Thoughts on Shelby, Smokey, and signatures on cars...(pulled from another thread)
 

at first the car was bone stock, But after Carroll Shelby autographed it, I felt my car was unique, not only not just another V6, but not just some GM vehicle, how many out there can say their GM vehicle was autographed by the greatest mind in automotive history. Not only that, I had a desire to auto-x and since the car has a decent handling setup in stock form, I felt to just upgrade a little to be a little more competative. My car IS unique, and I will continue to advance the uniqueness of it. that is why Ive done all this work to this V6.

:rofl::rofl:Funny, I don't remember signing your car!!!!:rofl::rofl:

Smokey was the man, definately better than Shelby in my opinion.








Still, niether one can hang with THE JS Performance!!!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Smokey was head & shoulders above CS.

how much did you pay the uber ford fanboi superhero to sign your car? and how does his signature make the car more special than the other v6 4th gens?

Nothing, nada, zip. And i guess you would need someone special from GM for oyur truck then to fullly apperciate and understand someone who has made such and impact in the automotive world, to make your truck/car stand out, and feel special. Do you have autographs of sports stars mike? let me ask why do the things you got sign, why are they different from the same things that are not sign? They are unique, thats why.

Mike asked because Shelby is such a scumbag that he'd probably charge on old lady $50 after he held the door open for her.

A scumbag? where'd you get your information from of what kind of person he is? have you ever met him? First off i wanna say about the smokey yunick thing. Smokey did some things ill give him credit for, but as far as I can see, all he did was read the rules carefully and find loopholes to get away with things. He was nothing but a mechanic. Now Shelby was a man that knew cars from a business standpoint ,as well as from behind the wheel. Take for example when the 67 Le Mans came, two GT40 mkIV's were given to Shelby, and two to Holman -Moody. Moody put their air ducts at the front of the nose to cool the brakes. Shelby said you'll warp the Rotor's that way. Shelby recirculated some of the hot air and tok the air atop of the nose, so the cooling affect wasent as shocking to the rotors when the brakes were applied. Eventually HM's theory failed, and took out 3 GT40's in the process in 1 wreck!!. Also Shelby said the engine covers should be hinged behind the driver so the wind doesnt catch it. HM said to hing it from the rear cause its easier to work on the engine. HM won that debate and the cars engine covers were fitted to the rear. Guess what, wind caught the no.2's engine cover, and blew it right off. Id get more into the story, but you chaps would benefit better by looking it up. In the end Shelby's no.1 car took the overall victory by 5 laps over the Ferrari 330 P4. Shelby is also to only American team to of ever won the FIA GT championship in 1965. Shelby's teams won the 66 and 67 Le Mans, and is the only All-American team to of won Le Mans in 67. As far as im concerned, you can look between the rules ,and build a car that can go for 500 miles, but for me, reliability is key. try making a NASCAR car last 24 hours. Shelby knew what he was doing. Not only that, but he also built a sucessful business, and also put his hand in a few auto companies ( Ford, Dodge) To each his own I guess, but from what I see, Shelby is the best mind in history.

Go ask the members of the SAAC. And the feds when they came down on him for illegal VINs. And problems at his foundation about not paying out.

Winning races does not make a person a good person.

Have you read "The Best Damn Garage In Town"? If not, I suggest you do. Not that it's a given 100% accurate- but even if it's 50% it's very impressive.

Smokey was MUCH more than a glorified mechanic. He did not have Shelby's business sense but he was much more of an inventor and innovator in my opinion.

…split out from another topic...

Ok, scumbag might be harsh, but I don't see where he has been a great person, certainly not worthy of my praise – all the cash he has squeezed from anyone in his path is enough glory for him IMO. I would not want him (or just about any) signature on my car. Of course I don't care about autographs or who someone is. I guess I could get Scott Settlemire to sign my car, but only Al would care. :lol: I saw in a magazine a really nice 4th gen that a guy bought off one of the owners of camaroz28.com. He had both the owners of the site sign the car. Holy crap, who cares? I guess I’ll get Justin to sign my car too, lol.

The work SY did within given platforms is legendary.

Smokey was a real genius. The stuff he came up with was light years ahead of anybody else at that time. Carroll Shelby was the exact opposite I think. He stole designs that already existed and threw them together. Case in point, the Cobra. The AC Cobra was a European car that he simply imported, and put a Ford motor in it and called it a Shelby. There's no talent or creativity there. The new Shelbys? They're SVT Cobras with his name on them. The Shelby GT Mustang? It's a stock GT with some stripes, Fords CAI and chip, painted wheels, and Hurst shifter. But Shelby charges like 12k for the package. That isn't unique anyway and uses Ford's off the shelf parts. That cost like 3k at most. Shelby to me seems like the Donald Trump of cars, he's great at advertising, but has nothing to actually sell of any real creativity and individuality.

What about if Mario Andretti signed your car and was the previous owner?
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2134751

previous owner is a bit different - but I would not pay extra for a car due to the previous owner.

I was looking at the GMHTPM article about the guy who bought the 4th gen off Jason. I thought the same thing, "oh wow, Jason signed it...good?"
Jason is one of the 15 disciple and is the owner of the largest fbody website on the planet. He is very cool to talk to, and has been very close to the 5th gen since its first ideas some 4 years ago.
He talked about how him and Scott went out for a drink the day the last Camaro rolled off the production lines, and then talked about how a few years later how he got a phone call from Scott saying that they were going to move foward on a concept.
It was cool to hear all these stories, but Im not sure if that makes that car any better then any other LS1 car.
Anyway, cool that he signed your car, and I guess its going to mean more to you then anyone else. Im not a huge fan of Shelby. Smokey sure was a super smart engineer that did his things his way. He created some really cool stuff, and has been involved in many forms of racing. I would rather have a car with some Smokey tricks done it , instead of having his signature on the dash.

Scott, I don't think scumbag is too harsh an assessment for someone so arrogant that they sued their own fan club, sold illegal "continuation cars" as original vins under the title of a production company that defaulted 25 years ago, and didn't do 99.9% of the engineering work he is credited with.

Shelby was a hell of a driver, also a hell of a salesman though.

/rant

Oh, to be fair & balanced, I understand CS has a great chili recipe, though...

Al, you are a cool guy that hangs on the camaro nuts, but I don't want you near my car with a sharpie.

How about this guys, who is your favorite famous automotive legend and why?

Best Engineer/Driver/Car Owner to me is Roger Penske. He doesn't do his own engieering work anymore, but he was the guy who figured out triple adjust shocks, hydro-jackers(hydraulic in car weight jackers), won a lot of races on his own(mostly lower level, he was better at setting it up than driving it), has owned winning teams on every level of north American open wheel, stock car, and road racing, and he still acts as chief and team strategist for his American LeMans series Porsche RS Spyder program.

Basically, the guy has seen it and succeeded from every side of auto sport possible.

Damn! Well, for everyone else that wants my signature to be placed on thier dash, please bring your car to either TGIF's in Brick tomorrow night or at trucks on Weds along with a 25 dollar donation to the Human Fund,
Human Fund: Money for People

no, i wouldn't let someone sign my truck or car. paper or photographs are good for me just because it has some sharpie marks on it does not make it special, who's to say you didn't do it yourself? did it come with a certificate of authenticity?

American?
Smokey/Donohue/Penske if we are picking multiple people.

Just Smokey if we are picking one.

I'd have to say Zora Arkus-Duntov for his creativity, eye for detail, insight into how to turn desire into a physical object, and vision of the future. Also, Smokey Yunick for his mechanical and technical brilliance.

Penske is both a great engineer and a great business man.
Zora is another great engineer, but didnt have a hand in design too much. It was more at the hands of Mitchell at that point.

I guess it depends on your feelings. I would love to have Tom Peter's and/or Ed Welburn signature for thier design.

Shoebox.