[VIDEO] Adam Carolla and Carroll Shelby’s Italian-Bodied C1 Scaglietti Corvette

Carroll Shelby is one of the most famous and influential “car guys” in history. The 16-year-olds in my classes have heard of him, my smoking-hot Kia-driving wife knows his name, heck, even my grandma knows about the Texas chicken farmer that won Le Mans. That’s staying power that few people this side of Marilyn Monroe have ever achieved.

While most folks associate the man with the striped Mustangs that still bear his name, and car (and now movie) lovers know the tale of how he helped the Blue Oval take on Ferrari with the GT40, the “Powered by Ford” portion is just a small slice of an impressively varied resume.

Photo Credit: Gooding and Company

In early March, the hammer fell on a unique Toyota 2000GT. The final bid was a staggering $2.5 million, setting an all-time record for Japanese cars sold at auction (prior to this sale, none had ever even cracked $2 mill). Aside from rarity and the fact that the 2000GT is the most beautiful vehicle ever sent forth by Land of the Rising Sun, what made this example so special? It was one of three that Toyota commissioned to be built for racing, by Carroll Shelby (read the car’s fascinating story of “revenge” here, it is worth it, trust us!).

Unlike most artists of the ’60s, Shelby kept on making hits well into the ’90s and even the 2000s. With our friend, Bob Lutz, he helped Chrysler knock off his prior work and create the Viper. Back with Ford at 80-years-young, he was the Senior Technical Advisor for the GT supercar and the last car he ever had a hand in lit the performance-world on fire with its pre-Hellcat 662 horses. He even had a hand in founding the Chili’s empire of casual sit-down restaurants.

What many don’t know is that in the late ’50s, one of the most notable names in Ford history actually planned on going into the Corvette business. The tale of the Shelby Corvette starts, as you might expect, deep in the heart of Texas where a triad of drinking – or Chili-eating – buddies hatched a dozy of an idea.

One fateful afternoon, Ft. Worth oil man, Chevrolet dealership owner, and Ferrari racer Gary Laughlin, Jim Hall, and Shelby came up with what they thought would be the ultimate vehicle. They surmised that something special could come from draping an exotic, lightweight Italian body over a stout, reliable, easy to work on and modify American powertrain.

When this simple idea morphed into an obsession, they had no choice but to turn their collective expertise – Shelby and Hall in engineering, and Laughlin in the joys of fine European craftsmanship (and being rich) – into a set of functioning dream machines.

Common sense led the team to the perfect vehicle to base their creation on: the 1959 Corvette. Once the V8 canvas was chosen, each Texan had some strings to pull in order to craft their own version of classic Italian art.

Through his dealership connections, Laughlin was able to secure three ’59 ‘Vette rolling chassis from none other than Chevy Chief Engineer Ed Cole, who graciously shipped all three units to “Stivale.”

Next at the plate was Shelby. He dialed Road & Track’s contemporary Italian correspondent in order to get ahold of famed coachbuilder, and Ferrari partner, Sergio Scaglietti. A deal was struck and Scaglietti agreed to design and fabricate lightweight bodies that his company would marry with the unfinished ‘Vettes in a matter of months.

The coachbuilder’s overly optimistic estimates were, sadly, the beginning of the end for the project. Nearly two years passed before the completed products; a pair of automatic/four-barrel-carb cars and a four-speed/fuelie (for Shelby) were finally returned to US soil.

Like all great coach-built vehicles, no two “Corvette Italias” wound up exactly alike, but all three were gorgeous. They were easily mistaken for the Ferraris that they were assembled alongside in Maranello, and the notorious Enzo Ferrari didn’t like that. Not. One. Bit. So, he threatened to sever ties with Scaglietti if he continued to outfit the Americans. At the same time, Shelby’s grand scheme of producing European/American hybrids in significant numbers had become known, and GM wasn’t willing to play ball because they had their own plans for their halo car. The final nail in the coffin, though, was the cars, themselves. Despite being 400 lbs easier on the scales than a regular C1 Corvette, and having two all-time great racing minds behind their final development, these Italian Americans were much more Fredo than the favorite son, Michael (or even the violent, hot-headed Sonny) that their Godfathers were hoping for. They failed to meet performance expectations and felt ungainly while doing so. So, with the full force of GM and Ferrari bearing down on them, and a product that didn’t seem worth the hassle, the triumvirate behind the Italian Corvette washed their respective hands of the project, and went their separate ways, with Shelby realizing his Euro-US hybrid dream through shoehorning Ford 289s and 427s between the fenders of the English AC Ace/Bristol.

All three Itali-Vettes survive to this day. Hall and Laughlin’s cars were retroactively turned into fuel-injected machines with three pedals just like Shelby’s, which has proven to be the most desirable of the three among collectors. Per Adam Carolla’s excellent video below (the Italian C1 certainly doesn’t disappoint the ears!), the Shelby Corvette will be available for public viewing at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future.

It is fascinating to think how different the history of the US performance landscape might have been if Shelby and friends would have experienced Inception a couple of years later, with an independent rear suspension set-up available on the ‘Vette, or if GM did decide to partner with Shelby, or if any number of things would have worked out with this one, tiny venture. The craziest part of all of those alternative pasts is that they all lead to a present where this insane room is actually full of Chevys. Wild stuff!

Source:
autoevolution.com

Related:
Corvettes for Sale: 1959 Corvette Racer with Ties to Shelby and the Scaglietti Corvettes
[VIDEO] 1959 Scaglietti Corvette Shown at Italy’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este
The Scaglietti Bodied Corvettes