GLHS receives Kudos from a heavy hitter.

[ForzaV12]

Decided to attend the Cars&Coffee show this morning at the Ford Premier Auto building in socal. For those unfamiliar with it, it usually features 200-440 cars that can include factory prototypes, one-offs, exotics, muscle, euros, hot rods, etc.
My '86 GLHS was closest to the street and I figured that if it would start(haven't touched it in a few months), I'd go to the show. Sure enough, fired right up and off I went. From the instant I pulled in the lot, the car was attracting an unusual amount of attention. Everytime I looked over at it, there were people peering in or taking pictures of it. Weird, as there were tons of more "worthy" cars, including a Mosler, Carrera GT, Jag XKSS, Ferraris, a Hemi Cuda and even a Tucker Torpedo!
When I went to leave, it must have taken 20 minutes to get out of the lot, as people keep wanting to talk about the car. The icing on the cake, however, was just as I was exiting the lot, John Clinard waved at me and said, That car is Awesome!!!, Thanks for coming.
Now, understand that Mr.Clinard is a very prominent designer, one of the founders of the show and owns a number of top drawer classics, including a concours convertible 50s Ferrari worth about 600 GLHS's.


http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5791/candcomni.th.png (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=candcomni.png)

[turbovanman²]

Hahhaaa, that's awesome, :hail::hail:

Must have puffed your chest out a bit, :nod:

[BadAssPerformance]

Aesome story Forza! Way to represent the Shelby Dodges! :clap:

[blk86trbo]

That's really cool...you've officially made me reconsider the thoughts I've recently had about selling my 87 GLHS

[zin]

Nice to hear those "in the know" have appropriate respect for the car and what it represents! :thumb:

Mike

[GLHNSLHT2]

What's with the Bunny Rabbit stickers? You do that for easter?

[omni_840]

What's with the Bunny Rabbit stickers? You do that for easter?

I believe they are from the Shelby meet in Texas.

BTW good to hear the GLHS gettin' some respect:D

[2.216VTurbo]

I introduced the S to a couple guys that I went to the show with this morning. Danny considers himself a car guy (most of his experience is with his wallet but he does own a body shop and is gonna paint the Rampage for me:clap:) but had never heard of a GLHS. It took me 4-5 minutes to tell the Shelby Dodge story to him, not sure he's totally sold on them but you can't win everyone over:p There was a crowd of 4-5 admirers around the S while I was there talking about it:eyebrows: Great story Forza:amen:

[butchsuppe]

So what the hell is in the coffee at that show ?:D

[johnl]

I't simple, a person with a sense of what cars are significant opined on the 86 GLHS. That occurence is not a coincidence really as Steve has a similar sense of what cars are significant and that is why he owns an 86 GLHS, along with . . . . . . . ..

[Marcus86GLHS]

great story, but we need some pix of your car mixed with the others at this show to go along w/ it.

[GLHNSLHT2]

http://www.cncpics.com/main.php

[168glhs1986]

Great story. Now aren't you glad you took the GLHS instead of the Ferrari

[ForzaV12]

Hahhaaa, that's awesome, :hail::hail:

Must have puffed your chest out a bit, :nod:

Yeah, it did although still kind of strange considering the other cars at the meet. I didn't realize that many people still were familiar or gave a damn about these goofy things.


That's really cool...you've officially made me reconsider the thoughts I've recently had about selling my 87 GLHS

Every time one of the TDs annoys me, I think about dumping them. Then something happens like a show, a mountain drive or a track day and I remember why I keep them around.


What's with the Bunny Rabbit stickers? You do that for easter?

Terlingua Racing Team-Shelby and his merry men put it together in the 60s as a lark, won a few championships, the rabbit achieved cult status, reintroduced in modern times with the arrival of the Terlingua Mustang, etc. A cool story with lots of history, participation by the icons of the sport and a little irrevrant comedy. Look it up when you get the time.


So what the hell is in the coffee at that show ?:D

Beats me, Butch. Why don't you get your butt out of bed one morning and head down!


I't simple, a person with a sense of what cars are significant opined on the 86 GLHS. That occurence is not a coincidence really as Steve has a similar sense of what cars are significant and that is why he owns an 86 GLHS, along with . . . . . . . ..

You get it , John. The price of a car doesn't always determine its fun factor or significance.


Great story. Now aren't you glad you took the GLHS instead of the Ferrari

Yes, only because I'd have had to move three cars, go through about a 20 minute start/warm-up procedure, car duster it, check the fluids, pressures, etc. GLHS? Open door, turn key, go.

[2.216VTurbo]

Great story. Now aren't you glad you took the GLHS instead of the Ferrari


I haven't heard a qoute that good since 'Dumpster load of fail' Is short, simple, and has teeth. Nice observation 168:lol:

[SpoolinGLH]

What is on the hood and side of the car?

[BadAssPerformance]

What is on the hood and side of the car?

Terlingua Decals :thumb:

http://www.cncpics.com/d/252929-4/IMG_5305.JPG

[ForzaV12]

What is on the hood and side of the car?
From Team Shelby:
Many of the most famous cars in the history of racing have worn Terlingua Racing Team colors - some intentionally, some not. Jerry Titus won the 1967 Trans-Am series behind the wheel of the first “official” Terlingua Racing Team ride. And hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of drivers in all forms of motorsports, from road racing to drag racing and even drifting, have stuck the now-famous yellow and black decal on their own cars.

And then there are the cars that wore Terlingua team colors unwittingly. “One year, Carroll Shelby and I were in Indianapolis,” says automotive artist and longtime racer Bill Neale, who’s one of the founders of the Terlingua Racing Team. “I think this was in’65 or ’66, and Shel’ said, ‘Let’s go down and put one of these decals on every car.’ We got one on every car except one, and that’s the car that won the race.

“So that kind of describes our race team. Over the years, it has operated on frivolity, graft, corruption. and partying.”

It Started with a Town

How did a serious racer like Carroll Shelby come to be associated with a racing team that has been called a “spoof,” among other less flattering things?

It all started with a ranch in southwest Texas. Dave Witts bought the 200,000-plus acre parcel, then he persuaded his ol’ pal Shelby to buy a big chunk of it in the early ’60s. We’re talking about an area that’s rugged, dry, hot, and inhospitable. It was largely uninhabited, and with good reason.

It also happened to be home to a ghost town called Terlingua on the Rio Grande River. During its peak as a mercury mining center, perhaps 5,000 people lived there. It also had played host to three different Indian tribes: the Kiowa, the Apaches, and the Comanches. “That’s how it got its name.” says Neale, “Terlingua means three languages.”

Shelby and Witts got a real kick out of owning their own ghost town, and they soon started tapping friends for membership on the Terlingua City Council and to fill other important civic roles. “I was the director of the Terlingua Museum of Modern Art, which there was none,” says Neale. “It was a two-hole wooden privy over a mine shaft behind the Chisos Saloon, and it had a sign above the door: Terlingua Museum of Modern Art. Shelby was chairman of the social committee. We had a district attorney and a leading TV personality on the council. We had one of the top judges in the state. We gave him a job as office boy.”

These people didn’t just hold honorary positions, either. They went to Terlingua to hang out with Shelby and “let their hair down,” as Neale puts it. Terlingua was a place to party far away from prying eyes. It was a great escape.


Then Came the Chili

Tom Tierney, who handled public relations for Ford, was part of the original group that hung out on the ranch, and he’s the one who came up with the idea of having a Terlingua chili cook-off.

“We started out with the first cook-off in November 1967 and maybe there were 100 people,” says Neale. “And we had 100 cases of beer and 50 cases of Jack Daniels. The next year, we had over 3,000 people, and we didn’t even want to have a second one. The Border Patrol estimates we had close to 15,000 people around 1972. It’s become a big event. People go down every year and make a fool out of themselves. It’s been called an ‘adult Woodstock.’

“Nobody was trying to make any money. It’s just a neat, neat event. We’ve had astronauts attend, U.S. senators, one of our judges two years in a row. We flew him down there, but he had to hold a chimpanzee all the way from Dallas.”

Like everything related to Terlingua, Neale says the chili cook-off is “just an excuse to have a good time.”


Then Came the Logo

Now, Shelby clearly enjoys having a good time as much as anyone else on the planet, but he also wants to do some good. The Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation is a prime example of his philanthropic tendencies today. But they started long ago, as far back as the early Terlingua days, when Shel’ really wanted to build a school there for underprivileged boys. So Neale designed a logo - a coat of arms, actually - for the boys’ school.

He explains the significance of its now iconic symbols: “The rabbit is one of the few things that can live in the Big Bend. Rabbits, panthers, rattlesnakes, and coyotes. The rabbit is holding up his paw to say, ‘Don’t put any more peppers in the chili.’

“There’s three Indian feathers on the logo, and that stands for the three Indian tribes. These tribes were pretty ornery. They would make raids across the river into Mexico and come back and sell whatever they’d been able to steal.

“Of course, it’s got the sun in it because that area gets very hot in the summertime. It’s not unusual for the temperature to get up to 115, 120 degrees.

“And then up in the left-hand corner is the number 1860. Shelby said, ‘What’s 1860 for?’

“And I said, ‘That’s the first year they had a race in Terlingua. It was with the ore wagons, pulling cinnabar, which is what you make mercury out of. They had 18 wheels put on each ore wagon.’

“And he said, ‘Damn, Neale, that’s interesting. Where did you find that information?’

“And I said, ‘I made it up.’”


And Then There Was a Race Team

So first there was the ghost town, then the logo. The idea for a Terlingua Racing Team actually came later. It started with Lee Iacocca, then the head of Ford Motor Company, who asked Shelby to turn the Mustang into a Sports Car Club of America B-production race winner. Shelby and his crew were happy to oblige, creating a competition version of the GT350.

Since every race team needs a logo, Shelby asked Neale to turn that boys’ school coat of arms into the team logo - and so the first decals were printed up.

“Some of the greatest racers in the world competed in Terlingua Shelby Mustangs,” recalls Shelby. “Ken Miles was the first to put the ‘prancing rabbit’ in the winner’s circle when he won the SCCA race at Green Valley Raceway in 1965. Then things really broke loose when he introduced Jerry Titus to the team.”

Titus is likely the most famous official Terlingua racer, and he also drove the first official Terlingua Racing Team car. Not only did he rack up four wins for the team in a Shelby Mustang during the ’67 Trans-Am series, he also nabbed the championship.

Neale says, “Jerry was a bit of a maverick, and Shelby wanted his car to really show up on the grid. So I designed the paint scheme for the first car using the yellow from the logo with a black hood. And Shelby, when he first looked at my design, referred to it as ‘Gawdawful Yellow,’ and it kind of stuck. People still refer to the car as ‘Gawdawful Yellow.’ The combination of outrageous looks and serious performance in a car driven by such a ----y, talented driver made the team very popular.”


Going Underground

“We were a bunch of young hot rodders when we formed the Shelby Terlingua Racing Team,” says Shelby. “Most people think our group disappeared because we took our activities underground when my company stopped building GT350s and GT500s.”

Neale adds, “We loved to race and raced to win. And we’ve continued to quietly compete in events worldwide over the past four decades. Just look around at most motorsports events and you’ll spot Terlingua Racing Team logos. Through the years, new young members have been initiated into the group.” And plenty of drivers who were not affiliated with the Shelby team - other than in spirit - have adorned their cars with the Terlingua logo, too.

While the team was never an official Ford effort, the company didn’t exactly frown on it. Quite the contrary. Says Neale, “Shel’ would slap Terlingua decals on the cars at Le Mans, and [the folks from] Ford would look at ’em and just smile.

“When the publicity first came out on the new Ford GT, the first pictures they released of the red car had a Terlingua logo on it. And people really teased me about it. They said, ‘Neale, how did you get that logo on there?’ And I had nothing to do with it.” Clearly, the folks at Ford understand a little something about nostalgia and mystique.


A Brand-New Car

And here’s the really good news: That new Ford GT won’t be the only late-model offering from the Blue Oval to wear Terlingua team colors. You can look for a whole new Terlingua Mustang coming soon.

“Now that Shelby Autos is working with Ford again to build high-performance cars, it’s time to put the Shelby Terlingua Racing Team back into the spotlight,” says Shelby. “We asked Bill Neale, who was a co-founder of the group, to help us create cars and products for serious young enthusiasts who want both fun and performance.”

While Shelby Automobiles had not officially announced the upcoming production of these Terlingua Mustangs at press time, we were able to learn that these cars will go directly from the Ford assembly plant to Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas, where they’ll “get their indoctrination into Terlingua cars,” as Neale puts it. They will be street cars, but ones that are ready to hit the racetrack. A supercharged 4.6L engine will be available under the hood, and Neale assures us that “Shelby’s insisted on enough horsepower to scare you. I don’t think anything will disappoint any of these guys.”

Neale also designed the paint scheme. The new Terlingua Mustangs will be decked out to look much like the ’67 Trans-Am car. And you’ll have your choice of Gawdawful Yellow with black stripes or black with Gawdawful Yellow stripes.

“The Terlingua Racing Team symbolizes a time when racing was less structured and more pure,” says Amy Boylan, president of Shelby Autos. “It was a poke at the seriousness of racing by some people who had the clout to make such a statement. It’s time to bring that attitude out of the shadows and give the next generation of racers their fair share of the fun.”

In other words, if you’re looking for a vehicle that captures the irreverent lifestyle of what’s been called the “Shelby rat pack,” get ready to grab your checkbook.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1968/terlingua097np4.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=terlingua097np4.jpg)

[GLHNSLHT2]

What's with the Bunny Rabbit stickers? You do that for easter?



Terlingua Racing Team-Shelby and his merry men put it together in the 60s as a lark, won a few championships, the rabbit achieved cult status, reintroduced in modern times with the arrival of the Terlingua Mustang, etc. A cool story with lots of history, participation by the icons of the sport and a little irrevrant comedy. Look it up when you get the time.



What is on the hood and side of the car?

I know the story, was just giving you a hard time about it Forza. Personally, I think the mudstains can have their rabbit. Keeps people thinking the Lbodies are rabbits anyway. Maybe on a 2 door it'd be better.

[ForzaV12]

I know the story, was just giving you a hard time about it Forza. Personally, I think the mudstains can have their rabbit. Keeps people thinking the Lbodies are rabbits anyway. Maybe on a 2 door it'd be better.


To each his own, I guess. I've never been myopically loyal to one marque, so I enjoy, appreciate and respect the Shelby Mustangs as much as anything else.

[butchsuppe]

Man thats a good long story there Steve, that coffee really must be strong.:lol: You're right, I got to check out that cruise soon.

[ForzaV12]

Man thats a good long story there Steve, that coffee really must be strong.:lol: You're right, I got to check out that cruise soon.

Just let me know-coffee and the breakfast burrito are on me:D

[Marcus86GLHS]

great pix, thanx.

[GLHS592]

Every once in a while, I get somebody that goes crazy over my GLHS. When I was moving, I stopped to get some diesel in Murfreesboro. The guy behind the counter came outside when he saw my '87 sitting on the trailer. He was really pumped over seeing a real GLHS.

[shelbydave]

I've seen 2 since they've been out...

[2.216VTurbo]

Every once in a while, I get somebody that goes crazy over my GLHS. When I was moving, I stopped to get some diesel in Murfreesboro. The guy behind the counter came outside when he saw my '87 sitting on the trailer. He was really pumped over seeing a real GLHS.

Isn't there a drag track near there? When I lived in Arkansas with my GLHS, I thought I drove alll the way over to Murfrees' to race one Sunday... So before yours the last GLHS in that town was probably in 1989 ( and red):thumb:

[GLHS592]

Isn't there a drag track near there? When I lived in Arkansas with my GLHS, I thought I drove alll the way over to Murfrees' to race one Sunday... So before yours the last GLHS in that town was probably in 1989 ( and red):thumb:

No dragstrip near M'boro, TN. Actually, there is at least one that's still in that area. He's had it since the mid 90's.

[168glhs1986]

Here is a good article about this car show and John Clinard, enjoy.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=124082

[johnl]

Here is a good article about this car show and John Clinard, enjoy.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=124082

good link

Thaks Forza for the cut and paste, good stuff.

[ForzaV12]

Thanks.

Here's another link to pics. Interestingly, this gentleman is an avid exotic photographer and has gone on record as wanting the show to focus on exotic and significant vehicles. That said, he was obviously interested in the GLHS as he snapped quite a few pics of it. Since the relatively stock S car was such a hit, I think its time for the Mean Green Machine to make an appearance!

http://www.frank4cars.fotki.com/c--c/cars--coffee-42509/

[2.216VTurbo]

MEAN GREEN MEAN GREEN MEAN GREEN!!:eyebrows:

[ForzaV12]

MEAN GREEN MEAN GREEN MEAN GREEN!!:eyebrows:


Bring Radical Red and we'll park side by side for a Christmas theme!

[mcsvt]

I'd still like to make it out for C&C some time.