Inarguably one of the best-known Shelby Series 1s, the example offered here continued a rich tradition in American publishing, that of awarding a new automobile to the winner of one of the men’s magazine world’s most prestigious annual competitions. It was delivered new to the famed swimsuit model Karen McDougal as part of her prize package for winning Playboy magazine’s Playmate of the Year for 1998.
Playboy’s description of Ms. McDougal as a car enthusiast does not seem to have been mere hype. In 2003 she corresponded with Shelby American regarding the personalization of the car to her taste, including the installation of a polished supercharger, upgraded clutch, four-piston brakes, fresh-air brake-duct system, custom polished cat-back exhaust and HPC headers, bespoke leather interior with additional carbon-fiber trim, and “ghost”-painted Centennial Silver racing stripes. All told, the updates to the car totaled over $60,000, as documented by paperwork in the file, and make it one of the most unique Series 1s in existence.
The car was acquired by the current owner, an avid Shelby enthusiast, in the spring of 2010 and has been well-preserved within his collection, with 5,670 miles recorded at the time of cataloging, and its finishes still in very good original condition throughout. A genuinely unique Series 1 with fascinating provenance, it has a wonderful story to tell, and remains a beautiful machine centerfold, one might say.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1999 Shelby Series 1 |
| Years Produced: | 1999 |
| Number Produced: | 249 |
| Club Info: | Shelby American Automobile Club |
| Website: | http://www.saac.com |
| Alternatives: | 1992–95 Dodge Viper, 2000–07 Panoz Esperante, 2024 Shelby CSX Heritage Cobra |
This car, Lot 180, sold for $112,000, including buyer’s premium, at RM Sotheby’s Phoenix, AZ, sale on January 25, 2024.
Apple pie aspires to be as American as Carroll Shelby. The chicken-farmer-turned-automotive-icon trained pilots in the military during World War II before winning Le Mans as a driver and later as a team manager. He collaborated on automotive projects with each of the “Big Three” American manufacturers and had his name on everything from Texas chili to deodorant for “real men.” The archetypical Texas tycoon, he had a nose for money and a taste for petroleum.
Of course, Shelby is most famous for combining American Ford V8s with English AC Ace roadsters and rechristening them Cobras. The project was supported by Ford, with its desire to go head-to-head with Chevy’s Corvette. That success led to Ford giving Shelby a 90% completed GT race car, the GT40, with the directive of finishing the car and winning races — both of which he did. The same marching orders were given with the delivery of Mustangs, but by 1970, his relationship with Ford had ended, and it appeared to be his exit from the auto world.
Nearly 12 years later, however, Shelby’s old Ford buddy, Lee Iacocca, was running Chrysler and needed help with the company’s performance image. This led to the development of tuned front-wheel-drive cars that were more marketing than muscle. It paid the bills and kept the Shelby name in car magazines, but Carroll still wanted to build his own car.
A long shot
Shelby’s opportunity to build a car from the ground up was similar to the Cobra’s original raison d’etre. In an effort to inject some life into a whithering Oldsmobile brand, General Motors was running the Aurora DOHC V8 engine in the Indy Racing League. But GM also wanted a connection to road cars, other than its front-wheel-drive sedan. In 1996, Oldsmobile gave Shelby a million dollars to build two prototypes to be shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 1997, then again in April at the annual Oldsmobile dealers’ meeting in Las Vegas.
Carroll’s plan for what would become the Series 1 tried to capture the spirit of the Cobra without simply rehashing what had already been done. He looked around and saw Ferraris and Corvettes that weighed over 3,000 pounds. The Series 1 had a target goal of 2,650 pounds, using an aluminum monocoque chassis and carbon-fiber body panels. The suspension would use inboard-mounted coil-overs, and Shelby would stuff the biggest tires and wheels possible underneath it to hit a target of 1g on the skid pad. All of this was to be made available to 500 lucky customers for the bargain price of $80,000 — roughly two-thirds the price of a contemporary Ferrari but still twice that of the C5 Corvette.
Reality bites
Things started strong for the the Series 1. Peter Bryant, the racing engineer responsible for other famous Shelby cars, came back to helm the design. The two prototypes were finished on time and were well received by fans — and more importantly, at the Oldsmobile dealers’ meeting. Shelby managed to get 16 dealers to pony up $50,000 each to reserve cars. The design was largely finished, on paper at least, and the project was moved to the new Shelby American facility at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
As the saying goes, problems ensued. The aluminum chassis used tubes and extrusions that were strengthened by sandwich structures bonded into the open spaces. It resulted in a chassis with a torsional rigidity of 12,000 lb-ft per degree of deflection, making it one of the stiffest car platforms ever built. But during the heat treatment after construction the monocoques warped like Pringles, despite cooling in fixtures. The rear subframes also had a habit of cracking. The rear-mounted transaxle, a ZF unit previously used in Panteras and converted to have 6-speeds, didn’t shift well and tended to leak. The body panels, made with a wet layup and vacuum-bag technique, were filled with voids and dimensionally inconsistent. Production problems turned into delays, which ate up the budget. Eventually, the project was taken over by Venture Corporation, one of the parts suppliers. In the end, only 249 Series 1s were delivered to customers, with the majority having to be shipped without a powertrain and licensed as a kit car.
It’s no Cobra
This is arguably the most famous, or infamous, of the Series 1s. Being tied to a pop-culture celebrity isn’t always a plus. In this case, it may not be helping this car’s value and, arguably, that celebrity’s taste in aftersales accessories may not be helping either. Ten years ago, Series 1s hit bottom and were frequently trading hands in the $80k–$90k range. Since then, they have been steadily climbing, with some selling for well over $200k. The car’s future is hard to predict.
The Series 1 certainly wasn’t the home run for Shelby everyone wanted to see. As is the case with most cottage sports cars, it hit the road overweight and underpowered compared to initial promises. Build quality will never match that of a traditional manufacturer. The Series 1 is mostly lusted after by Shelby fans. Its biggest weakness will always be that it isn’t a Cobra. This one was fairly sold. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.)
