Carroll Shelby is one of the most famous figures in American automotive history.
The Texan car builder started out life in the US Army Air Corps, before struggling as a poultry farmer.
One little-known story about Shelby involves an Italian-built Corvette.
And Shelby ultimately refused the end product.
DISCOVER SBX CARS – Bid now on supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie
Italian Corvette has a fascinating origin story
This fascinating story actually doesn’t start with Carroll Shelby, but with a friend of his.
Gary Laughlin was a wealthy oil-drilling contractor from Fort Worth, Texas.
Laughlin also happened to own a Ferrari race car, which needed repairing.
After being shocked by the bill for having to send it back to Italy, Laughlin contacted some friends.
Those friends happened to be two race drivers – Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby.
The three came up with an idea – a Corvette with an Italian body that could compete with Europe’s best.
Laughlin had the money, while Hall and Shelby provided the engineering expertise.
And so, an extremely interesting – and controversial – project was born.
Texan trio contacts Italian coachbuilder
The trio decided to get in touch with Italian coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti.
Scaglietti just happened to be headquartered right across the road from Ferrari in Maranello.
Carroll and the group then approached him with three rolling chassis from Chevrolet.
Despite taking over two years to complete, the first Scaglietti-bodied Corvette came in 1960.
And with that, the Corvette Italia was born – all three of them.
The end result of the collaboration was, to put it simply, stunning.
Scaglietti’s body shaved 500LBS off the weight of the Corvette.
It would put the Corvette Italia ahead of the C1 Corvette in terms of speed and road handling.
Shelby and co feel the wrath
When General Motors and Ferrari heard the news, they did not take it well.
In fact, the trio came dangerously short to getting blacklisted by GM.
The brand hated the idea of using Corvette underpinnings in unsanctioned projects.
Meanwhile, it turned out that Enzo Ferrari was Scaglietti’s main customer.
And Enzo Ferrari hated the idea of him helping his biggest rival in any way.
Shelby, it seems, despised Enzo Ferrari– dating back to a tragic racing accident in 1958.
Somehow, the Texan ultimately decided that he did not want the car anymore.
Rumours, however, persist that Shelby simply did not have the money for it.
Whatever the reason, the car now resides at the Petersen Auto Museum in California, where it’s been for 25 years. And it’s a beaut.
The post Enzo Ferrari’s neighbor once built a Corvette for Texan Caroll Shelby, and it caused a ruckus appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
