Shelby Automobiles Becomes Shelby American

Shelby Automobiles is constantly on the move. They are constantly innovating new products, parts, events and company ventures. Now Shelby is turning back a few pages to its history and bringing back the long honored Shelby American name.

Carroll Shelby founded the original Shelby American in 1962 to create the now legendary sports cars and muscle cars that forever changed the performance car landscape. With a penchant for subsidiaries, Carroll has often had multiple Shelby companies divvied up and sliced out with varied names. Now everything comes under one umbrella, Shelby American.

“Enthusiasts have asked us many times to bring back the Shelby American name over the past several years,” said Shelby. “Though I’m proud of the cars that we built as Shelby Automobiles, we’re fulfilling that wish for fans worldwide. Using the Shelby American name will better connect our current vehicles to our heritage of building great cars like the G.T.350 and Cobra.”

While much history has been made since 2007 with the many Shelby Mustangs that have re-won the hearts of Ford lovers, there is a lot of history to the Shelby American name that many of the new crop of owners and enthusiasts have only read about. To those that lived through the sixties, watched the milestones, drove and owned the cars, this new move is huge.

“We’re still building genuine Shelby Cobras and have been involved in some of the most exciting Ford Mustangs ever to wear a Shelby badge,” added Amy Boylan, president of Shelby American. “With the anniversary of Shelby American’s two most revered models, it’s the right time to return to our roots through a name change. And just like the 1960s, the Shelby American name will soon appear on one of the most exciting vehicles we’ve ever built.”