So, when she's 18 she starts paying her own licensing fee?

 

Wow, after reading the terms and conditions the SAAC continually failed to meet I am surprised it took Shelby this long to pull the plug. I can think of no company with which I have worked that would have tolerated the same for more than a year, and realistically they wouldn't have tolerated it for that long. And now, as usual, we have people lampooning Shelby for deciding enough is enough. For $1 a year I think Kopec and crew could have found a way to meet the relatively few requirements placed upon them, and since they didn't I feel no sympathy whatsoever.

 

I can't believe anyone would take SAAC's side in this. Those guys have taken Shelby owners for a ride for years and have made a pretty penny for their trouble while giving Shelby owners next to nothing in return. Now they want you to donate more than your dues to fight a lawsuit against which they have no argument. They are clearly in violation of the terms of the agreement.

 

You two guys must have been drinking too much "Team Shelby" koolaid! Don't believe everything you read from CS because more than half the time it's pure BS! To Wit: back in the early '90s he supposedly "found" 40 something leftover 427SC frames that he tried to get a notable Cobra restorer to make into real 427SC's. Look at the preview 2008 Barrett Jackson preview. There is one of these "continuation" SC's listed, with the disclaimer that "it can't be registered in California" - that's because of his shenanigans. Not to mention the fact that he was selling those cars for $500K. The new aluminum 427 cars that he's now making are no different, except they cost 1/4 the price.

In his interview a few years ago in Mustang Monthly he spewed some crap like "there was no difference between GT-500s and GT-500KRs - it was just a marketing ploy, yada, yada." Not exactly true, as SAAC (and Kevin Marti) have all production records on the cars - ALL KR's started out as 428CJ cars ("R" engine codes) so there obviously WAS a difference.

Have you actually looked at the amount of money given by his Children's Fund to needy sick kids versus the amount taken in? Less than 5%!!! I'd hazard to say I've gotten more than 5% worth of my money that I've spent with SAAC.

Let's not forget his other truly noble undertakings as well:

- His attempt to "trademark" the shape of the Cobra roadster (which, of course made made by AC long before he came into the picture).

- His attempt to put Cobra replica manufacturers out of business. DO you know that if you go to Unique Motorcars Homecoming in Gadsden, that they make you tape over the Cobra emblems because of fear of reprisals from Shelby???

- His lawsuits against Brian Angliss, Ford Motor Co., Mrs. Halicki

- His falling out with Unique Performance, SAAC, Stephen Becker, etc., etc.

Perhaps you should spend some time on the SAAC forum to get a little hint of the other side of the situation.

 

Its like two scorpions in a bottle - fun to watch in a train-wreck kinda way.

...but its just as silly to swallow CS's story w/o proof as it is Kopec's. As usual the Truth(tm) is in the middle somewhere, and its covered in slime.

The fact remains that anyone who makes a financial deal with CS will eventually end up in court, for good or ill. Its as inevitable as Lindsay in rehab.

 

This is the beauty in keeping business strictly business. We have hard copy data circulating stating that SAAC had criteria to meet, and by all appearances they didn't do it. Their failure to comply consitutes a breach of contract and almost certainly subjects them to immediate termination of that contract, which Shelby didn't opt for, and legal action.

To a court of law that is all that matters, making it any more complicated than that simply clouds the issue.

 

Shelby has every right not to renew the licensing agreement, and not allow SAAC to use his name. All the merchandise that SAAC might sell with Shelby's name will go away. Understood. I don't believe he has a right to the intellectual property of SAAC, and all the information it has compiled in the last 20+ years. I believe the registry is a SAAC product, and they should hold license for its use. If Team Shelby wants to refer to the registry or use it in any manner, it should get a license from SAAC, or be in violation of property rights.

I'm not a member of SAAC, and don't have any idea whether its members feel that the dues are worthwhile. If they have 5,000 members, I could offer a guess...

 

Upon what do you base this? Are you a member? I have been a member since 1987. At least they didn't run off with our money for a "Mustang Museum" like MCA did! True, their "quarterly" magazines are not so quarterly anymore. But at the same time, they're compiling two registries - the first is said to be over 1000 pages with info on EVERY Cobra (and GT-40, etc.) ever made. Not a small undertaking, IMHO. And people complain about the price of the registries - what $125.00? How many of these same people will shell out just as much for a stupid college textbook that will be obsolete in a few semesters, and which has a MUCH larger circulation (which SHOULD make it cheaper).

Their primary purpose is to keep the records of the Ford and Shelby VINS so that unscrupulous (Unique Performance types) people will be unable to try to pass off fake Shelbys as the real thing. They have stopped this on several occassions - mostly through their vast records and histories of all Shelby American vehicles from the '60s. Would I trust CS's company to keep this info? H*LL no. He'd probably start charging for looking up a vin and stating that the funds go to his Children's Heart fund (or at least 5% of it , anyways).

 

apart or aside from the main subject of attention, discussion, etc.
I came across this page while doing some other research.
If you click on the link http://www.mustangsteve.com/links.html and scroll down the page a bit, you will see some pic's taken at the UP facilty a few years back.there is a pic of CS signing an autograph and a couple of more of a donor shell and a completed Eleanor (Eric's favorite car) :-)
While he was at the UP facility, I wonder if CS did a laying of hands or blessed the donor shells in some sort of way ? Maybe the shells that were seized weren't blessed. ;-)=
This thread was starting to suck without pictures. Maybe some of you have some to add.

 

Kopec of SAAC responds to Shelby's letter.

http://saacforum.com/index.php?topic=133.0

 

so where's Shelby's response to Kopec's response to Shelby's response?


I know that you know that I know that you know that...

 

Will Shelby's Alzheimers worsen?
Will Kopec's name show up on Ebay's records?

Find out next week on General Hostility

 

 

I was a member and dispointed I did not renew after a number of years. You get a "newsletter" which is more of a classifieds full of private jokes that only a few understand....and 1 magazine that you'll receive "sometime" but you never quite now when. Then they send out a renewal letter addressing you as "Dear Hasbin"....not something I would be proud to send out of my club actually it would be an embarrassment....and I have run a National club. So I am basing my input on my experience and direct knowledge....

This is true....I have often wondered just what happened to all that money but that's another issue for another day....but at least the MCA gives you FAR more for your dues than SAAC ever has and while there are politics involved in the MCA it still does not "feel" like a good ole boys club like SAAC does.


True that the registries are a huge undertaking but all they are doing is updating already recorded information and they have 10 years to do so. I own the 1997 Registry and it is entertaining but there is a lot left out of information that SAAC had but failed to research and didn't include. I'll touch base later on how I know this as fact.

No their "primary" purpose is to generate income for Eber and Kopec....telling yourself otherwise is lying to yourself...it is a FOR PROFIT business and as such the #1 priority is revenue. Those guys have lived a pretty comfortable life for many years based off SAAC and you cannot deny that given that it is their only job and the fact that they own high dollar shelby's and new cars and pay their house payment which is not cheap anywhere in the NE where they reside. There have been claims of self serving things regarding cars and information on them....while that may or may not be there are 2 sides to every story there as well...but Kopec and Eber are not the angels you make them out to be...I promise you....if you believe they are then they have successfully pulled a snow job on you.


While there are some things I don't agree with that CS has done he is genuine pertaining to the heart fund...if you researched factually anything pertaining to that fund you would know that Shelby is working on making that fund something that will last LONG after he is gone...better to have a small portion go now and work on preserving the fund rather than dumping it all at one time and then it disappears when CS passes away. You know he didn't HAVE to ever even start that fund but he did and he has made a postive difference....I don't care WHAT he gives directly, he is still doing something positive in that area.

Now this will touch back on my reference early about not using info they had. Shelby gave them records and one of CS's complaints is that they sold said records....and they did. I know this as fact because I HAVE a stack of original accounting invoices from Shelby American in my collection that I got years ago and they came out the back door of one of the SAAC guys(not the 2 owners) through channels(this was probably 8 years or so ago). SO in what I recently read pertaining to the agreement this should never have happened according to CS....of course I had no idea until recently but I can say that it did happen. This information contained some invoices with VIN's that showed replacement parts ordered for specific cars and upon my investigation into the registry there is not a single mention of it for those cars in the entries...so the info was in their hands but never made it to the registry and the paperwork was "disposed of".

So this whole mess isn't as one sided as you make it out to be.....There are other things I could go on and on about but it's just too much for a forum.

I DO find it a slap in the face of SAAC members that Kopec and Eber are asking for donations for a legal defense fund.

There is also a lot more to the Unique Performance fiasco than is known and Shelby was working on pulling the plug LONG before the feds came in. Foose was also duped by UP.

 

I assume you're packing these items up to send back to their rightful owner....?

 

I knew that comment was coming from somewhere.