Round 2 is here folks, Carroll Shelby has fired with guns a blazing at SAAC giving his side of the story on the licensing agreement and why he terminted it. After reading Shelby’s side of the story which I have posted below he makes many valid points on why he terminated the licensing agreement which only cost SAAC $1 dollar per year over the years. If what he has pointed out is true and if it’s all documented in the licensing agreement then I don’t see where SAAC has a leg to stand on. Read the entire press release below from Carroll Shelby/Shelby Autos and then give me your thoughts in the comments.
Carroll Shelby, CEO of Carroll
Shelby Licensing Inc., (CSL) has issued a statement in response to allegations made by the owners of the organization formerly known as the Shelby American Automobile Club.
“I wanted to explain my concerns to the members of the Shelby American Automobile Club directly, but couldn’t because SAAC has refused to give me a list of its members, even though the licensee agreement with SAAC requires them to allow me access to their books and records. So I am being forced to share the facts through a news release. Continue reading ‘Round 2: Carroll Shelby Fires Back At SAAC’
We are getting close to the end of the year and even though Ford has stopped making the 2007 models the 2008’s don’t seem to be selling either. I know December, January and February are historicaly the worst months to sell a new/used car but sales are down quite a bit from the previous year.
Sales of Mustangs for November of this year were 7,352 compared to 10,230 from November of the previous year showing a 28.1% drop in sales. Year to date sales for 2007 Mustangs are 126,311 compared to 155,285 for the eleven months of last year, a 18.7% drop.
A new movie out called ‘Crash and Burn’ about a bunch of car theives features a pair of 2006 Shelby GT-H’s. Michale Madsen plays the big bad villian star in the film along with Erik Palladino of ‘ER’ who plays the undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the crew. If your looking for the movie in theaters don’t bother as this film went straight to On Demand TV. Look for it in your local listings. After the jump I have included the summary of what the movie is all about. Continue reading ‘Shelby GT-H Makes Film Debut In ‘Crash and Burn’’
Rumors have been flying around for the past year Ford is cooking up another special edition Mustang for 2009 and some have said it could be a 2009 Mach I or a BOSS Mustang. Well those rumors have just been fueled even more with the discovery that Ford is searching for the red Mach 1 coupe used in the 1971 James Bond Movie ‘Diamonds are Forever’. Could we see a James Bond 007 limited edition Mach 1 in 2009, your guess is as good as mine but I doubt it seriously, the James Bond part. I do expect to see a 2009 Mach I given all the inside sources reporting their will be, you can almost look on any Mustang message board and find somebody who has talked to someone inside Ford saying their will be a 2009 Mach I. My guess is there will probably be one but until we see evidence it’s all just rumors at this point.
It has been a busy month for Shelby Licensing as they have terminated Unique Performance’s license and now they are basically doing the same with Shelby American Automobile Clubs (SAAC) license. Their license to operate as a Shelby sanctioned club runs out on January 31st, of 2008 and Shelby has announced he will not be renewing it for unknown reasons. Not only is Shelby not renewing the license but SAAC has also been served with a letter from the Law offices of Neil Cummings & Associates on Shelby’s behalf to return all documents, materials, registry information, financial statements and merchandise to him.
It seems like a coincidence this is all coming down as Shelby Autos just announced thier own new club called Team Shelby last week in partnership with the owners of BlueOvalNews.com.
To me it’s just basic business, Shelby or his staff finally realized the profits they could be making or the profits SAAC was making (probably not much) was more then what they were getting from the licensing agreement and decided to be the big business bully. Another shady thing Shelby recently did was to Register the trademark “SAAC” on November 16, 2007 as all this was going down. I am a little surpised that SAAC did not register the trademark. Continue reading ‘Shelby Not Renewing SAAC’s License, Wants All Paperwork, Registry & Merchandise Returned’
A former employee of Unique Performance posted up his thoughts or shall I say his rant on a previous post of “Shelby Severing Ties” to let everybody know the real story through his eyes on why the company is where it is. Usually comments to any specific post get pushed under the covers so to speak but I thought this comment was quite interesting so I decided to post it up to share with everybody. The former employee does make some rather engaging talking points with his bold accusations about Doug Hasty and the company he founded. Give it a read after the jump, it’s quite lengthy… Continue reading ‘Ex-Employee of Unique Performance Tells All’
This story came out a few days ago about Unique Performance being raided by local police but I have been under the weather so I did not get to write about.
Well it all went down on Tuesday of this week when police raided Unique Performance in Farmers Branch, Texas and confiscated more than 61 vehicles as part of their criminal investigation into what police are alleging as Title-Washing.
According to police Unique Performance has been altering vehicle identification numbers (VIN’s) on the Shelby continuation vehicles they have been building. How it goes is Unique would buy 1960’s Mustangs that were pretty much dead to the world with “salvage titles” meaning the car is a total loss and not road worthy. Unique was also buying 1960’s Mustangs in good condition with titles that were perfect. The police are alleging in order to hide the salvage status Unique swapped VIN’s from similar model cars that didn’t have salvage titles to the cars with good titles thus keeping the car in good standing and selling them as Shelby continuation vehicles.
What the police are alleging just does not make sense to me, why would Unique start with a “salvage” titled vehicle frame instead of one that was in good standing condition which they also were buying. Also why would they swap a VIN from a “non-salvaged” titled vehicle to one that was salvaged thus leaving the car in good condition with no title. Makes no sense to me, maybe I am missing something or my thinking is off. Continue reading ‘Unique Performance’s Alleged Title Washing Is Fishy!’
There is not much I can say about Mustang sales you probably already don’t know as the photo above tells the whole story. With the monthly decline of Mustangs sales Ford is probably wishing the redesign comes sooner then later.
Sales of Mustangs for October of this year were 9,156 compared to 11,786 from October of the previous year showing a 22.3% drop in sales. Year to date sales for 2007 Mustangs are 118,959 compared to 145,055 for the ten months of last year, a 18% drop.
When you get to Carroll Shelby’s age life should be worry free and full of golf, fishing or just lounging around. Instead Mr. Shelby among others have found themselves smack dab in the middle of another lawsuit relating to the use of the name “Eleanor” from the movie “Gone In Sixty Seconds”.
The lawsuit names Carroll Shelby, Carroll Shelby International , Carroll Shelby Licensing, Carroll Shelby Engineering Inc, Carroll Shelby Motors Inc, Carroll Shelby Distribution Int. Inc, Carroll Hall Shelby Trust, Unique Motorcars Inc., Unique Performance Inc. and Sanderson Sales & Marketing as Defendants.
The lawsuit was filed October 22nd by Denice Halicki, the widow of H.B. “Toby” Halicki, who wrote, directed and starred in the original “Gone In Sixty Seconds” film in 1974. Toby created the character “Eleanor” in the original movie and his widow licensed it to Disney in 2000 for the remake. Denice Halicki is claiming gross trademark infringement on the name “Eleanor” which Toby Halicki created for the original movie. Continue reading ‘Shelby & Others Involved In Lawsuit About “Eleanor” Mustang Name’
From a distance this 1967 Mustang looks like your typical classic restomod until you take a closer look and notice it’s nothing short of modern technology at it’s finest. This 1967 Mustang dubbed ‘Flashback’ was the brainchild of George Huisman, owner of Classic Design Concepts. This Mustang is one of two 67′ Mustangs CDC is building for the SEMA show in Las Vegas this year as part of their Boomed! campaign to connect with baby boomers who are looking to rejuvenate the past.
The Flashback Mustang is painted in a metal flake Pearl Blue and is completely new from the ground up starting with a dynacorn Ford authorized body shell. The front fascia gets a custom CDC redesign with functional brake ducts, fog light package and bright mesh grille. Not to be outdone is the rear fascia with opening for twin dual 2 7/8″ exhaust tips highlighting the 2 ½” dual exhaust, functional lower side vents, molded scalloped upper sail panels, taillights with integrated reverse lights and Flashback badging. Other standard equipment on this Flashback Mustang include high capacity cooling system, external oil filter system, stainless steel brake, fuel and coolant lines, a Ford 9″ rear end, substantle increased head and leag room, power windows & locks and power driver seat, electronic air condition, custom gauge package to name a few.
Powering the Flashback Mustang will be a 600 horsepower 5.4 liter Supercharged V8 mated to a 6 speed Tremec transmission.
