Ok, I had mentioned a couple of months back in a prior discussion that if Caroll Shelby was at the ford knotts show again signing autographs, that I would speak to him about the shelby mav, since he may be the last remaining person with knoweledge about the car. Please do not shoot me if I don't have all the required info. Anything that was in my head washed right out...not easy speaking with a legend. I jumped to the front of a 2 hour autograph line and talked to him on the side for a couple of minutes. I asked him if he knows anything about the Shelby Maverick. He responded with "It doesn't exist" I replied back, weren't they made in Mexico? He said that they were indeed made in mexico. He then went on to say, it wasn't my car. meaning that the project wasn't his, and that someone else was in charge of the project (I didn't get a name) but the Mr. Shelby went on and chuckled after that and said "ya that guy killed himself". (Sounds like there was a lot of history behind that statement??) I asked what kind of powerplant it had, and if it was a beefed up 302, and he responded by saying that it was a "factory 302" which would lead me to expect, it was mostly a stock 302. I asked if he had ever seen any around lately, and he said he had in mexico, and had even seen one guy here in the states who had managed to bring one across the border to here. Most importantly, I asked why the car was never built down here. He replied we had the mustang, he said, quite simply, that a shelby maverick would have cost more than a mustang at the time, -from what I gathered from that statement, Ford must have done the numbers crunching and gathered that few would pay more for a maverick than a mustang. He went on to say "you had to pay your duties back then" he unfortunetly did not clarify, but I might venture a guess to say that the shelby mav's would be made in mexico, and that the duties (which I think is a tax when you bring a car over the board) would have added to the cost of producing the car. Anyhow, that is all I got. It may or may not help with the mystery of the backround of this car. I think that it will be very possible to get the complete history of this car, but it may take a couple of years--as it is very difficult to talk with him when there are a hundred people in line and staff all around. He has been there at least two years in a row, so, presuming his health remains good, I would hope he will be there again next year. If anyone has any more questions for me to ask him next April, lets throw them on a list, and organize them from the most to least important, and I promise I will hit him up again next year. Hope this helped---take care all Jeremy
Photos... ...print the photos off of the website here that show the green what seems to be Maverick with the Grabber stripes and the Comet GT hood/scoop and grill. Maybe that will jar his memory. I would like to see a rear shot of that car and ask him how that was made up. Perhaps the taillight panel was also from the Comet GT? It did have a noticeable spoiler on the rear. I met him at an autograph session years ago when I had never heard of the fabled Shelby Mavericks. Has anyone else contacted S.A.A.C. about these cars? Seth
could some one post the pics on here I had a pc of one a long time a go but I lost it and it wasn`t a very good pic
I have to commend Jeremy for going to the "horse's mouth". There's nothing quite like going to the source itself. As for Mr. Shelby's memory, from the recent reports I've heard helath wise, his faculties are quite OK. It's not his mind that may be amiss, just his body. I'm sure he remembered all he could, crowd not withstanding, but there may be things about this car that he may not be at liberty to talk about due to litigation issues and the like, especially if it was an unauthorized vehicle, which his statements to Jeremy may lead one to believe. At least we know more now than before. Great job, Jeremy!!
http://www.maverick.to/np-foreignmav.shtml The above link has lots of information on the Shelby Mavericks built in Mexico, as well as links to the pictures originally sent to me by Rick Kopec, the president of the Shelby Association (S.A.A.C.). I think that ol' Shel's memory of these cars is rather selective, perhaps motivated by his desire to avoid devaluing the rest of his namesakes (Mustangs and Cobras) by acknowledging his bastard kids (mere Mavericks) from south of the border. There is quite a lot of documentation showing the connection between Shelby De Mexico and the godfather of Cobras. In fact, I spoke personally to a retired Ford engineer that was one of a half dozen such Ford employees sent to Mexico to evaluate the Shelby Mav for production by Ford. Unfortunately, the one test mule in existence had the engine blown out of it by the time those guys landed. This probably went a long way to their coming to the conclusion that this product was unsuitable for mass consumption. By the way, I found the remark that Mr. Shelby allegedly made regarding Eduardo Valezquez, former president of Shelby De Mexico, to be tasteless and offensive. Anyone who would "get a chuckle" out of someone else's suicide needs some sensitivity training. If I have somehow misconstrued the alleged comment, then it is I that needs to apologize. I find the Shelby De Mexico Mav story to be a fascinating one. Too Bad Mr. Valezquez isn't around to share his side of it. John B.
While I would NEVER want to misquote Ol' Shelby, the one thing that I will say about his comment is that it certainly was not made with any feelings of remorse---meaning that when he made the statement, it was said kind of hand in hand when he talked about the fact it was not his car, and why it wasn't made here, and that it was someone else's car (project)--The statement was made fairly lightely from him-and that is about all I can gather--I of course cannot say anything about his true feelings about the incident.
"THERE NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE A SHELBY MAVERICK" Look at the pictures all You want ,You do not see a Shelby Maverick,Hell this is just as good as that "I can make a grabber hood from a flat one" Hmmm! who was that,that said I'll make one!Still waiting on the report on that one,I'm sure the hood was made and is in use by now! Yeah right!
Huh?? I am not sure where that came from TOM, but you are only partially right. There was never a Shelby Maverick in the U.S. There however was a shelby maverick made in mexico, and that is very well documented, besides I talked to the man himself about it, who verified its existence, but would not necessarily verify his participation. Proving existance is a non-issue, what we are trying to do is document its history before that history is lost forever.
Don't worry about it,just something I "made up" as I when along,the hood issue is something else ( a jab at someone) no names,just a ongoing "i told ya so" type of deal!
As noted before, there are some very cool features on this car ie. the hood tach, rear slats, front spoiler. Does anybody no the where abouts of any of these cars? Have any of these cars ever been located?
