Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 914 | Page 12

10 CarGuyMagazine.com

While writing about this week in l962, it occurred to me that
it had a significance that could not be known at the time. Those
few days encompassed both the end and the beginning of two
American sports car icons. The Scarab team was finished and the
Shelby era had begun.
The following Monday, Mr. Shelby hired me and led me to
the shop to outline my duties; not those of an apprentice race
mechanic as hoped for. I was shown where the brooms and
cleaning materials were kept, and given instructions on where
and when to sweep and what to clean. Not exactly what I wanted to tell my parents I had dropped out of college to become.
In 1962 Shelby American employed many talented people,
including the Reventlow employees. The most important of
these was Phil Remington, who was never really satisfied with
my janitorial skills, I might add. Without Phil’s expertise, it’s hard
to imagine the Cobra evolving into what it became. Phil ran the
shop, solving most of the teething problems associated with
putting 300 and eventually 400 horsepower into an early ‘50s
British antique designed for 130 horsepower. Of course the Cobra would not have existed at all if Carroll Shelby had not had the
crazy idea in the first place.
Another valuable contributor to Shelby American in the beginning was Joan, Carroll’s combination secretary and girlfriend.
She was often referred to as Joan Shelby, but her real name was
Joan Cole; people were a little more prudish about unmarried
people living together in 1962. They had an apartment in Playa
del Rey, about five miles from the Venice facility. Joan was very
businesslike and worked hard with Carroll to solidify the relationship with Ford Motor Company. One day Mr. Shelby came to
work in a gaudy outfit and Joan told him to go back home and
take off his Halloween costume!
We had a part-time carpenter named Leo Ortega who was a
captain on the Beverly Hills Fire Department. One morning Joan
came down from the office and said: “Leo, take John and some
tools and follow me.” We drove to the apartment she shared with
Carroll, where the front door had been torn from its hinges.
Our job was to reinstall the door.
Apparently there had been an argument and Joan simply
shared with us: “I locked Mr. Shelby out, but Mr. Shelby came in
anyway.” Nobody’s perfect. I noticed there were numerous pairs
of alligator shoes in the closet. Hmmm.
Billy Krause left Shelby after two races to drive for Mickey
Thompson and Chevrolet. It wasn’t a good career move for
Krause because Chevrolet was about to get out of racing and,
sadly, Thompson’s Indianapolis cars were not only uncompetitive
but also treacherous.
I remember being in Carroll’s office emptying the wastebasket as he called Dave MacDonald to offer him the Cobra ride.
Then Ken Miles joined Dave and Shelby American started dominating club racing in early 1963.
Eventually I moved up the ladder from janitor to parts chaser.
Actually I traded jobs with the parts chaser, a man named Joe
Washington. Joe always carried a small flask of “cough syrup”