Hello again digital friends.
To paraphrase William Faulkner, “The past is never dead, and today it pays good money.”
The success of the Ford v Ferrari movie (4 Oscar nominations and 2 wins), which is set in the mid 60’s, is a story of life, death, love and brotherhood, all fueled by that universal solvent money. At last count the movie has generated over 225 million dollars.
The design talent that helped Ford defeat Ferrari was, and is, my friend Peter Brock . Peter has received several LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT awardS, recognizing his design work starting when he was a teenager. He penned the Cobra Daytona Coupe, which brought America its first and only F.I.A. Grand Touring Championship in 1965. He is now an entrepreneur, prize winning author and speaker. This reflects the love and respect the automobile world has for Peter and his work, including those early days when Carroll defeated Enzo. I have a tee shirt dated 1964 that says “NEXT YEAR FERRARI’S ASS IS MINE.” Love it.
This post features an interview I did with Peter for the Shelby American Auto Club quarterly way back in the mid 70’s. It still resonates today. Rick & the gang at S.A.A.C. were kind enough to dig out the old issue and send me a scan.
As Peter says in the interview, Shel was no dummy when it came to making a buck. By the decade of the 70’s he was no longer making Cobras, no longer associated with Ford, and was watching a new industry known as “kit cars” sell 427 Cobra bodies and even completed cars with no questions asked. The now defunct magazine from which I copied the pictures below listed 36 different companies selling Cobra bodies.
“Guaranteed to attract chicks, will fit any frame, even a VW floor pan.”
Carroll came up with the idea that under the legal term of TRADE DRESS, which protects the appearance of a product (you can’t sell a soft drink in a bottle that resenbles a Coke bottle) he ought to own the shape of the 427 Cobra roadster, as well as the 289, the Daytona Coupe, and a few other Shelby cars.
Car manufactures in that era were focused on THE FUTURE and didn’t give a _ _ _ _ about last year, much less 10 or 20 years ago. Owning the past was really unheard of in the business. Carroll thought otherwise, and after a few false starts and some expensive appeals, he began winning lawsuits and collecting judgments against the makers of Cobra knock-offs. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today every car company has a Licensing Division, which sometimes brings them more dollars than selling their cars, with no risk or capital investment !! When Hot Wheels makes a toy in the shape of a ’57 Thunderbird, even if they don’t use the name, the good folks at Ford get a piece of the sales price. Same with after market body panels. Even interior structural parts that no one will ever see … if it resembles a piece that came out of a Ford stamping die in 1965, you pay ! My friends the Kirkhams, based in Provo UT, just completed their 1,000th aluminum Cobra, and a part of the $100,000 (more or less) purchase price of each one goes to the modern day Shelby organization. Good on ‘em.
What makes this car from the past worth all that money ? The Shelby name comes with the love, life, death, brotherhood, that the Ford v Ferari movie celebrates. The past is still not past, and it now pays really good money.
Ol’ Shel was one of the first to recognize the sales potential of all that, especially when wrapped up in a beautiful body.
Er…… maybe I should rephrase that. Anyway, until next time, thanks for listening.
Duane