SAAC Forum

Visited the impressive Carroll Shelby Heritage Center in Las Vegas.

Needless to say, impressive, particularly the car building area.

One question occurred to me. They have a photo/caption collage of Shelby's early years. It mentions the amature races he won leading up to the 1959 Le Mans victory.

How might Shelby have been rated as a driver if he raced full time? Would he have been a Dan Gurney or Mario Andretti skill level? Had things turned out differently, would he have been successful in Trans-Am?

I don't think I've ever seen a comment regarding this aspect of his life.

Recently, Jim Losee, automotive enthusiast, passed away. Few outside of automotive publishing and the aftermarket will recognize his name. Never an owner, but Shelbys and Fords were often topics of conversation.

His life was cars and the people involved with them. How so? In the '70s he worked at Dayco, Harold Daigh's Long Beach boutique speed shop. Besides turning wrenches, he initiated The Factory Pipeline newsletter about GM performance parts. You may have seen his tech editor byline in Popular Hot Rodding and Car Craft. He worked at Edelbrock as a phone tech representative, media contact plus various tech assignments. At the start of the dot com boom, he was hired as a consultant for CarParts.com.

His first modified car was a Pinto fitted with a Lotus twin cam head. Over the decades, there was a 69 Hugger Orange Z/28, a Buick Regal T-Type, pickups, and 5.0 Mustangs. He built engines.

Meeting him, he was bigger than life combined with a huge smile and a ready handshake.

Enthusiasts -vehicle make is immaterial- and people who knew him have lost a car guy wrapped in a gentle soul. 

It is with sadness to announce the passing of Smitty Smith, a 30 plus year Edelbrock employee. You may or may not recognize the name, but more than a few enthusiasts have spoken to him for Edelbrock product information.

His business card title was Technical Sales Coordinator. On the back he was listed as Technical & Application Information source. If you read their catalog, he was listed as one of the proofreaders. He also answered Edelbrock's tech line.

Smitty was well known to editors for information and arranging tech stories. And you can believe the former Hot Rod Tech Editor Marlan Davis had tech questions for him early and often.

More importantly, he was a fixture at Edelbrock's car show display. With his immaculately restored black '39 Ford pickup parked nearby, he was ready to talk cars and answer product questions. He always projected a cheerful, calm demeanor, reinforced with a smile. If he didn't know an answer, he got someone who did.  You may not have caught his name but there was no doubt  he knew what he was talking about. He will be missed.

Curt Hooker passed away recently. Auto editors, not to mention the aftermarket,  will instantly know the name, but it wasn't wide spread among enthusiasts. If you purchased an Edelbrock product, it had Curt's influence.

Starting as a shop janitor, it's no surprise he was fascinated by engines, which led him to investigate the dyno room whenever he could. In his 50 year Edelbrock career, he became the head of engine testing and dyno room operations. He had hands-on experince developing and testing Edelbrock products, not to mention scores of engine projects from street to race. It's a testament to his character that he had a sterling reputation for being genuinely nice to work with.

He was one of the greatest names in hot rodding.

In case it hasn't been mentioned, I offer sad news on the passing of THE Hot Rod technical editor, Marlan Davis due to pancreatic cancer. He was read by millions of HR readers and probably more that a few SAAC forum readers.

IMHO, there were two Marlans. One was socially awkward. There was never a Mrs. and in conversation he could express non-PC opinions. Never in malice, but just his opinion.

The other Marlan was the automotive technical editor, which was his raison dˈ être. In almost 40 years of monthly output, he covered cars from the tire contact patches to the roof and from stock to full on race cars.

He wasn't a know it all. His MO was research, research, and research with technical sources he trusted ranging from small shops to OEM sources. People in the aftermarket no doubt have stories about his information gathering intensity.

He was intense with his own projects. Back in the '90s, he had a body-off C3 Corvette project where he powder coated the frame and safety wired all the aircraft grade fasteners. All of them. One source recalled him calling in search of a 20-foot length of aircraft grade stainless steel tubing. Why 20 instead of two 10-foot sections? He didn't want a splice in it.

Readers were rewarded with  concise, informative, well written (with a pinch of wit) tech stories and columns. That was reinforced by his excellent tech photography and charts summarizing details.

Not too long ago, he did We're Gonna Fix It stories, where he would choose a reader's car that had engine or brake or drivetrain issues that went unsolved. Employing trusted sources,  they worked through the issues, correcting problems other mechanics had missed.

Want to know about valve springs? He wrote a multi-part story on their design characteristics from stock to performance applications. He even included spring details for class 8 diesel truck engines.

He may be gone but thank goodness for the tech content he created. 

Lately I've been watching episodes of Mannix on cable, and it offers a late '60s/ early '70s LA automotive time capsule. 

Offered for your consideration are two vehicles. One is the original Mannix driver, a 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado that someone though would look cool as a convertible. IMO it doesn't look right even though it was the work of George Barris.

Since Chrysler supplied the cars, the second car of interest was Mannix's unusual '67 (?) Dodge Dart GT convertible. Unusual considering that he could have driven a Barracuda convertible. It also serves as an example how subtle custom touches transform a car. The styling was handsome to begin with. Next, a small spoiler was integrated on the rear trunk edge. Add on driving lights, custom wheels, and a Highland Green-like color and Mannix has a car that's noticed. I think Side-Oilers offered details about the car a while back.

The street scenes offer plenty of cars on view. I wonder if any Shelby's showed up on the show. BWTM. One episode ended with Mannix driving off in a 1967 Lime Gold Mustang convertible.

Ultimately, no one could have imagined that 20 years later, Carroll Shelby would be hip deep in his bib overalls creating Chrysler performance vehicles. 

https://www.facebook.com/RedEMotorsports/photos/a.367139833890754/773943249877075/?type=3&theater

Stumbled across this photo online. Carroll looks great and the bumper sticker says it all.