Carroll Shelby's The Cobra Story

Author: Carroll Shelby, Hardbound, 272 Pages, ISBN: 9780879380199, First Edition, 1965 - **Second-Hand book in excellent unread condition**

Carroll Shelby's life was American in the truest "Horatio Alger" sense. Born to strict Baptist parents in rural East Texas, this skinny kid embarked upon a professional racing car driver career highlighted by winning one of the world's most prestigous events — The 24 Hours at LeMans.

While still a relatively unknown driver Carroll envisioned what he figured would be an exciting and marketable automobile: a sports car in the light, responsive European tradition, but with a big American V8 up front supplying lots of "get-up-and-go"! In 1962, his dream became a reality.

Call it what you will — Ford Cobra, Cobra Ford, Shelby Cobra, AC Cobra or just plain Cobra—you're talking about what was the hottest thing on wheels. Not only were Cobras exhilarating on the street but, when this book was first published, they were compiling a stunning record of victories on tracks all over the world. And showing those Ferrari folks a thing or two about good old Anglo-American competitiveness and ingenuity.

Along the way, Shelby's enterprises were becoming a sixteen million dollar business. Not bad for the skinny kid who went bankrupt raising chickens.

Like Carroll Shelby's action-packed life, The Cobra Story is full of thrills, some spills and plenty of Old Shel's own brand of earthy humor and personal insight. This is also the story of an age when high performance cars were in the dreams of many. Carroll Shelby's dream, literally, was the Cobra, and here's how it all happened.