Grandson ready to steer, shepherd Texas car legend Carroll Shelby's legacy

Aaron Shelby, grandson of Texas racing legend Carroll Shelby, with his 2015 Shelby GT350 Mustang, the successor to the
first high-performance Mustang that Carroll Shelby built in the mid 1960s.

By Terry Box
Dallas Morning News

8/26/2016 -- At 11, Aaron Shelby got a revealing glimpse of his famous, freewheeling grandfather — the tall Texan in a black cowboy hat.

Carroll Shelby, the one-time East Texas chicken farmer who became an internationally famous race-car driver, was sliding around an empty parking lot in Whittier, Calif., playing with an Omni GLH compact he developed in the '80s for Chrysler.

Beside him was his lanky grandson, belted into the passenger seat of the modified, 175-horsepower car.

"At one point, Carroll stopped and said, 'OK, it's time for you to learn to drive,' " Aaron Shelby recalled recently. "I didn't even know how to shift gears or deal with a clutch. It didn't matter. I learned."

Aaron Shelby, now 44 and an executive vice president of LegacyTexas in Plano, plans to take that same approach in helping to steer his late grandfather's businesses, mainly Shelby International Inc., Shelby American Inc. and Shelby Licensing Inc..

After Carroll Shelby's racing career was cut short by heart problems that led to a transplant, he began developing specialty cars for Ford: the iconic Cobra muscle/sports car beginning in 1963 and the GT350 and GT500 Shelby Mustangs a few years later.

Although production of those cars ended in the late 1960s, the business — now based in Las Vegas — continues to sell high-performance parts and build a few hundred specialty cars a year, such as the 1,000-horsepower Shelby Super Snake Mustang.

But as Aaron Shelby knows all too well, the companies face multiple challenges as they head into in a future where cars may become little more than self-driving appliances.

He joined Shelby International's three-member board in April, determined to get more involved in the businesses that form a big part of his grandfather's legacy.

Shelby, a longtime lover of cars, is the first family member at the company since Carroll's death in Dallas in May 2012.

"To have a family face with the company is really important, I think," said Shelby, who at 6-3 with brown hair resembles his grandfather as a young man. "At least people know that someone from the family is there and watching out for the legacy."

Last weekend, Aaron drove the first Cobra that Carroll built — the original 1962 CSX 2000 — across the block at the RM Sotheby auction in Monterey, where the spare blue roadster garnered a record bid for an American-made car of $12.5 million (before fees).

The proceeds will go to the Shelby Trust.

For more than 10 years, Aaron Shelby, who has a degree in finance, has worked at LegacyTexas. It remains his primary job.

Though he acknowledges that he is more conservative than his hard-charging grandfather, he loves racing and appreciated Carroll's rambling entrepreneurial style.

"He woke up every day with new ideas," Shelby said. "Most didn't succeed. But that never stopped him. He was fearless."

Last year, he bought a new GT350 Shelby Mustang, a high-performance, track-oriented car developed by Ford.

Shelby International has a long-term licensing agreement with Ford for cars like the GT350, and Aaron Shelby has already developed close ties to executives at the automaker.

Shelby and Ford have a relationship that dates back to the '60s, and Aaron will help write the next chapter, said Henry Ford III, marketing manager for Ford Performance.

"We at Ford Motor Co. are just so honored to have the relationship with Shelby and the Shelby family because it symbolizes the American spirit," Ford said. "They are such a part of our fabric in the U.S."

Aaron driving Grandpa's first Cobra across the auction block. He really looks a lot like Grandpa in his youth

Carroll Shelby — known to his grandchildren as Grandpa — never tried to push any of the kids into the auto business, Aaron Shelby said.

"But all my brothers and I gravitated to cars," he said. "For whatever reason, I've gotten more involved."

In fact, he has been working with Bill DenBeste in California, owner of the Shelby Engine Co., on some sort of new product.

"It will shock the industry when it comes out," said DenBeste, a friend of Carroll Shelby who bought the engine company at Shelby's request and supplies premium motors to Shelby customers.

Although Shelby International — the parent company — is publicly held, it is a small "pink-sheet" firm that does not regularly report financial information.

Shelby declined to provide specific financial information about the Shelby companies, citing legal concerns. But he said the company is "profitable and covering expenses."

Joe Conway, CEO of Shelby American and co-CEO of Shelby International, said it is "imperative" to have someone from the family involved in the Shelby businesses.

"Aaron cares a lot about his grandfather's business," Conway said. "You've got to have someone from the next generation to carry you forward."

About 125 people work at the various Shelby companies, which generated revenue last year of more than $25 million, Conway said.

"We're healthier than we have ever been," he said. "But we're still fighting like hell."

The company's first challenge was maintaining the magic of the Shelby name after Carroll Shelby died at 89. "He had charisma bigger than a bear," Conway said. "You can't replace that. So what do you do?"

Persevere, he said.

Last year, the Shelby companies created "300 or so" cars like the Super Snakes and provided bodies and chassis for "80 to 100" so-called continuation Cobras, Aaron Shelby said.

It also built 175 Hertz Mustangs, taking Mustang GTs and hopping them up a little to be like the Hertz Shelby GT350 Mustangs in the '60s, Shelby said.

The bigger obstacle for Shelby may be all the changes roiling the auto industry.

Fifty years ago, when Ford needed a high-profile, high-performance variant of its new Mustang, it turned to Shelby. Today Ford builds its own hot rods.

"It used to be if someone wanted a 500 or 600 horsepower car, you'd say send it to Shelby," Conway said. "Now, you go buy it off a new-car lot."

Moreover, many young people seem indifferent toward cars of any kind, raising major questions about where companies like Shelby will find tomorrow's enthusiasts.

Add to that the big push toward a world where cars drive themselves, and it can be tough to see a future niche for 1,000-horsepower Mustangs.

"It is a concern," Shelby said. "Part of our strategic planning is how do we go beyond that horizon? How do we perpetuate the Shelby name?"

The companies' powerful name remains a "tremendous asset," said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor at Kelley Blue Book.

"The real challenge for them will be in how they leverage that name," DeLorenzo said. "I see mainstream manufacturers stepping away from cars like these in five years or so."

Licensing may be the key, Shelby said, pointing to the Shelby watch on his wrist.

"We find good partner companies that can get us into new segments," Shelby said. "I want to get more involved with the company's strategy — asking what are we going to be doing in two years, in five years?"

If licensing and other initiatives can keep the Shelby name prominent, the company can respond to whatever changes the auto industry throws at it, he said.

"I can't be another Carroll Shelby," Shelby said. "There won't be another. Through my father, I learned to do hard work and learned the value of it, and I can contribute that."