Tom McIntyre interview: How he made Shelby-American's nameplates

[Side-Oilers]

This just in...

https://youtu.be/4ZfRtaCERnU

[J_Speegle]

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing

[Corey Bowcutt]

That was fantastic!  Thank you for sharing.

Corey

[FL SAAC]

Great presentation by Mr McIntyre,  thanks for posting

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I had known Tom's dad had been involved but I had always thought more than he actually was. Tom is a great guy I see him once or twice a year and he always remembers everybody's name and wonders about their current projects and cars. I remember when he said he had Mickey Thompson Mystery Motor Vette. The Corvette guys at Monterey were calling him all sorts of names and that he was full of BS because his car didn't have any visible numbers. They said they knew where all the hidden numbers were and they'd be happy to prove to him it wasn't the car. They came over and left in awe. Yep right car #3 Z06 and on the most wanted list. The article downplays the arrogance of the Vette guys and the tension in the pit until they found the numbers. https://www.motortrend.com/news/mickey-thompson-z06-mystery-motor-stingray/
Tom did a few of these emblems for Rick Titus when he was going to build a series of 4, 1967 TransAm street car replicas. One for each race his dad won. He got so much flack from people thinking his air conditioned A or C code street cars with the yellow/black paint scheme were to be passed off as originals he scrapped the whole idea after building his own car.



COCOA also had a member Sam Johnson whose dad had done the stripes for Shelby. He made a run of the 65 GT350 letters on the original dies in the late 70s. I still have a set. He also had bought a 427 Cobra with money he earned selling stuff to SA & Ford.

[S7MS427]

Wow, now that is some cool stuff.  Thanks for sharing.

It is cool to know that even in this day and age new information can come to light.  Great story too.  Kid designs parts for SA, kid sells parts to SA, kid buys 427 Cobra from SA with the money he makes from selling parts to SA. Love it!

[Chad]

That was great!

[67 GT350]

One word.

WOW

[TA Coupe]

I was standing with Tom during the 1988 Smoky Yunick auction when he was bidding on the matching number mystery motor to the Vet. Our picture was in Autoweek the following month. GM and Reggie Jackson both were bidding on it also. When the bidding got to around $20,000 I said I could loan him $7,000 if he needed it but he opened his breafcase where he had about $50,000. Paid $29,000 if I remember correctly.

       Roy

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I was standing with Tom during the 1988 Smoky Yunick auction when he was bidding on the matching number mystery motor to the Vet. Our picture was in Autoweek the following month. GM and Reggie Jackson both were bidding on it also. When the bidding got to around $20,000 I said I could loan him $7,000 if he needed it but he opened his breafcase where he had about $50,000. Paid $29,000 if I remember correctly.

       Roy

I've never known Tom to go anywhere unprepared.

[Side-Oilers]

Interesting tidbit I heard (from a reliable source) about that day at Smokey's auction:

The GM guys had reached their bid limit that GM corporate had given them (I think $25k) and asked if they could take a time out to arrange for more $$.  The auction was leaning toward granting the request, until Tom made a very convincing argument that the auction rules stated there were no time outs for such things.  Money must be in the room...or something like that.

After a few sweaty moments for all involved, the auction agreed with Tom, and he won the bid.   

I do not know why Reggie Jackson didn't bid more.  He was tight with Chevrolet.

[deathsled]

Great video and thanks for posting, Van!

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I do not know why Reggie Jackson didn't bid more.  He was tight with Chevrolet.

He maybe didn't want to step on any toes. If he backed the GM guys with some extra cash there was no assurance he'd get it back. Out bidding Tom may have put him on GM's no more goodies list since he took something they really wanted.

[Side-Oilers]

^^^ Sounds plausible.  Reggie was definitely on the free goodies list.

[silverton_ford]

A couple more Youtube videos of Tom.  These are showing off his car collection.  Some stories match up to your comments above.

Video 1 - https://youtu.be/82g4NuwzHC8

Video 2 - https://youtu.be/x8Jh5QI8N_8

Videos by Petersen Automotive Museum.