Photos and Story by C. Asaravala

Introduction
Ask a Mustang enthusiast of any age what constitutes their all-time favorite cars and they'll surely reveal that a '65-'70 Shelby is in their top three. In fact, ask any biased automotive fanatic and you are likely to find a Shelby is somewhere on their top ten list. The Shelby is undoubtedly the strongest performance marque ever created by an American automaker. Look no further than the recent announcement by Ford Motor Company. Their decision to create a new Shelby Mustang under the watch of Carroll is clearly a measure to revive the company's ailing image and boost shareholder value.

Unlike today's automotive environment, the Shelby Mustang success story is not one of Madison Avenue marketing genius. Shelby enthusiasm is the result of blending an appealing pony car with an even more appealing ex-racer. Having had to prematurely retire from professional auto racing due to a heart condition, Carroll Shelby utilized his racing experience to experiment with sports car development. He worked a deal with Ford and AC Cars to put the 260 and 289 powerplants into the English automakers' two seaters. By crossbreeding lightweight European sports cars with American V8 iron, he created a Grand Touring championship recipe overnight. Henry Ford II went on to hire Shelby to take Ford to a pair of LeMans championships. True to the '60s Dearborn mantra of 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday', Ford brought Shelby on to give the then infant Mustang model, a bolder image. In fact, it was Shelby himself who proclaimed the Mustang as a "secretaries car" when he first saw it.

While no one argues the Mustang's ultimate success as the most popular pony car ever created, a dispute might exist regarding just how much of Shelby's efforts contributed to the sales numbers. Between 1965 and 1970 approximately 13,900 Shelby Mustangs were produced compared to the over 1,000,000 Mustangs manufactured through March of 1966. Clearly the demand for the Shelby Mustang was not proportionally significant, however not everyone could afford a Shelby since it was priced at nearly twice that of a regular production model Mustang. Nevertheless, the Shelby image helped sell an untold number of Mustangs by removing the "secretaries car" stigma.

For the Mustang performance enthusiast, the Shelby aura meant inspiration for their own cars. Guys knew that even though they couldn't afford one off the lot, they could emulate a Shelby by purchasing the same parts or making the same mods as found on real Shelbys. Shelby owners also helped fuel this inspiration and excitement by keeping their cars away from hermetically sealed garages and using them as intended. Original Shelby owners were not collectors and they never hesitated to take the cars to their limits, be it on the street or track. In fact, because the Shelby was treated as a factory competition-ready car, it is estimated that as many as half of the original production models are no longer around due to being "fully utilized" over their lifespan. The original Shelby owners were only distinguishable from their Mustang enthusiast brethren by the sole fact that their cars cost a bit more and had the Shelby Cobra badging. Their attitudes were no different.

Fast forward to 2005 and the remaining Shelby Mustangs have clearly established themselves amongst the finest of the worlds collectible automobiles. With many GT350 and GT500 models commanding six-figures on the auction circuit, how likely is it that any of these cars are making laps anywhere beyond the annual parade route today? More importantly, what do the new crop of Shelby owners possibly have in common with the bell curve of Mustang enthusiasts?

Enter SAAC
The Shelby American Automotive Club, or SAAC for short, was developed in the mid-70's as a national club for the "preservation, care, history and enjoyment" of Shelby automobiles - limited up to 1968 because that is when Shelby American stopped producing the cars. Post 1968 Shelby's were assembled in Dearborn. The club's own website declares an evolution of sorts in the original intent of "preservation." While in 1975 the idea was to ensure the cars could be maintained and kept on the road, preservation took on a new meaning as more and more individuals and collectors sought to restore the vehicles and maintain accuracy.

So the question has to be asked, what kind of organization is SAAC today? The national club's own history statement would seem to turn off most FordMuscler's. It describes the Shelby vehicle today in this way...

"a daily driver is the exception to the rule and most cars are only taken out on nice days and driven to meets or shows."

This is further compounded by the description of the organization's publication, Shelby American, to which they proclaim...

"In the late 1970s a lot of owners worked on their own cars. Today most cars are taken to professionals. This has eliminated the need for detailed technical articles in the Shelby American. If you don't rebuild your own transmission, you don't need to read an article about how to do that. And the guy you're paying to do it doesn't need to read the article either."

SAAC's position becomes cloudier when you read into the meaning behind their motto...

"Ownership isn't essential, enthusiasm is."

The organization realized early on that there are far more Shelby enthusiasts than actual owners. By availing themselves to Shelby loyalists with and without cars, SAAC increased revenue by allowing membership to anyone who was interested in the marque and participating in the club events. Today the majority of SAAC membership is surprisingly made up of non-Shelby owners. This means AC Cobra replica's, Mustang Shelby clones, and a whole host of other performance Ford's and even non-Fords. According to the Northern California SAAC club, only 1/3 of its 625 members own original Shelby vehicles. It is apparent to us that with this many non-Shelby types, the SAAC must have a majority of club members who are wrenching on their own cars. This is supported by the fact that all the regional SAAC clubs coordinate several open track events throughout the year. We scoped out a local event to see if we could get a peek at what SAAC members were really about.

NorCal SAAC Mini Nationals
We attended the Northern California Shelby American Automotive Club (NorCal SAAC) at their yearly "mini nationals" event at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway. Based on our readings of SAAC, we anticipated this to be like any other collector car club get together in wine country - prim and proper gentlemen with scarf's tucked into their shirt necks taking slow and easy laps around the track with intermittent stops for some wine and cheese. Well fortunately we were dead wrong. All day long we witnessed pack after pack and rumble after deep rumble of Ford muscle cars decked out in Shelby-stripes roaring around the same track as Nascar noteworthys like Martin and Busch. Sure they weren't bumping and grinding fenders and doors, but they were pushing their cars to their limits in a way that got us excited. We saw plenty of evidence that this is a club interested in the chores of turning a wrench and making repairs. And contrary to the national club's declaration, we were pleased to have engaged in plenty of conversations with the owners, and not their mechanics, about rebuilding engines and other parts.

View NorCal SAAC Video

On the surface, the SAAC comes across as most collector-vehicle car clubs; an organization of deep-pocketed owners who are primarily about the preservation and financial appreciation of their investment. However, to really understand SAAC you have to get beyond their pitch and charter, and attend an event. In fact, we're quite convinced you just may need to join up and get a behind-the-wheel perspective.