Venice Crew Mustangs, which has set about building 36 more of the beastly Stangs (one of which made a man out of your author not long ago).
While each of the panelists bore witness to Shelby's charismatic if occasionally cantankerous manner and enigmatic skills behind the wheel and took a few questions from the audience, a bit of news was actually made when Stander announced that Superformance's Shelby Legendary Cars division is preparing to produce the gorgeous Ford Shelby GR-1 concept car that dazzled the world back in 2004–2005 and is planning both gas and electric versions, with the latter powertrain being developed in partnership with Shelby American.
Following the storytelling, the museum auctioned off a day of thrill-ride experiences with a gathering of Superformance, Shelby American, and OVC products including a fancy lunch with most of the panelists (who would bring the cars) for three different couples. The effort brought $12,300 for the museum, which is celebrating its 25th year in 2019.
Since it's never as fun to talk about cars as it is to be around them, the museum hosted a rooftop cruise-in the following morning that attracted over 100 cars ranging from very, very old to very, very new, as well as some new versions of old cars. Wimbledon White and Guardsman Blue were the clearly dominant livery, adorning many a Mustang new and old, but a diverse array of other cars showed up, too, from non-Shelby Mustangs to a Shelby Series 1 roadster to real Shelby Cobras, one of which arrived in barn-find condition. Also in attendance was a gorgeous green AC Bristol, plus various Ford GTs and GT40s, a Sunbeam Alpine, an Oldsmobile Starfire, a Mercedes-Benz 560SEC, and a pair of Austin-Healeys. One nervy owner brought an epic 1970 Chevrolet Camaro; a malaise-era Mercury Cougar, a Dodge Daytona Turbo, an ancient Saab, and a '68 Corvette were all present, and even a charming Volkswagen Westfalia camper puttered in and popped its top.
Participants and judges voted for their favorites, with the Petersen Perfection award going to a 1966 Ford Mustang GT350H, the People’s Choice award winner driving off in a matte gray 2018 Ford Mustang GT350, and the 1965 Cobra pictured here recognized as Best in Show.
The 2019 Shelby tribute weekend was the one of the first events of 2019 for the Petersen Museum, which is celebrating its 25thanniversary this year, with more than 100 events planned, including celebrations around IMSA, Daytona, LeMans, and Ferrari, to name a few. Should any of them be as rife with photo fodder as this one, we'll bring it to you.
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