Sorry its so long, but I typed this up for our local Mustang club newsletter and figured Id share here.
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For as long as I have been going to Vegas I have wanted to make it out to the Shelby American plant and take a tour. Being a long time Mustang enthusiast nothing stirs more emotion than visiting one of the flagship companies in the Mustang’s storied life. One reason or another came up every time I was in Vegas for the past 6 years but this time I was bent on seeing the plant and taking the tour.
My wife Nicole and I made a last minute reservation with Hertz and piled into the Explorer they provided and blasted out on i15 for the 20 or so minute trip north towards the raceway. I’m sure there was a better way into the Shelby plant but we ended up on the East side of the racetrack driving across the entire sprawling complex to Shelby. The up side to this though was driving past a holding lot where hundreds upon hundreds of Mustang GT’s sat tucked several blocks away from Shelby American just waiting to be turned into the hot little Shelby GT. My excitement built as we finally got to the front doors, 5 minutes to spare before the free 10:30am plant tour. This gave us a moment to look around the small showroom in the front by the gift shop where a dozen or so Shelby’s of various types, Cobra’s, Mustangs and even a GT sat with placards describing their make or importance.
An older fellow came out and gathered together the crowd of 25 or so people (larger than I expected) and started the tour describing in more intimate detail the various cars in the showroom, many being even rarer than their placard would suggest. Some were racers campaigned by Carroll himself. Others were the first or only car of a certain model made. One on display which wow’s is a classic Cobra with its aluminum body polished into a magnificent shine. The thousands of man hours required to keep the car in this condition is incredible; they don’t clear coat it he says because it would turn from a bright sheen into a yellowy mess before long.
After observing and taking in some stories on the classic muscle we proceeded into the back, first stop was the Cobra line where two or three new Cobras sat on stands in various states of build. The Cobra line it seems is a special one for those that work at Shelby. Only a half dozen or so master techs get the opportunity to work on this line, you have to know what you’re doing to work in there. We heard more fascinating stories about how the Cobras are made and where supplies are sourced from, interesting stuff to be sure. Next up was the main plant floor where current Shelby’s are made. Previous to the current Shelby GT run the Shelby Hertz Mustangs were built in here and due to the immense increase in numbers for the Shelby GT they had to completely reorganize the plant floor, rearranging and adding lifts all over the place. Despite this change and increase in density the whole place looked highly organized though no robotic equipment to speak of was on hand. All the work done is done by hand on lifts and usually no more than two people work on a Shelby GT at any given moment, allowing them to keep quality control in check and isolate problem work stations or workers quickly.
We were in for a treat today too, one of Shelby’s chief engine builders brought out one of their new big block crate motors. He explained they were special engines that they have been developing that vary from 400 to 800HP with a supercharger and can have any configuration you can imagine. Today we got to see one of these engines in 600HP form fired up for us on a portable engine rack. The sound was incredible, you could tell this motor was packed with power but it idled and ran as smooth as any mild motor I’ve seen in tamer cars. He went on to explain that their top end package makes enough power it would cause the portable cart to actually start moving on its own, that’s some impressive horses!
Before the tour ended we were introduced to Steve Navarro who I had time to chat with in the showroom later. Steve is an interesting fellow, he’s only been with Shelby American for 8 months yet he has risen through the company in record fashion. A Master ASE Steve started off working on the Hertz build and after that project was over was promoted to the Cobra line. An honour he said, but after a short while on there the dealings of Ford and Shelby took another turn for the better and the Shelby GT was announced, Steve was essentially put in charge of that line. So Steve does a lot of the press, dealings, big ideas and the like now. It’s really interesting work and more interesting is that Steve doesn’t appear to be over 30, perhaps a good thing to breathe life into the auto industry again. Aside from his work as a right hand man to Shelby’s President Amy Boylan he also takes the cars to demos, talks to magazines and is helping develop and promote all the cool advancements in the Shelby GT product line.
The Shelby GT isn’t officially available in Canada (a shame to be sure) but those that are lucky enough to be able to order one can now get their VIN from their dealer and take that to Shelby’s website. With the VIN entered into a personal account they can see where in the Shelby American plant their car is. So if it’s in suspension or body mod’s or some other station they can pull up that info and also pull up a web cam and watch their car being worked on live over the internet, too cool for any enthusiast! Steve was also proud to say that come March of this year Shelby will also have a modification shop open so you can bring your GT500 or Shelby down and get mod’s done right at the plant. Even better, if you have a Shelby GT on deck to be built you can add custom Shelby parts at the time it is being built at the Shelby plant. If you want a Shelby supercharger, done, different wheels, hood etc., all purchasable online so your custom Shelby GT is just that, truly customized and built all in Shelby American’s facilities.
After chatting for a while with Steve I took the opportunity to snap a few more shots of cars I’d missed including Carroll’s own Shelby CS6 Mustang and before I left toured the gift shop. Proof positive that this was a great tour and fun experience, even my wife who generally has no interest in classic cars or car shows really enjoyed the tour and chat with Steve. There is a lot more to see and learn here, I could keep going on and on but I don’t want to ruin any of the trip for those of you that want to check it out. If you’re ever in Vegas or are planning a road trip, put the Shelby plant on your route, it’s definitely worth the stop!
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For as long as I have been going to Vegas I have wanted to make it out to the Shelby American plant and take a tour. Being a long time Mustang enthusiast nothing stirs more emotion than visiting one of the flagship companies in the Mustang’s storied life. One reason or another came up every time I was in Vegas for the past 6 years but this time I was bent on seeing the plant and taking the tour.
My wife Nicole and I made a last minute reservation with Hertz and piled into the Explorer they provided and blasted out on i15 for the 20 or so minute trip north towards the raceway. I’m sure there was a better way into the Shelby plant but we ended up on the East side of the racetrack driving across the entire sprawling complex to Shelby. The up side to this though was driving past a holding lot where hundreds upon hundreds of Mustang GT’s sat tucked several blocks away from Shelby American just waiting to be turned into the hot little Shelby GT. My excitement built as we finally got to the front doors, 5 minutes to spare before the free 10:30am plant tour. This gave us a moment to look around the small showroom in the front by the gift shop where a dozen or so Shelby’s of various types, Cobra’s, Mustangs and even a GT sat with placards describing their make or importance.
An older fellow came out and gathered together the crowd of 25 or so people (larger than I expected) and started the tour describing in more intimate detail the various cars in the showroom, many being even rarer than their placard would suggest. Some were racers campaigned by Carroll himself. Others were the first or only car of a certain model made. One on display which wow’s is a classic Cobra with its aluminum body polished into a magnificent shine. The thousands of man hours required to keep the car in this condition is incredible; they don’t clear coat it he says because it would turn from a bright sheen into a yellowy mess before long.
After observing and taking in some stories on the classic muscle we proceeded into the back, first stop was the Cobra line where two or three new Cobras sat on stands in various states of build. The Cobra line it seems is a special one for those that work at Shelby. Only a half dozen or so master techs get the opportunity to work on this line, you have to know what you’re doing to work in there. We heard more fascinating stories about how the Cobras are made and where supplies are sourced from, interesting stuff to be sure. Next up was the main plant floor where current Shelby’s are made. Previous to the current Shelby GT run the Shelby Hertz Mustangs were built in here and due to the immense increase in numbers for the Shelby GT they had to completely reorganize the plant floor, rearranging and adding lifts all over the place. Despite this change and increase in density the whole place looked highly organized though no robotic equipment to speak of was on hand. All the work done is done by hand on lifts and usually no more than two people work on a Shelby GT at any given moment, allowing them to keep quality control in check and isolate problem work stations or workers quickly.
We were in for a treat today too, one of Shelby’s chief engine builders brought out one of their new big block crate motors. He explained they were special engines that they have been developing that vary from 400 to 800HP with a supercharger and can have any configuration you can imagine. Today we got to see one of these engines in 600HP form fired up for us on a portable engine rack. The sound was incredible, you could tell this motor was packed with power but it idled and ran as smooth as any mild motor I’ve seen in tamer cars. He went on to explain that their top end package makes enough power it would cause the portable cart to actually start moving on its own, that’s some impressive horses!
Before the tour ended we were introduced to Steve Navarro who I had time to chat with in the showroom later. Steve is an interesting fellow, he’s only been with Shelby American for 8 months yet he has risen through the company in record fashion. A Master ASE Steve started off working on the Hertz build and after that project was over was promoted to the Cobra line. An honour he said, but after a short while on there the dealings of Ford and Shelby took another turn for the better and the Shelby GT was announced, Steve was essentially put in charge of that line. So Steve does a lot of the press, dealings, big ideas and the like now. It’s really interesting work and more interesting is that Steve doesn’t appear to be over 30, perhaps a good thing to breathe life into the auto industry again. Aside from his work as a right hand man to Shelby’s President Amy Boylan he also takes the cars to demos, talks to magazines and is helping develop and promote all the cool advancements in the Shelby GT product line.
The Shelby GT isn’t officially available in Canada (a shame to be sure) but those that are lucky enough to be able to order one can now get their VIN from their dealer and take that to Shelby’s website. With the VIN entered into a personal account they can see where in the Shelby American plant their car is. So if it’s in suspension or body mod’s or some other station they can pull up that info and also pull up a web cam and watch their car being worked on live over the internet, too cool for any enthusiast! Steve was also proud to say that come March of this year Shelby will also have a modification shop open so you can bring your GT500 or Shelby down and get mod’s done right at the plant. Even better, if you have a Shelby GT on deck to be built you can add custom Shelby parts at the time it is being built at the Shelby plant. If you want a Shelby supercharger, done, different wheels, hood etc., all purchasable online so your custom Shelby GT is just that, truly customized and built all in Shelby American’s facilities.
After chatting for a while with Steve I took the opportunity to snap a few more shots of cars I’d missed including Carroll’s own Shelby CS6 Mustang and before I left toured the gift shop. Proof positive that this was a great tour and fun experience, even my wife who generally has no interest in classic cars or car shows really enjoyed the tour and chat with Steve. There is a lot more to see and learn here, I could keep going on and on but I don’t want to ruin any of the trip for those of you that want to check it out. If you’re ever in Vegas or are planning a road trip, put the Shelby plant on your route, it’s definitely worth the stop!
