ASKED TO add street cred, Carroll Shelby turned the pretty Ford Mustang into a racing thoroughbred.
Carroll Shelby enjoyed a 60-year career in the automotive spotlight until his death in 2012, aged 89. Along the way, Shelby was a fresh-faced Texan sports car racer, Le Mans-winning driver and team owner, father of the AC Cobra, production-car modifier, chilli-powder chef and louder-than-life character who might put his name to anything, for a fee.
The AC Cobra – a hybrid of British sports car and Detroit V8 – put Carroll Shelby on the map as a production-car creator and developer. But things took a significant step forward when, in August 1964, Ford approached him to bolster its new Mustang’s image with some true performance cred.
Road-going GT350s were already significantly tweaked. The 4.7-litre (289ci) V8 copped better breathing and side-exit exhausts, all helping to raise power from 202kW to a claimed 228kW. A fibreglass bonnet was held down by racer-style pins.
Underneath, Shelby initiated a bunch of race-based suspension mods, including front- and rear-end geometry changes and stiffer suspension components, pretty much straight off the homologation racer.
The 1966 model GT350 gained some concessions to everyday use, adding rear seats and an optional automatic transmission.
Shelby built 562 GT350s in 1965, including the 36 ‘R’ cars and 11 drag cars and prototypes. The 1966 build tally of 2380 cars included a run of 1000 black and gold ‘H’ models, built for the Hertz car rental fleet. A further 3363 GT350 fastbacks were built from 1967 through to the 70s, by which time a big-block GT500 had been introduced, straying from the purity of the ’65 original.
Special K
SHELBY chose the 202kW High Performance K-code variant of the 289 Windsor V8. Alloy ‘Cobra’ rocker covers looked tough, but the real work lay in a high-rise inlet manifold topped by a four-barrel carb, exhaust extractors and a finned alloy sump. The four-speed T10 gearbox drove back to a Detroit Locker LSD.
Fancy Falcon
MUSTANG was basically a humble Falcon underneath, with front coils/wishbones and a leaf-sprung live rear axle. Shelby’s GT350 copped a front suspension tower brace, getting the best from modifications that included quicker steering, Koni dampers and additional rear torque-control arms. Brakes were upgraded to 11-inch front discs and bigger rear drums behind 15×6-inch styled steel wheels.
Sports-minded
Fast and Factual
2. Celluloid hero ‘Eleanor’ of Gone in 60 Seconds fame is a ’67 GT500. We prefer the ’66 GT350 H driven by James Garner (right) in Grand Prix.
3. Block party The GT350 was in good company at its January ’65 launch at Riverside Raceway: Shelby’s big-block Cobra 427 was unveiled the same day.
4. Donor parts Carroll Shelby was one of the US’s longest-living heart transplant recipients (22 years). He also had a kidney transplant in 1996.
5. V8 or bust Shelby was busy in late ’64. Along with racing, his road projects included GT350, Cobra 289 and 427, and Sunbeam Tiger.
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YOU CAN get the September issue of Wheels in fully interactive form on your Android device, receiving the same rich digital experience as Apple users.
Do you use an Android device to read Wheels, and have you been left feeling a little flat with the experience? No more, with the Google Play app moving to the same rich, vibrant, interactive user experience previously available only to Apple users.
An update to the Wheels Australia app on Android devices leaves the days of looking at flat pages behind, and plunges head-first into a fully digital experience packed with in-depth features, interactive content and visually stunning articles, all optimised for reading wherever you happen to be.
Subscribe today and never miss another issue – delivered straight to your Android device. Just go to the Google Play store and search for “Wheels Australia”.
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IN 2009, Australian motoring journalist Rod Easdown lost his licence for a very long time after briefly stretching the legs of a $500,000 Ferrari California.
And yet in 1971, then Wheels staffer Mel Nichols drove at similar speeds for two hours – on the Hume Highway in a Falcon GT-HO.
Reading former editor Peter Robinson’s introduction to Nichols’ classic account of that trip, and then the story itself, Nichols’ HO down the Hume, makes you wonder whether the past is a foreign country indeed.
Today for most of us, high speed for two hours means watching others go quick on TV. Unless it is on Foxtel, where viewer numbers for V8 Supercars races amount to a small fraction of last year’s free-to-air figures. Series CEO James Warburton argued this week that the overall audience for the V8 races has not fallen much at all, in a challenge outlined by a bewildered Peter McKay.
If your interest is less in pace and more in space for the family, check out Byron Mathioudakis’ comparison of five premium mid-size SUVs. The new Land Rover Discovery Sport is driven alongside the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Lexus NX300h and Volvo XC60.
Would you prefer a prestige sedan to a faux 4WD? Then you’ll enjoy Damion Smy’s first-drive assessment of the new Jaguar XF.
And if you are fantasising about a high-speed road blast in a Porsche, here is afirst look and fresh details of the new 911s – all but one of them tipped to be, technically, a turbo.
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An unlikely suspect is coming after the Tesla Model S with sex to match the enviro-sweetener – the Aston Martin Rapide will go electric by 2017.
Unlikely because you’d never think a company that has built its name around a monstrous V12 would dip its toe into meek electric motor world, but times are changing.
Still-fresh Aston CEO, the boisterous Andy Palmer, has said an all-electric Rapide sedan will arrive in the new-generation model in two years with 600kW, a 320km-plus driving range and all-wheel drive.
The former boss of Nissan globally added that the popularity of the Tesla Model S shows that in the premium electric vehicle market, “We haven’t hit the ceiling in terms of price”.
“But I think it’s hard, though not impossible, for them [Tesla] as a relatively new brand to keep pushing up and to go into that super premier area,” he added. Aston has already shown its hand with the DBX electric crossover concept, though it’s not yet clear whether the electric powertrain will make production.
Always keen to have a shot at the competition, a jab from Palmer at Tesla was never far off: “I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife is much more interesting than doing 500 metres in Ludicrous mode.”
A price tag of beyond $400,000 would be expected, more than double the priciest Model S available locally and a step above the current, V12 Rapide S that costs $380K. Apparently the electric Rapide will be built in right-hand drive and will make it to Australia.
Both Taraf and electric Rapide are part of a ‘three-pillar’ strategy that lists a roll-out of six or seven new models by 2020 as part of a $1.2 billion investment.
Those three pillars include the traditional sports cars, such as the DB9, Vantage and Vanquish, new models such as the proposed electric Rapide and DBX crossover, and ultra-exclusive (and expensive) limited editions like the Lagonda and Vulcan track-only hypercar.
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Name some outstanding pop culture cars – Batman’s Tumbler Batmobile, Back to the Future’s DeLorean and maybe even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang if you’re old enough?
Now picture an iconic car driven by a woman. Stumped? Screenwriter Callie Khouri once said: “I just got fed up with the passive role of women. They were never driving the story, because they were never driving the car.” So she put Thelma and Louise in a green 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible and made history.
In celebration of pop culture femmes controlling a vehicle instead of decorating it, here are 10 iconic cars and equally iconic gals that have graced the silver screen. How many more can you find?
PENELOPE PITSTOP’S ‘COMPACT PUSSYCAT’
Penelope Pitstop zoomed onto TV screens in 1969 as the glamour gal of the gas pedal in the Wacky Races cartoon. Character and car were whipped up in less than two hours after producers demanded a female competitor. Pitstop wore lolly pink with natty white go-go boots and fought competitors with weaponry fetched from a beauty salon. Pitstop’s car had a ‘vibrate’ setting for special occasions. Current equivalent: The six-setting massage seats of the Mercedes S-class, but it doesn’t come in pink.
DANICA PATRICK’S #10 CHEVROLET SS
Patrick has copped some flak for her sexy GoDaddy ads, but there’s no mistaking her talent on the track. She’s ditched GoDaddy, but she’s still the most recognised female in car racing by the average punter. She says: “I was very against pink and purple when I was young because they were girl colours. But that was only because I didn’t want people to write me off for what I can do. When I got into my 20s, I decided that was stupid.” Current equivalent: Holden VF Commodore SS-V Redline in Jungle Green.
CATWOMAN’S ‘KITTY CAR’
In the mid-60s Eartha Kitt purrfectly spiced up the small screen as Catwoman, and her campy ride was the Kitty Car. A 1956 Citroen DS chassis running a Chevrolet Corvair engine, Kitty Car was adorned with eyes, ears and a tail in a curious shade of green. Designed by Gene Winfield, who also designed the vehicles in Blade Runner, Kitty Car began life as the Reactor Mach II in the original Star Trek series. Current equivalent: Mazda MX-5 because of its saucy open top and feline face.
DAISY DUKE’S CJ-7 JEEP: ‘THE DIXIE’
Daisy’s original car – a yellow 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner – was driven over a cliff while in pursuit (not by Daisy). Her replacement Jeep with an eagle on the bonnet and “Dixie” on the doors (until the doors were removed) featured on Dukes of Hazard throughout the 80s. Current equivalent: Jeep Wrangler.
TANK GIRL’S TANK
Tank Girl was created in the late 80s by artist Jamie Hewlett, who then went on to co-create English band Gorillaz. As you probably guessed, the shows potty-mouthed psychopathic hero drives – and lives – in a tank and wreaks havoc on the world. Hence the tagline: “She’ll break your back and your balls”. Loaded with guns and kitted out with mod-cons, the tank is a cobbled smorgasbord of salvaged junk. Current equivalent: Toyota’s FJ Cruiser.
BLACK WIDOW’S CORVETTE
Who stole the show in Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Captain America or Black Widow? Rocking up in her unmodified black-on-black 2014 Corvette Stingray, Scarlett Johansen is the boss in what she calls her “sweet ride”. Current equivalent: Jaguar F-Type R in all black.
THE BRIDE, BEYONCE AND THE ‘PUSSY WAGON’
Uma Thurman’s Bride steals the Pussy Wagon, a hotted-up 1997 Chevrolet 2500 Silverado Fleetside with custom paintwork, in Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Quentin Tarantino later loaned the wagon to Lady Gaga and she and Beyonce brought it back to life in their epic 2010 “Telephone” music video. The Pussy Wagon may be the first movie car to appear in two iconic films and be driven hard by leading pop culture divas. Current equivalent: Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo ute for power and pizazz.
DITA VON TEESE’S 1937 PACKARD
Burlesque star Dita Von Teese once said that she would surround herself with only products and objects from 1947. That didn’t last. Until recently this 1937 Packard in French Blue was her favourite drive because it was “easier, smoother, faster… the car that gangsters drove”. Current equivalent: Chrysler 300 SRT.
NICKI MINAJ’S PINK AVENTADOR
When launching her clothing range in 2013, Minaj arrived in a matte zinc-pink Aventador with matching custom-forged Forgiato wheels. It’s not her only pink vehicle; she has a matching pink Bentley and Range Rover. That’s rock ’n’ roll! Current equivalent: Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4.
FURIOSA DRIVING THE WAR RIG
What a vision! Designer Colin Gibson fused a Czech Tatra truck with a 40s Chevy Fleetmaster to create an 18-wheeled monster sporting a fuel tank, fuel pod, and VW Beetle and truck cabin “forts” to protect gunners. Even the skull steering wheel can’t out-fierce Furiosa. Current equivalent: Does not exist!
It’s not long until the Goodwood Revival is upon us, an event where some of the world’s greatest drivers drive some of the world’s most amazing historic race cars flat out.
Despite price tags more commonly associated with harbourside Sydney real estate, once the helmets go on more often than not the red mist takes over and soon million-dollar panels are being rubbed.
With plenty of horsepower and period tyres, the racing is brilliant, with cars sliding about and laying rubber in a way modern cars can’t.
To give you an idea of how hard the drivers are working, check out ex-F1 driver Giedo van der Garde testing in the rain in a Shelby Cobra.
Wheelspin is available in every gear and at any speed and it looks to be a struggle merely keeping the iconic V8 roadster in something resembling a straight line.
That said, it’s not quite as wild as former Indycar driver Kenny Brack’s effort in a Ford GT40 a couple of years ago, which must go down as one of the best bits of incar footage ever recorded. Crazy Swede.
The Goodwood Revival takes place from September 11-13.
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Having spent many years with its head stuck in the sand, 2015 marks the year Formula One finally embraced social media and the digital age.
Despite Bernie Ecclestone’s infamous comments that “he didn’t see the point” in social media, F1 has now gone digital in a big way, starting up Twitter and YouTube accounts and posting masses of great content from today and years gone past.
(Note: just as we give them this praise, we find FOM has banned the use of embedded videos on website. Simply click the link and you’ll be taken to the video in one second.)
One of its more interesting uploads was the Top 5 overtakes from the last five years (2011-2015) as voted for by F1 fans in a Twitter poll.
Many big names are represented, including Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonnen and our own Mark Webber, who we’re pleased to say takes the number one spot!
In our opinion it’s a pretty good list, bar the fact number four and number one are very similar – what would have made your top 5?
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The Citroen C4 five-door hatch gets a mid-life facelift, introducing a brilliant Puretech three-cylinder petrol turbo engine and six-speed automatic transmission.
WHAT IS IT? A slightly up-spec European alternative to more mainstream small hatchbacks. A front-drive five-door, it enjoys a devoted following among Francophiles for its ride quality and cruising comfort.
WHY WE’RE TESTING IT It’s been fitted with a turbocharged version of PSA’s acclaimed 1.2-litre, three-cylinder PureTech engine, mated to a six-speed Aisin transmission. Citroen is so happy with the donk, it’s become the sole powertrain, superseding four-cylinder petrol and diesel. Besides that, there are minor interior and exterior changes.
MAIN RIVALS Peugeot 308, Ford Focus, Mazda 3, Volswagen Golf, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30
THE WHEELS VERDICT We’ve dubbed the Citroen C4 plain vanilla before and it’s still true, although the new powertrain, reduced weight and nicer interior all help bring a little more flavour (and frugality) to the fare. Practicality and long-distance comfort will resonate with converted Citroenisti, but most others will simply wonder: pour quoi?
PLUS: Ride, great engine and transmission, quiet cabin, front seating, visibility, huge boot MINUS: Bland inside and out, flat rear bench, compromised rear headroom
THE WHEELS REVIEW IT IS NO LONGER all that obvious to me why people buy French cars. I guess they are cheaper than German cars, while still having some (western) European cachet. But it’s been a long time since we assumed French quality to be much superior to that of mainstream makes, and French cars have had too many sales suicides to continue striving for quirkiness and character.
The 1.2-litre petrol Puretech three-cylinder engine produces 96kW and 230Nm and, Citroen says, is a staggering 105kg lighter than the four-cylinder petrol it replaces (and 125kg lighter than the diesel). No less significant is the six-speed auto tranny, standard fit across the range, which gives the C4 more gears than ever before.
In hand with engine stop-start, and with kerb weights now trimmed by up to 125kg, the new turbo triple slashes average fuel consumption to a diesel-duelling 4.8 L/100km.
Turbo PureTech
PSA Group’s Turbo PureTech three-cylinder engine has just been named the 2015 International Engine of the Year. Compared with the atmo PureTech of 2012, the turbo features a steel crankshaft, high-performance steel conrods, heat-treated block, reinforced cylinder head, sodium-filled valves and a 240,000rpm turbo. Max torque of 230Nm is electronically flattened from 1400-4400rpm.
SPECS
Model: Citroen C4 Exclusive Engine: 1199cc 3cyl, dohc, 12v, turbo petrol Max power: 96kW @ 5500rpm Max torque: 230Nm @ 1750rpm Transmission: 6-speed automatic Weight: 1240kg 0-100km/h: 11.4sec (claimed) Fuel economy: 4.9 L/100km Price: $33,990 On sale: Now
JAGUAR is believed to be developing another SUV to complement the mid-sized F-Pace, which is headed for a production debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.
Dubbed the Jaguar E-Pace, it would be a baby SUV aimed directly at the booming luxury compact crossover class inhabited by the Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes GLA and GLC, and the Lexus NX.
The speculative rendering above shows a clear similarity with the F-Pace, which surfaced as the C-X17 concept at the 2013 Frankfurt show. Count on seeing a similar teaser strategy from sometime next year – perhaps at the 2016 Paris show.
Otherwise, details remain pretty sketchy, especially as Jaguar will neither confirm nor deny that the E-Pace exists.
Jaguar’s head of design, Ian Callum, was not willing to speak of such a model when probed by Wheels, even though reportedly he had suggested at the New York motor show that a smaller E-Pace SUV would be more likely than a seven-seat J-Pace.
“I can’t possibly talk about that,” was his blunt response at the recent 2016 Jaguar XF launch. His declining to offer a flat denial will not dampen speculation.
There are conflicting theories about what platform a cub SUV from the Coventry marque would ride on. Some say that it will be a premium product based on Jaguar’s new iQ[Al] rear-drive/all-wheel drive modular architecture that serves the new Jaguar XE (a BMW 3 Series competitor), the second-generation XF (BMW 5 Series sized) and – most tellingly – the F-Pace (a rival for the BMW X5).
However, other sources reckon that the new Land Rover Discovery Sport’s D8 platform will underpin the E-Pace.
With even the 2016 BMW X1 switching to a front-drive base (BMW’s UKL platform, shared with the F56 Mini and 2 Series Active Tourer), the latter alternative is shaping as the more economically viable for taking on Munich, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, and Tokyo – for its superior packaging and lower cost.
Wearing the Jaguar badge probably means the baby SUV will wear at least some aluminium body panels, keeping weight down, so that the anticipated engine line-up shouldn’t struggle. The engines would be Jaguar/Land Rover’s all-new Ingenium direct-injection turbo four-pot petrol and diesel units, of about 2.0-litres capacity. Count on six-speed manual and nine-speed automatic transmissions.
Finally – and perhaps most controversially – speculation suggests that Austria rather than the UK will be the E-Pace’s manufacturing base, thanks to an arrangement Jaguar Land Rover has with Magna Steyr.
Where ever it hails from, expect the pricing to kick off from about $60,000 if sales start in 2018 or 2019 as predicted, topping out at well over $100,000 for the projected supercharged V6 versions.
Have spy pics of your own? We’d love to see them. Just email them to [email protected]
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If you need convincing people have too much money, you only need look at this year’s RM Sotheby’s Monterey auctions.
Monterey Car Week saw three days’ worth of cars go under the hammer in California last weekend and US$172.7m worth of metal sold for the auction house.
Of almost four hundred lots, 35 cars achieved million-dollar-plus price tags, but it’s what an anonymous collector received for their stunning ‘Pinnacle Portfolio’ car collection that shocked us.
With only 24 cars the Pinnacle Portfolio emptied US$75.4m from bidder’s pockets, or $103.4m Australian – a record auction amount for one vendor.
That means even though the Pinnacle Portfolio made up 6.6 per cent of the total car count, it accounted for more than 43.7 per cent of sale values.
What made this collection so stunningly expensive? Here are six jaw-dropping explanations…
And the rest of the Pinnacle Portfolio…
1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione by Scaglietti, undisclosed
1994 Ferrari F40 LM, $3,300,000
1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 by Scaglietti, $3,300,000
1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti, $2,750,000
1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV by Bertone, $2,475,000
1985 Ferrari 288 GTO, $2,420,000
2012 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport “300”, $2,310,000
2005 Maserati MC12, $2,090,000
1995 Ferrari F50, $1,980,000
2006 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 “001”, $1,815,000
2008 Lamborghini Reventón, $1,375,000
1988 Porsche 959 ‘Komfort’, $1,210,000
2008 Koenigsegg CCXR, $825,000
1967 Toyota 2000GT, $825,000
2005 Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, $682,000
1996 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8, $550,000
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, $495,000
1993 Jaguar XJ220,$462,000
1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS,$368,500
1956 Porsche 356 A 1600 Speedster by Reutter, $330,000
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