Carroll Shelby Tribute - 1/43 '69 Sunoco Camaro & Chaparral 2F

Greetings!

Well, we all knew it would happen some day. But more than a half century after retiring as a driver because of health reasons (a year after winning the 24 Hours of LeMans), a heart transplant in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 1996 a lot of us felt Carroll Shelby might just live forever.

Cobra 1965 Poster

The tributes have been pouring in since last Thursday, honoring Carroll Shelby the man, the legend, the cars he created, and telling the story how this bankrupt chicken farmer from Texas wound up "kicking Ferrari's ass" to win the 1965 FIA World GT Manufacturers Championship with his iconic Cobra Daytona Coupes. And how - never satisfied - Shelby went on to kick it again at LeMans in 1966 and 1967 and at Sebring, Daytona and other tracks around the world at the helm of the factory Ford GT racing program. Along the way, he became a larger than life figure and the cars he produced for the road and for the track became some of the most sought after machines in automotive history.

This morning, I took a photograph of the first racing poster I ever bought. After seeing an ad in SportsCar Graphic in the fall of 1965, I sent a week's earnings from my Chicago Daily News paper route to Shelby American in far away Venice, California. It was displayed proudly in my room for many years. It's a bit beat up (as I am) but it's a great reminder of the glory days of Carroll Shelby and his Cobras.

The legend will live forever!

- PZ

Coming Soon:

Another large shipment of models from Spark and TSM is due to arrive in a couple if weeks. Some of the highlights are pictured above. Click on the links to order:

s2602 - #6 Sunoco Camaro - Mark Donohue - 1969 Trans Am Champion - $67.00

s3419 - #80 Flying LIzard Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - LeMans 2011 - $67.00

TSM114345 - #1 Chaparral 2F - Hill / Spence - '67 Brands Hatch Winner - $65.75

As always with Spark, advance orders are strongly recommended as quantities of 'hot' models (like those above) are sometimes limited.

Click on these links for the complete lists of models expected to arrive in Late May and Early June from Spark, Bizarre and TSM.

Other Model News:

- Today's banner features the 1/18 scale Minichamps model of Sebastian Vettel's 2011 Formula One World Championship winning Red Bull Renault RB7 due to arrive any day now. Quantities are limited. $119.95. Order HERE.

- We're completely sold out of Spark's 1/18 scale Jim Clark Lotus 25 but we're told a small quantity of additional pieces will be available here in the US this summer. We are taking orders and crossing our fingers. Click HERE to reserve your spot.

- Some encouraging news from TSM: They have set Summer 2012 release dates for the 1/18 scale Jackie Stewart 1973 World Champion Tyrrell 006 ($140.00) announced earlier this year along with both 1/18 scale Martini Porsche 936 team cars from LeMans 1977 ($188.00 each) that were delayed last year.

Click on the links to order.

Shelby Books

We usually have a good selection of books on Carroll Shelby and his cars on hand but with the recent addition of some great Out of Print titles recently, single copies of some rare books are now in stock. The most important of these OP titles is 'Daytona Cobra Coupes', published by George Stauffer in 1995. Over 500+ pages, it details the planning, construction and race record of the 1965 FIA World Champions with a text by Coupe designer Peter Brock, photos by Dave Friedman and additional text by Stauffer himself. Carroll Shelby wrote the Foreword and Bob Bondurant the Introduction. The slipcase is slightly damaged but the book itself is in excellent to mint condition. We see copies offered much higher but the first $995.00 takes this one. Click HERE.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Shelby Cobra so several new books were planned for this year. Here are some recent releases:

Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography

by Rinsey Mills

Hardcover | 464 pages

$35.00

Order HERE

Shelby Cobra Fifty Years

by Colin Corner

Hardcover | 256 pages

$40.00

Order HERE

Deadliest Crash

A quick reminder: There's still time to take advantage of our advance order discount for 'Deadliest Crash', the BBC documentary on the 1955 LeMans tragedy. The film features rare and previously unseen film footage along with interviews with race participants and survivors.

We now expect our first shipment of 'Deadliest Crash' to arrive in late May. Order now and take advantage of a $5.00 advance order discount.

$34.95 Order HERE.

The Indy Motorsports Memorabilia Experience

Going to the Indianapolis 500 next weekend? We will be displaying a selection of items in the new 'Day Before The 500 Show at IMS' at the Pagoda Plaza Pavilion behind the Pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The show will take place on Saturday, May 26 from 9 to 5 pm.

See you there!

- Paul

The Motorsport Collector

800.722.8630 info@MotorsportCollector.com 630.515.1440