Shelby Daytona Coupe: Then and Now
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 9:16PM The Shelby Daytona Coupe, penned by Pete Brock, has to be one of the most elegantly proportioned yet brutal GT racing cars America has ever produced. Below are two films with excellent period footage of the cars when they raced! Note: The opening music and voiceover are the same, but these are two different movies.
This next movie has Dr. Fred Simeone eloquently recounting the history of the coupe on one of his demonstration days at the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia. His particular coupe (one of 6 made) has a very interesting history. Wish I could have been there! It's a long story but worth the listen if you are a history buff. I found it most interesting to learn that while this car was built in the States, the other 5 bodies were made in Italy in order to save time --the Italians being much more adept at turning out handmade aluminium bodies in a timely fashion.
Click the pic below to see my gallery of Dr. Simeone's car. It's got wonderful patina and amazing presence in its unrestored original state. Kudos to him for not turning it into just another glossy Pebble beach trailer queen.
Reader Comments (1)
great videos - I bought a documentary called The Snake and the Stallion a few years ago and it's a bit long-winded but a cool documentary on Shelby and the Daytona's and Cobras with a lot of restored footage.
http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Stallion-Cobra-Ferrari-DVD/dp/B001E7ZZYY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298426565&sr=8-1