Shelby American Collection

A Visit to a One-of-a-Kind American Automobile Museum

Last week we took a short road trip and tour organized by a community center in our town of Castle Rock, Colorado. We visited the Shelby American Collection on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado. It is an historic collection of the actual, most significant race cars, sports cars, and super cars produced by Carroll Shelby, his racing teams, work shops, factories, and the automotive designers, engineers, technicians, business partners, and the drivers who endeavored to realize his vision.

Shelby American Collection main museum building at 5020-5035 Chaparral Court
Boulder, CO 80301 (Source: https://www.shelbyamericancollection.org/ )
Main Hall filled with the actual historic race cars, support vehicles, engines, tools, photographs, trophies and other memorabilia
1963 Le Mans Cobra CSX2137 —among a number of privately-owned cars kept, maintained, and on display at the museum
One of a number of the most significant Cobra race cars in the main hall
One of the most significant advancements in aerodynamic body design in race car history—the 1964 Cobra Daytona Coupe
The real secret was the flat tail section—it was controversial but ultimately groundbreaking
1963 Lola GT Mk 6 Prototype Car

The 1963 Lola GT Mark (Mk.) 6 designed and built by Eric Broadley, founder and owner of Lola Cars of England. Ford hired Broadley to design and develop the GT40. They bought this and the two other models that Broadley had built and raced to serve as test vehicles for components of the Ford GT40 during development and testing. It is considered to be the predecessor of the GT40. And remember, these are not replicas—these are the actual cars.

The first Ford GT40
An array of later GT40, Mk. II, and Mk. IV J-Cars—all historically significant. Note the backdrop artisitic rendering of Ford garages on a 1960s vintage pit row at LeMans, France
Mario Andretti set a track speed record of 232 miles per hour on the Mulsanne straightaway at LeMans in 1967 in this Ford GT Mk. IV J-7

There are many other Ford GTs, new and old on display, like this roadster.

Prototype GT40 Roadster

And a number of more recent modern-day supercars

More detailed descriptions and photographs of some of the most important cars in the collection can be found here: https://www.shelbyamericancollection.org/collection

Or, start at the museum’s main page: https://www.shelbyamericancollection.org/

Carroll Shelby above; the 1966 LeMans first, second, and third-place formation finish below (Source: https://www.shelbyamericancollection.org/about)

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Author: Carlo

Retired systems engineer and management consultant turned aspiring travel and technology writer.

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