P
PNewitt
Guest
...In this case; SAAC did such an outstanding job preserving, promoting, maintaining "Shelby" and in keeping the passion alive, was no doubt a major influence in Shelby's return to supercars. Now comes the new 500hp cars, the appeal and hype, new technology and ideas, followed by (I'm sure) high-$$ advice to Shelby to gather all of his marbles....
Let's just hope there remains as passionate a lobby for the older cars (beyond the Barret-Jackson types) to find a place in Team Shelby to remain beneficial to the entire heritage.
I understand the hype - the new cars are beautiful! But I hope they don't forget where they came from...
I absolutely agree, Tim.
But here is how I see it. It appears that "Team Shelby" was formed out of some sort of "spite" due to this mess between Carroll and the top guys in SAAC. There's something to that relationship that we don't know, and will probably never know about. But--as I see it-- Carroll and his crew should have considered the whole picture as to how doing something like this would put a lot of people on the spot, and offend and disrespect a lot more. IMO, Carroll should have thought of the many, instead of just himself and his company to have taken the actions that he has.
If "Team Shelby" was formed just to satisfy the needs of the late model Shelbys owners, and they had a meeting with the leadership of SAAC to tell them, then we wouldn't be in this mess. I think that a string of petty arguing led to legal action, and everyone is trying to sort it out, and poor Amy, in the middle, is trying to keep a happy face on all of it (since it's her job).
Someone on the SAACForum boards suggested that Carroll and Rick and Ken hold a closed door meeting to hammer these problems out.
Time will sort out just what will happen. Like I said, I won't be part of "Team Shelby" (because IMO, I feel it was born out of pettiness), but (!) I think that anyone else with a GT/CS should look into it, and hey--have a great time, and enjoy everything you can out of it--and SAAC--if you decide to join one or both groups.
I shouldn't admit this, but just to illustrate a point here; many years ago, I had a couple of times when I've wanted to throw up my hands and say "the heck with this crap", when I got too much criticism, etc., but then I got a look at the nice letters, and read your posts, and know how much you LOVE your GT/CS, so, I had to buck up and consider the importance of the group as a whole, and "get over it" when I felt like that. There is so much at stake with my responsibility to all of you, that I can't let the down times affect that. SO...in the same way, I think that Carroll should consider the consequences of his actions to all the owners--new AND old--with this action against SAAC. I suggest that he step up to the plate and deal with this directly, and solve this problem one way or the other. To create this split like this is very, very bad for the hobby.
We'll just see what happens here. Something has to be sorted out soon, because we'll all suffer as a consequence. Just as a reminder, over at "our house", we are doing just fine, and we have alot to look forward to. This is an awesome group of people that we have here, and I am SO grateful to you all!! I'll always remember that.
Paul N.
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