Shelby America Tour

[RDJ]

ok this is going to be pic heavy. but some background first: Sandy (my S/O) and I are doing a road trip that will cover a good share of the western states. One of our stops was Las Vegas and we had planned on seeing the Shelby American Museum while we were there. We stopped for gas outside henderson and there was a gorgeous Shelby F450 parked out front.

By the time we got done the driver was in it and I tapped on the window and told him what an awesome truck it was. We talked a bit and we told him about our plans to tour the Museum when we got to Vegas. He told us he worked there, gave us his card and said " when you get there ask for me and if I am there I will take you in the back and give you a behind the scenes tour" and gave us his card. Turns out he is the Paint/Body supervisor.

We got there and he wasn't there initially but by the time we finished with the guided tour of the cars in the museum he passed us and BOOM I was in the back looking at some amazing goings on. I took a pant load of pics and I asked if there would be a problem posting them up and he said "nah go ahead. the secret squirrel stuff is hidden in the back"

so over the next few days as I get time in the hotels as we travel I will post up pics with some commentary as I can remember it. It really was an amazing time and probably will be the highlight of the trip, totally fortuitous. I have tried to explain to Sandy a few times that the Mustang crowd is a community and me going up to car folks and starting a conversation is the norm not the exception. this was a perfect lesson in that. ignore my fat ass

 

[Revvv]

Hurry up and finish posting pics Dave.

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[RDJ]

ok so first here are a few of the museum itself. I only took pics of the older stuff. he had another 8 or 9 of the newer stuff but I didn't get pics of those

 

[RDJ]

these are the stainless steel ones .. note the matte stripes .. he said they were a bitch to get done

 

[DaleM]

ok this is going to be pic heavy. but some background first: Sandy (my S/O) and I are doing a road trip that will cover a good share of the western states. One of our stops was Las Vegas and we had planned on seeing the Shelby American Museum while we were there. We stopped for gas outside henderson and there was a gorgeous Shelby F450 parked out front.

By the time we got done the driver was in it and I tapped on the window and told him what an awesome truck it was. We talked a bit and we told him about our plans to tour the Museum when we got to Vegas. He told us he worked there, gave us his card and said " when you get there ask for me and if I am there I will take you in the back and give you a behind the scenes tour" and gave us his card. Turns out he is the Paint/Body supervisor.

We got there and he wasn't there initially but by the time we finished with the guided tour of the cars in the museum he passed us and BOOM I was in the back looking at some amazing goings on. I took a pant load of pics and I asked if there would be a problem posting them up and he said "nah go ahead. the secret squirrel stuff is hidden in the back"

so over the next few days as I get time in the hotels as we travel I will post up pics with some commentary as I can remember it. It really was an amazing time and probably will be the highlight of the trip, totally fortuitous. I have tried to explain to Sandy a few times that the Mustang crowd is a community and me going up to car folks and starting a conversation is the norm not the exception. this was a perfect lesson in that. ignore my fat ass View attachment 1514231

I have a personal invite from CS to do a tour of his museum. I received when I got back from a trip to Afghanistan.

Never took him up on it, one of those regrets in life. Not that I blew him off but the deployments were back to back for a while.

Never thought chrome would look good on a car. Damn sweet in those pics.

evil clown assault

 

[DAVESVT2000]

It’s too bad the family has sold off most of the good stuff in the museum.

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

It’s too bad the family has sold off most of the good stuff in the museum.

Very true.


Nice pics Dave, can’t wait to see more.


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[limitedex]

Gosh I enjoyed touring Shelby factory a couple of years ago. Wish I could have slept there it made me so happy.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Cool stuff, was planning to go over there next time we’re in Vegas to kill some time

 

[RDJ]

A few more of the cars ...

 

[RDJ]

and now on to the shop: this is what they call their "beater" . it's what they use to run shop errands in. Cuba (the guy taking me around) told one of the guys that when we were trough he had to go exchange some base color that they had gotten the wrong thing. I told him to give me the keys and I would go get it so he wouldn't have to. Sadly he didn't take me up on my offer

 

[RDJ]

They have room to do a bunch at the same time. don't remember the exact number but a dozen or so. these were just three of them in various stages of production. it was amazing to see that many new cars torn apart when there was nothing wrong with them in the first place LOL

 

[RDJ]

this was the take off stuff. most of which was going to be sold. he said they sell a lot of stuff on ebay
Tire take offs. that entire area behind the take off stuff is Shelby replacement stuff
The mock up space. every piece is fitted on this car before it goes on to the customers car. once they are sure the fit is right the piece goes to the paint shop. They have a couple of these sitting around. they have a production car to use as a mock up so they don't have to use customers cars.

 

[RDJ]

Fabrication area
new painted pieces waiting to go on customers cars. One thing they don't do is blend on a car. they paint the pieces and put them on the cars and the paint is so close it looks factory. I looked at a couple that were done and you really couldn't tell anything has been painted off the car. they mix all their own colors there and it is a dead on match
Final room. they put the stripes on and do some of the final inspections here. some cars get painted on stripes and some get the decals applied like what is being done here.

 

[RDJ]

truck production. They have 4 or 5 being made at any one time


closer look at the brake assemblies being put on.

i have a bunch more but this hits the highlights and most of the others need some post editing that I may or may not get to LOL

 

[Klaus]

awesome pics, thanks for posting

 

[RDJ]

Cool stuff, was planning to go over there next time we’re in Vegas to kill some time

Def. go man. plan on spending at least an hour and a half depending on if you want to take the historical tour where they talk about the individual cars.

 

[VegasMichael]

Glad they relocated from their previous spot near the Speedway. Was just too far out to get as much visitation as they do now. When I was at their present locale I was impressed with the size of the garage bays. Just massive. I also saw a lot of non Ford vehicles being worked on as well.

 

[2011 gtcs]

Such a awesome place to visit, every time I go to Vegas I always stop in. I would love to work there and build super snakes for a living.

 

[coposrv]

I’d love to work on brand new cars. No rust dirt oil grease to deal with.


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