CARROLL SHELBY'S 1965 FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT350

Here I am with my little cousin John Stroh standing next to his father, Bill Stroh's, 1965, GT350 Cobra racing car.  I have said so much about Bill Stroh and this car that the best thing I can do is post all the links for you to punch up and review. 

http://www.maybellinebook.com/search/label/car%20guys

This is the final day of posting a farewell to Carroll Shelby..... The last great American automotive Legend.

TRAVOLTA - ALI - THE BEACH BOYS - DONNA SUMMER - CARROLL SHELBY - CHUCK WILLIAMS AKA BB1

On New years Eve, 1980, Gene, Georgia and I drove to

Santa Barbara to visit my cousin Chuck for the weekend.  Chuck was well known around Montecito..... not just because he was from the Maybelline family, but because he managed the Santa Barbara bowl and was personal friends with the Beach Boys.  He also had a charisma that gravitated celebrities and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.  Here is one of my favorite memories of him in action.

This is what  John Travolta looked like on New Years Eve, 1980.
Seen here with Catherine Deneuve and Gerard  Depardieu.

We met Chuck at The Old World Cafe, in Santa Barbara for a quick burger, before heading to his house to bring in 1981.  After dinner Chuck got up to go to the bathroom while we finished up and got ready to leave.  When he returned he was with this really cute guy, who I thought was one of his buddies, by the way they were joking around.  But It turns out the cute guy was no other than..... 
John Travolta, who was starring in
Urban Cowboy that year and having dinner with
Muhammad Ali and his family in a private room,
 right next to us. 

John Travolta, in Urban Cowboy, 1980.

Chuck introduced him to us, saying they just met for the first time in the bathroom. Travolta seemed taken with three year old Georgia and said, "what a beautiful child," than asked if he could take her to meet Ali, (who just happened to be Chuck's all time idol.)

Muhammad Ali in 1980.

Travolta took Georgia's hand and led her into the private room, where Ali and his wife and children were dining.  We didn't go in, but stood at the door and watched as Ali said,  "My My, what a purtty little girl you are" and asked her if he could pick her up.  She shook her head yes and he lifted her up onto his lap and looked at her big blue eyes up close.  It was a thrill for Gene, Chuck and me to see the world's greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, 
make over our baby girl. 

Another time, at a Beach Boy concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Chuck introduced Georgia to Brian Wilson and he posed for a picture with his arm on her shoulder.  Chuck still has the picture hanging in his office 30 years later. 

Chuck with his fan club.

My cousin Chuck aka BB1, or Beach Boy 1.....meaning number one Beach Boy Fan, according to his friend Mike Love, lead singer of the Beach Boys, is still a celebrity in Montecito..... but when he bought his Factory 5, Cobra in 2009 his status shot to the moon.

Chuck Williams Factory 5 Cobra.

There is no other car that can rival the King Cobra or turn heads, give double takes or draw chicks like Carroll Shelby's blue and white striped convertible racing car.  The Cobra will go down in history.....Like Muhammad Ali and the Beach Boys.....as "the greatest" car ever!!!!

Carroll Shelby's personal $5,500,000.00

427 Cobra, at Barrett Jackson classic car auction.  

The Beach Boy's 2012, 50th Anniversary tour. If you're at the Santa Barbara Bowl, May 28th for the 6:00 Beach Boy concert look for Chuck and his entourage near the front row and say hi.....

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                          Carroll Shelby, RIP you will be missed!!!

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   DONNA SUMMER YOU WILL BE MISSED!!!

                         QUEEN OF THE 1970'S DISCO, 
              DONNA SUMMER, PASSED AWAY TODAY.
                                        "LAST DANCE."

1968 SHELBY GT 500 COBRA MUSTANG RULED THE ROAD.

Sharrie and Georgia
with the Shelby 1978

I had owned my Shelby GT 500 for 11 wonderful years after my dad gave it to me for my 24th Birthday, but when someone in Laguna Beach offered to buy it, my husband Gene and cousin Chuck convinced me to sell it for $4,000.   

I called my dad and told him about the offer and he said, "Honey, since the car is rusting out at the beach, it's not worth putting any money into it so go ahead and try to get something out of it." 

Years later,  he said, he regretted his decision at the time, because it was now worth $50,000, even in the shape I sold it. I still kick myself for listening to Gene, Chuck and my Dad because it was best car I ever drove. 

Gene's mother gave me her 1969, competition orange and white Camaro for my Birthday, but it was a sad compensation for my Shelby GT500..... with the extra-big  engine, chrome wire wheels, whitewall tires, rag top and the Cobra emblem. The Shelby was a real muscle car and would remain top in it's class forever. 

Every time I saw my Shelby cruising around Laguna Beach, I felt someone kicked me in the stomach, but it was even more painful when it was shipped off to Hawaii and I never saw it again. The Shelby represented an era for me that was over. I was now in a new phase of my life and driving a hot rod wasn't practical anymore. Or so I convinced myself evermore.

Carroll Shelby at Barrett Jackson in Las Vegas, 09.

CARROLL SHELBY - A FAMILY ICON.

AUTO LEGEND, Carroll Shelby Dead at 89

Shelby helped tune a variety of Ford products, including the original GT40 race car, but soon lent his name to the most powerful Mustang models, such as the Shelby GT500 and 427 Shelby Cobra, some of the fastest muscle cars of their era. Read the whole story at..... http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2012/05/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/

I first heard the news that Shelby died while reading my tweets Friday around one in the morning.  Besides feeling a personal loss, I knew my sister Donna, my brother Preston and my cousin Chuck Williams aka BB1, would be impacted by the loss of this automotive legend.  Here are the emails between the four of us on Mother's Day weekend.

Preston Williams

He had a good run though.....  Carroll Shelby made it to 89 years of age and was responsible for an exceptional big block Hot rod!!  That will live on forever.....well as long as we are here.  Shelby will be missed by family, friends and an industry that he truly influenced.  His memory will live well beyond his life as he has inspired generations of car designers.

We all should be so fortunate..... to be able to do what we love, inspire others to follow their dreams and realize our God given talent has made a mark!

That is a life of purpose and dimension and I hope that is who Carroll  was.  If so He really did it right !! 

I can just see him cursing in his Cream white Convertible Shelby 500, with those twin blue racing stripes, pulling up to those pearly Gates,..... he gives his Shelby-500 a couple of Rev's, just to let Saint Peter know he is home and to open up the gates..... as he passes on by, Saint Pete slaps him a high five and says "nice ride bro!! Welcome Home."

As Carroll pulls up to his Mansion, he's welcomed by all those who love him.  He steps out of his 500 and is embraced by God, who says..... Well done good and faithful servant, enter unto your rest.

But first let's take a ride.....  can I drive?

Carroll  Shelby RIP.

Donna Williams

Good one Preston!  Daddy will enjoy seeing him and showing him his Shelby Cobra..... which he probably has with him.

Chuck Williams aka BB1.

He was 89 and caught a cold that turned into pneumonia, his lungs were failing, they were filling up with fluid, he had a heart and lung transplant a while ago.....

He was the only American Manufacturer to beat the pants off of Enzo Ferrari 1964,1965, 1966, with his little Cobra with an American V8 "Ford."  The rest is history  that won't repeat itself in our lifetime anyway. 

Hey Cuz, Hearing about Shelby was a real bad day for the REEEEEL car guy------ME!.....  The Rip Chords circa: 1964 had one special song about  "The King Of All Cars."..... The Cobra, like the Beach Boys are sittin on top of the world  for ALL TIME!!!!!   FUN,FUN,FUN,   BB1     Love You Cuz.

Bill Williams Shelby GT 500
 after it crashed.

My dad gave me his 1968, GT 500 Shelby Mustang in 1971 for my 24th Birthday. I too have very special memories of Carroll Shelby and the best car I ever had.  Rest in Peace Shelby, you will be missed.  Check out the crashed Shelby story under archives on the side of this page.

Me with my dad's cousin, Bill Stroh's, 1965 racing Cobra while I was in Chicago in 1966.  Read the whole story under Bill Stroh in my archives.  

Bill Williams 68 Shelby Cobra, GT 500 and 1971 Eldorado Convertible.

47, just divorced, living in Newport Beach California - Image was everything -  when it came to his cars. 

An avid reader of Playboy, this Shelby Cobra ad, struck the perfect image for a soon to be eligible bachelor. In the Spring of 1970, after separating from my mother, Pauline, my father, Bill Williams, walked straight into Theodore Robins of Costa Mesa Ca, and bought the Shelby Cobra GT 500 convertible, for $4,000 cash, right off the showroom floor.  It had 900 miles on it, because, according to the salesman, it used as a promotional car, driven by Carroll Shelby himself.  Bill had to have it, and pulled out of the parking lot and into his new life.

Mrs. Judge Kearney, Chuck, aka, BB1, his mother, Jean Williams.  Josephine answering the door at the Bernard Maybeck estate in Montecito California.


Wanting to show off his new sports car, Bill and Linda, (his soon to be second wife,) along with my future husband, Gene Dorney and I, attended my cousin Chuck Williams, aka, BB1's, 21 Birthday Bash, and received the shock of our lives when.....

The parking attendant rolled the Shelby on a joyride around the Montecito,'s curvy roads.  Luckily the roll bar saved his life, but the car was crashed.  My dad had the Shelby, in the shop for 6 months and than, gave it to me for my 24th Birthday.

In the mean time, a new image had to be created for Captain Bill of the Balboa Bay Club!  This ad appealed to my father's vanity, with it's long hood - screaming.....

                             I'm 48 and I have arrived!!!!!

Captain Bill and the Swiper, on the way to Catalina Islalnd.

My Father, Bill Williams and my grandmother, Evelyn Williams on Lido Isle, Newport Beach, January 1971, showing off the new Eldorado with it's........
                                "BILL, Vanity Plates."

My dad began collecting classic cars, after moving to Palm Springs - where he could buy an estate with several garages.