The Lake Mirror Classic: Cars, Community, and Carroll Shelby

Robert D'Angelo, Event Director of the Lake Mirror Classic Concord Car Show in Lakeland, Florida.

Hi, I'm Gary Patterson, President of Shelby American, and honored to be this year's Grand Marshal at the Lake Mirror Concord event in Florida.

You're listening to the JP Emerson Show.

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Our guests today are two titans of the automotive culture and community. First, we welcome my old friend, and I don't want to say old in a negative way, Mr. Robert D'Angelo, event director of the Lake Mirror Classic, one of the country's most celebrated car shows coming up here very soon, October 17th through the 19th.

With decades of experience curating world-class automotive events, Robert has transformed the Lake Mirror Classic into a destination for enthusiasts, collectors, and families alike.

Joining him also on this show is Mr. Gary Patterson, president of Shelby American and the 2025 Grand Marshal of the Lake Mirror Classic.

Gary has been a driving force behind Shelby's modern legacy since 1996, overseeing the rebirth of the continuation Cobra and leading development of today's high-performance Mustangs and F-Series trucks.

A lifelong motorsports enthusiast and former chief test driver, Gary still owns the 69 Mach 1 he bought in high school, and he's helped shape every Shelby vehicle since the company's move to Las Vegas.

It's my pleasure to welcome Mr. Robert D'Angelo and Mr. Gary Patterson. How are you doing, guys?

Excellent. Great.

Good, good. First of all, Gary, I have to start with you because, like I said, I've known Robert forever, so he can hang on just a second.

Thanks for joining us. I really appreciate it. I know we spoke just very briefly moments before going on the air here that I'm very familiar with yourself and, of course, with Shelby American and Robert.

You know, when I heard that Shelby was the marquee car at this year's show, along with other great Ford GTs and Cobras and the like, it just kind of blew my mind how you've been able to take what was already a fantastic show and turn it into something that is world-class,

and bringing Gary along is certainly way up there. So Robert, thank you for doing that, and Gary, thank you for joining us this year.

We're there every year. It gets better every year, and frankly, I don't know how it can get any better, but Robert seems to do it.

That's very kind. Thank you.

You don't have to send me any money to say that, Robert.

It's not like I got a whole lot to send you anyway, right?

So let me first, Robert, introduce yourself to people who may not know you, and Gary, you got a few minutes to warm up because you're next on the list.

All right. Well, I started getting involved with the car show, seen actually through my church, and been doing it for over 20 years.

And there was a point when COVID had kicked in, and the previous folks that were running the Lake Mary Classic were Mid-Florida Credit Union.

And I was at an event where I saw one of the people who had been a part of the Lake Mary Classic from basically the beginning and had moved over and was working with Mid-Florida Credit Union,

giving out some of the different pins from the different years and hats that were left over.

And then it was like, okay, so we're out of the car show business, and my heart sank because I always used to go to it as a spectator,

and also started kind of cross-promoting between the show that I was involved in and the Lake Mary Classic.

And I always looked at it as a bucket list level show.

So I was determined to make sure that didn't go away, but I didn't think it was going to be me getting involved.

I thought there were a few other people that were going to get involved.

And to make a long, short story longer, however you want to look at it, I met with the folks,

and I think the line that was the clincher was everybody's heard of the 80-20 rule where 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people.

Well, I always joked and said when it comes to the car show stuff, it's the 98-2 rule.

And there's a lot of truth to that.

Sure, sure.

And so that's where we are today.

And it's grown into something just tremendous.

It's one of the premier shows in all the country.

And to top it off this year, you've got Gary coming.

Gary, first of all, be honest, how did he talk you into coming to this show?

You know, it was pretty easy actually because he's a car guy and he loves cars and he loves Shelby just like yourself.

And so, you know, a lot of it was just fitting it into the schedule.

And that's difficult for me.

But, you know, this year it really worked out that, you know, he called me long ago so that I could block that time.

And so I did.

So that's really, really what drove this.

And, you know, he was very good, very persistent.

And, you know, I make a commitment, I'll keep it.

So that's great.

And so, yeah, talking me into it was pretty easy.

It's like, you know, talking to us friends, right?

Sure.

And I always liked that.

That's the truth, too.

I mean, I know Robert and I have had many, many a conversation about, oh, you name it.

It's not just cars.

There's all kinds of things that go on.

And like you said, in the community, it's not so much the car folks.

You're working with friends.

You're enjoying the company of friends.

And you just happen to have some really cool cars surrounding you.

And that's what makes it really so, so much fun to be a part of.

Right.

For me, just one more thing.

You know, I do have a soft spot for Robert just because I know what it's like to run a largely volunteer organization.

Numerous of them when I got involved in, you know, anything from car clubs to open road racing and being directors of that and starting them from scratch.

So I know what it's like with the 982.

And then, you know, if you're really good, you'll evolve that to where it starts shifting the other way and then you can kind of gradually back out.

So that's kind of cool.

Sure. Oh, absolutely.

Trust me, by the end of this show, Robert will be able, he'll be ready to back out for at least a couple of days.

He'll look like he's been through a hurricane.

In fact, last year we actually were.

Yes.

But he will be ready.

One of the walking dead, although he's just not quite ready to admit it, you know, but you got to love that type of commitment from anybody in our community and, you know, especially our car community.

I have a little something to add.

Sure.

I'm sitting in my family room.

The hurricane came through literally one week, seven days before the cars before the like near classic last year.

I still do not have new flooring in this room.

Yeah, it was truly.

Yeah, it truly was a testament to the, to our community, not just our Florida community, but, you know, you think about, you know, when the storms come in, you know, we'll see power trucks and crews from all over the southeast coming down to help.

And I know you and I spoke literally two or three days before the show. And you said, are you going to be able to make it? And, you know, I,

my house here, this house was, was missing a roof and we were there.

You did go through it, didn't you?

And we, we, we met a lot of people that said, Hey, you know, we're, we're thinking of you guys and we had an amazing crowd. And again, that's, that's what makes the Lake Mirror Classic such a standout event.

And it's, it's, it's, it's like your best friend. It's like it's always there and they're always doing the best for you. And, you know, trees were cut down and, and there was flooded grass and places and people were walking and, and, but they were there.

They were there for the best show. And one of the very best shows in the country. I can't emphasize that enough. So, yeah.

I gotta say about us. Let's go ahead and let's find out about Gary's life.

I was going to say, you know, yeah. So to Gary, you're the 2025 grand marshal. What does that mean to you to be a part of this show?

Well, you know, it's a real honor for me to do that. Right.

There's so many just great people in the organization and, you know, in the, in the car show world. And, and when Robert asked me, I'm just truly honored to be able to do that.

You know, I lead an amazing team of people. And, you know, it's not about any one person. It's about, you know, the team. And if you guys saw the movie and I'm sure you have multiple times, Ford versus Ferrari, it wasn't just about Carol Shelby and Henry Ford.

It was about the team of people that Carol and Henry put together to really work together and ultimately beat Ferrari. And, you know, that's kind of how we look at the company today. It's not, you know, any one person.

I'm just the guy in the corner office, but we've got just a great group of car people running the car company. And that's pretty exciting to me. So that's cool. And then, you know, it's an opportunity to meet just a tremendous group of people right there in Central Florida.

And, you know, I know you bring in people, Robert, from virtually probably all over the world, but certainly the United States. And I'm really looking forward to making those connections.

So one of my favorite things is, and I've said this 1000 times, if probably more than that, 99.7% of the people you meet through all of this are just spectacular, wonderful people. And most of them are self made people.

And you have to look really long and hard to find someone who's not a truly wonderful person. And I'm still amazed at the numbers of people that have had such incredible careers, built businesses.

And everybody comes together around something as simple as their love for the automobile. And it doesn't matter if you got $500 million, if you're the guy that works behind the counter of an auto parts store.

In that setting, if the person that works behind the counter at the auto parts store did the work himself, he generally gets more respect than the guy that's got $500 million. And then the best part kicks in, the guy that's got $500 million agrees with that. And it's just unique.

Yeah, that's for sure. And I think, Gary, you hit on something that Robert just hit on. It's the community itself, whether you're the guy in the corner office, or you're the guy behind the parts desk like Robert just spoke about.

There's room for everybody and everybody is welcome at the table. And I know Gary, it's easy to have a conversation about Shelby with someone like yourself. And for many people, of course, you know, the Shelby name is for a large part of their life is probably a little bit out of their reach.

But there's also people that would be near and dear to you. A 69 Mach 1, your first car, correct? I mean, that may not have been the starting point for everybody, but it's a starting point. What made that car so special to you?

Because you're going to see people where the car they bring has the same feeling for them. It's the most special thing in the world for them.

Yeah, and you know, I think we always say, and it's been said by many car enthusiasts, every car's got a story. So, you know, when you think about it, yeah, that one's a pretty cool story. I'm still blaming my parents for my problems, because my father's big car enthusiast as well.

And so he had a 65, 289 high performance Mustang convertible when I was little. And I used to go to family get togethers. And there was an uncle with a GTO and another one with a 427 Corvette and another one with a 55 Chevy.

And out in front of my grandparents house in the country, there was black stripes about as far as you could see. And so that made a big impression on me. So, you know, when I was 10 years old, and that'll give away my age, but, you know, they had the 69 Mach 1 and I looked at that car and it was like, you know, the Cobra was, you know, that was on the bedroom wall, but that was an unattainable goal at that point.

But the 69 used Mach 1. You know, when it came out, I was 10. So that was something I thought, you know, that's pretty cool. And I loved everything about it. And I love the shaker hood scoop and the ability to get a 428 and a four speed.

And so my father was, you know, is an enthusiast still is by the way, celebrated his 90th birthday by driving his 70 Corvette to the YMCA and going to work out.

So that's pretty cool. So I get it that way. And so that's where that comes from. But so when it came time for the first car, you know, long story short, he knew a guy at work that had a red, which was my favorite color, black.

69 Cobra jet 428 shaker hood four speed car. And officially was not for sale, but my dad knew the guy and talked him out of it. And I bought it with money. I made moan lawns and so that's that's kind of the story with that car.

And I've owned it now for 49 years. So that's pretty cool.

Yeah, that's, you know, you hear about people that own their cars virtually all their life or their adult life anyway. And you see all the time, especially on socials where they say, you know, I drive the wheels off that or I, you know, I sell that or, or, you know, or whatever the story may be.

But I'm more along the vein of when you own something that long, that the cars aren't just an appliance that are in your garage, they become part of your life, part of your family's life, part of the, the fabric of your life.

I know that sounds like a commercial, but you can remember places you went, who was with you, what was playing on the radio. I mean, these, you don't really see a whole lot of that.

But at least I don't in today's market because they are so dare I say disposable. I mean, you know, you drive them for a few years and you look for something else. It's kind of like getting a new phone every couple of years. Do you, do you agree with that take?

Well, you know, I think everybody's different, right? Even back then it was like, there was the vast majority of the people. And I do think there's a real difference yesterday and today, but the vast majority of the people that bought those cars, they only had them for a couple of years.

And they were on to the next thing and life got in the way. You know, they met somebody, they needed to start a family. You know, they had a house, they went to college. There's all, there's just a myriad of things that life gets in the way.

And, you know, that's a fairly easy asset to turn into cash if you need to. I knew when I bought that car, I would never sell it. And I told the man that when I bought it. And he put his arm around me and he said, young man, he goes, just like me, life is going to get in the way.

And for all these reasons, you're going to sell it. And about 10 years ago, my son was visiting my father. And he still knows the guy that used to own the car and they ran into him downtown at a cruise event. And my son got to tell him, you know, my dad still has that car. So that was kind of cool.

Yeah, but it still runs and drives. And I've got all the all the stories that go with it. You know, some of it we can talk about.

You know, speaking of stories, and I'm not sure, you know, when I was when I was doing a little research before the show, did I read somewhere that I'm not sure, you know, when you see things on the internet, you're not quite sure whether whether it's 100% factual or not.

But did I read somewhere that you've raced everything from tricycles to Corbettes?

Yeah, I did pretty much.

You have to tell me that story.

I don't know that the tricycle racing was sanctioned, though.

So a Shelby guy, tricycles and Corbettes, which of course, you know, we love Corbettes too, we love all cars, but you know, you have to tell me because I'm sure there's some died in the wool Shelby people that are just kind of cringing going to he just say he raced Corbettes.

So tell me that story.

Well, yeah, so, you know, I was, I was always a car guy and as I mentioned earlier, you know, my, my family owned all the different typically American muscle car makes.

So I liked them all.

You know, I had a soft spot for the Mustangs my dad had the hypo convertible.

So I think there was, there was that and I had a thing with, you know, Carol Shelby and the Cobra because, you know, in my bedroom wall and, you know, now it's that was there was a, you know, super hot looking gal and there was a 427 Cobra.

Those were the goals that you had at that particular time.

And so I think that was always my primary go to.

But, you know, dad ended up with the Corvette that I just told you about and, and, you know, he still has that he's owned that for 53 or four years.

So that's pretty cool.

Just did a ground up restoration on it.

So I, but I had the different performance versions of the Corvettes at a convertible.

It was the slowest car I'd ever owned the Corvette until I changed the engine in it and fix it.

So I like those things, but Carol Shelby was very similar to that.

I mean, he raced for Ari's and Maserati's and Aston Martin's and, you know, he even did substance with GM.

We did the Shelby series one, the only ground up Shelby we ever did.

We did about 249 or 50 of those.

And so, you know, and it was an all carbon body, honeycomb aluminum chassis used a lot of GM components, but it was a ground up Shelby is its own Shelby frame and body and all those kind of things.

And he of course worked with Dodge from everything from, you know, the, the Viper stuff to the, the little pocket rockets.

He called him with the GLHS stuff like that.

And so, but Carol would also like to, you know, he'd poke you.

So I picked him up one day at the little private airport when he flew in and I, I took the ZR one and picked him up and, you know, he, he groused at me like I knew he would.

And he said, you expect me to get in that, you know, words.

And I said, well, unless you plan to walk, I suggest you get your A in there.

And so, but then he made me parked by the dumpster.

Just because.

Right.

So, but we like cars, right.

And so, you know, and it's, it's fun because you're right.

There's some real dying wool guys that are all Corvettes or all Mustangs or all Mopars or whatever.

But at the end of the day, hey, let's just, let's get along, you know, and poke each other and have some fun with this thing.

Right.

So that's what we do.

And that's why I do it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Hey, Robert.

You got to tell me, how was the decision made?

And when did you say, you know what, we're going to focus on this marquee for this show coming up.

And the one person I need to get in contact with is Gary Patterson.

How did that come about?

It's amazing how it always comes about.

So we were going to go a little bit different direction for this year's event.

And at 415 on a Saturday of last year's show, folks from the American Muscle Car Museum said,

we want to make sure you know, Mark and his wife had such a great time.

We want to make sure we get invited back next year.

And I leaned over into the convertible.

It was a 73 Cadillac pace car convertible, one of the forgotten pace cars actually.

Anyway, I leaned over and I said, is he on the phone?

He said, Mark, what you don't realize is I've literally been stalking you for two years.

We geofenced your property.

And the next day they answered, because he was, what do you think we should bring?

And my dad taught me, look at the young age, aim high.

And I said, how about the 1966 Allen man lightweight GT 40 Sunday morning going back over to Lake mirror

and rounding up the golf carts that we had rented my phone rings.

And they said, not only that, we're going to go ahead and bring the 2022 Allen man livery for GT as well.

We were off to the races.

I don't know if I could tell the entire story of having Gary Patterson get introduced,

but a very good friend has become a really, really good friend.

And Pete was there talking to punk Palmer ball by his, by punk Palmer balls car.

And this gentleman walks up with a very attractive wife.

And we are starting to chat and Pete goes, Robert, do you know Gary?

I reach out my hand like, hello, I'm Robert and Pete hands me his card.

And I look and I went, Oh, check his hand.

He's the most regular spectacular car guy you will ever meet.

Absolutely phenomenal.

And down to earth and every accolade you would ever want to pour on somebody.

He epitomizes every bit of that.

And it's phenomenal and an honor to be able to host him and Sarah.

Gary, I could tell that you're kind of a tongue tied there.

But, you know, again, I've done Robert a long time and he, he means what he says and he says what he means.

And, you know, coming from him, that's certainly high praise.

And I'm very glad that that you're going to be here as well.

Yeah, it's just, like I said, it's really an honor for me and it's, you got to pinch yourself once in a while and go, wow.

But I, you know, I kind of feel the same because there's so many people as, as you guys have mentioned in this already, you know, the car people and the car culture.

There's just so many good people.

So to be, you know, at this spot is, is just an honor for me.

Gary, you've been with Shelby since I think it was what, 90, 95, 96.

In that time, how has the Shelby brand evolved from, you know, we certainly, we certainly know the history, but how has it evolved?

And what has stayed true to what Shelby would have wanted, if anything, because we know, you know, he was always a very happy go lucky gentleman.

Boy, where do you start with that, right? So, you know, everybody's heard the history of Shelby. So I'm going to be, you know, Frank, I think most people know the backstory with Shelby, but maybe not so much, you know, from the 90s forward.

And, you know, so really, in a lot of ways, it was the rebirth of the company, you know, Carol, after, you know, the late 60s, he basically licensed, you know, temporarily some of the brand stuff to Ford.

They built the 68s, 9s, and the leftover 69s were 70s. And then you really didn't see much out of Shelby other than, you know, some continuation cobras and stuff like that.

But that didn't really even start with Carol, until I joined the company in 96. So, you know, so, but that whole thing's evolved.

But when you got to know Carol Shelby, you know, especially when you began to work with him, you know, that was a whole different dynamic. And Carol was always, you know, the idea guy, the entrepreneur, quite frankly, and Aaron would tell you and Aaron Shelby is Carol's grandson.

We worked very well together. And Aaron's just phenomenal. And real car guy, car people. And, you know, oh, by the way, he's, he's a Shelby. But we go to places and so forth together now and he really didn't get very involved with the company until after his grandpa had passed away.

In 2015, he really, you know, kicked in and stuff, although along the way, you know, he did things like ride with his grandfather in 1992, I think in the Viper pace car at Indy. So you talked about, you know, rare pace cars, well, there's one for you.

But that really evolved. But you got to know Carol Shelby, he was always thinking of new things and trying new things. And, you know, over the years, we even had a Cobra that ran on hydrogen. And it really didn't make sense. And, you know, it made about 30% less power than a gasoline engine. Who wants less, right?

Right.

And, you know, it had this hydrogen bomb. I mean, fuel cell in the trunk.

So, so, you know, there was some of that. But Carol was always experimenting with stuff. If you think back in the 60s, in the late 60s, you know, we talked about India and India was like the premier event in the United States back then.

And Carol tried two turbine powered Indy cars. He actually made those and something about too big of an intake and tech inspection. And so they never really got to race. But, you know, then they outlawed them the next year anyway.

But Carol was always about innovation and trying new things. And, you know, when I look at it, and Carol is a driver, the only person to win at Le Mans, a driver, a manufacturer, and as a team leader.

You know, so, winning Le Mans and so forth as a driver with Roy Salvatore and Aston Martin in 59, then winning with the Daytona Coupe in 65, you know, and beating the Ferrari GTOs and then, you know, basically taking Ferrari off the podium in 66 with the GT40s.

So the only person in history to ever do all three. But Carol was always a visionary and not the greatest business guy, but he was a visionary. So he was always willing to try new things.

And when when I sit in the driver's seat, and I tell people this today, you know, Carol's vision of the company was always about innovation and trying new things. His favorite car was the next one.

And when you think about it in life, that's the right answer. If you're always looking at the past, that's where you're going to live and everybody's going to pass you by.

I sit in the driver's seat, the windshield's big, the rear view mirror is small. The rear view mirror is important, you can learn from it. You should pay attention to it.

But if you focus all your energy there, you're going to crash the windshields big. So I think that's where you focus your attention. And so what we've done over over the years of time is we've now created, you know, a Shelby performance vehicle segment that is larger than it's ever been in the company's history.

And we've done that with good people. Carol was all about that kind of stuff. And in his vision, we sat down in 2005 together with a couple other people and we said, Okay, what do you think we want to do and pickups were a part of it, because we thought that pickups would be something in the future that people would want.

And he did 1500 Dodge Dakota pickups back in those days in 1989. So I mean, Carol had actually tried that before. We've got him on, you know, film or whatever you want to call it in 2011 talking about just how excited he was about the future of automotive and specifically with powertrains.

You know, he even mentioned electric. He didn't say that was the answer. He didn't say that was the future. But he mentioned it. He said, Look, you know, we should look at this stuff. We should try it. And we did. We tried some stuff. It didn't make sense for us at the time. I guess you guys are all probably, you know, aware of those things now.

But, you know, we were looking at that. We're looking at hybrids. We're looking at, you know, what is next, and not forgetting our roots. And, you know, for car guys and gals, I want to share with you that you guys do know that every single vehicle ever produced by Shelby has been a hybrid since day one.

Did you guys know that?

I was not aware of that.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm waiting to hear the next sentence.

Yeah, they burn gas and rubber.

They burn gas and rubber.

Thank you.

So, but that was how Carol thought and he was always looking at innovation, trying the next thing. And so that's what we do today. And we've carried that mantra, you know, Carol's on film in 1965 or so, saying I'm Carol Shelby and performance is my business.

We're still Shelby today and performance is our business. How you define that today can be somewhat different than maybe it was in 65, but it's still performance driven. And that's what we're focused on today.

Now, Gary, you did a lot of testing through the years. Is there, if you talk about innovation, which, which certainly we're talking about right now, and the testing, how, how do you personally, knowing how Carol Shelby was, how do you balance the innovation and

today's technology with the Shelby DNA with, with the name, you know, when you think about the, the buyer of the Shelby brand, they're, they're thinking performance. That's first and foremost, that's what they're thinking.

But there's, there's many different ways to, to achieve that. How do you balance what, what you're working on now and what's to come with the tried and true DNA of the Shelby brand that, that the consumer is looking for?

Well, you know, we're, we're very blessed and fortunate that, you know, we have the car people running the car company. And I go to a lot of these shows and events and I, that's not something that I just, you know, delegate out. It's not a job for me.

I would do this stuff for free. Don't tell the board. But, you know, I mean, really, that's, that's how I look at it. And I look at not only what I want, but I talked to other people. What is it that you're looking for? And we're really looking at those that are younger too.

And we're saying, okay, if you are in your thirties or forties, what is it that's performance to you? What would you like to see? While at the same time, not forgetting all the people that got us where we are today and who a lot of our buyers are, because Shelby has always been an aspirational brand.

It's not something that typically most people could afford when they were even in their early twenties. But as time would go on, you know, we also didn't want to just make it stickers and scoops. There's plenty of people out there that do that. And there's a business case for that.

But when we did stuff, and we've been doing stuff, especially in the last 10 years, it's really been performance driven. It's not just stickers and scoops. And if you look at the content in the cars, and you look in the design in the cars, you know, there's a there's just a whole group of people out there that are, you know, making performance

Mustangs or performance pickups. But what sets the Shelby apart? What makes it just that much better? And that's what we have to continue to do to push those boundaries and stay ahead of the game. And Carol would want that. And that's what we're really focused on today is performance is our business.

Define what that is for somebody that's 30, for somebody that's 40, for somebody that's 50, 60, whatever. That's, that's really where we're focusing. And then you look at technology, you look at innovation. And it is a little more difficult in some respects today, because we also have to comply with the government regulations.

It has to pass most everything that we sell, unless it's an off road type of situation has to pass 50 state emissions. It has to still be FMVSS compliant, which is federal, you know, motor vehicle safety standards. So if we recover a seat as an example, and we put leather, you know, stitching on it, and we put, you know, nice snake skin leather in the middle or whatever we're trying to do.

Oh, by the way, the airbag in the seat still has to deploy the same way and help save the passenger. So all of those kind of things and then you got all these computers and they talk to each other. And then you've got modern controls and things that are actually pretty helpful.

There's, you know, traction control, ABS, there's collision avoidance, all these things. So when you make changes, you have to keep all those things in mind too. And then you also run into, it's kind of cool because we also that movie Ford versus Ferrari, so I'm going to make that assumption.

There's a there's a critical scene in there where they're the run of the GT 40 at the track, I believe it looked like it was at Willow Springs, and the Ford engineers had their big computer box in the passenger seat, and they can't get the dang car to run and Ken Miles is having a hard time with it.

And they come into the pits are clearly frustrated. And one of the guys by Phil Remington or somebody grabs the computer and tosses it out. And they start taping yarn to the top of the car and they say, Okay, go out, let's see what's going on.

With that information, then they're able to make the last minute adjustments they needed to make the car truly competitive. And you think, Well, yeah, but we've really advanced a lot with computer technology since then. And that's true.

And we can do things out of 3d print, and things that you never had the tools that are available today. So there's a lot of things that are really cool and innovative that we can also take advantage of. But computers are no better than the information you put in.

So at the end of the day, you got to go into the track, you got to show up, you got to run it, and you got to find out what does this thing really do.

And you do the pants. What's that seed of the pants, seed of the pants. And the other thing you find out is, Okay, we've got a wheel that's out there. It passes every one of the tests that the government runs to validate that wheel and it's safe.

And it's performance. And we say, Okay, this looks great. The price looks great. You know, we should offer these in our cars. And we said, Not until we test them. No, we tested them on track. I didn't test it on the track. I haven't run it on a Shelby.

I didn't run it on the cars that we want to run it on. Give me the wheels, we'll take them out test them. Can we come? Absolutely. And you get there. And the wheels fail.

And you go, Well, what happened? Well, somewhere in the calculation, nobody considered that the calipers eat its 1100 degrees, and it's two millimeters from the barrel of the wheel.

That part wasn't put into the computer. Okay, so that's just one of many things that we run into we go to the, we go to the drag strip and we're running at the drag strip and, you know, we got 800 horsepower.

And you've got a sticky track in your ring, the lug nuts off of, you know, the wheel studs off of the wheels at the on the launch pad. And you go, Oh, okay. Well, from now on, the cars that we're going to do those kind of things with a run road course, they're going to have ARP hardened wheel studs.

So that when our customers have this car, there may run them like we do. And if they do, we want them to last and we want them to be safe.

So we do all those things. And yeah, there's modern, you know, technology and so forth, but nothing, there's nothing short of actually going out to the track and testing it.

You'll find out that in left turns that, you know, the fuel runs all to one side and you don't have enough fuel pickup on this side if you're pulling 1.4 Gs in the turn.

Okay, well, now you got to make another adjustment.

But that's what we do.

Yeah, that's, that's amazing. It's interesting to hear. You kind of know that those things have to go on. But, you know, until you really hear about it and envision it, I guess, for good or for bad, you know, we kind of take those things for granted.

And I think you made a great point, you know, the information you're getting out is only as good as the information you're putting in. And if I can jump over to Robert here for a second, using that same, that same way of thinking, Robert,

the information that's coming out about the Lake Muir concourse certainly has a lot to do with the information and, of course, the work and the automobiles that are going into it. How has that changed over the years?

And what kind of impact is that having on the Lakeland community and really the country itself?

Well, this year we have vehicles coming from 26 states. And we've got 15 museums represented that represent six states. So the, the reach of the event continues to grow. And we continue to bring in some incredibly special vehicles and some incredibly special, you know, honored guests and VIPs as well.

Gary obviously is our grand marshal, but we have Camillo part of the designer of the Ford GT. He'll be there. David Hobbs, Hall of Fame driver. We did an interview with Mario Andretti who won the 6712 hours of Sebring, and he was in a GT 40.

So we have a video he's going to, he's over in Europe at the top of the show. He's now the face of Cadillac going Formula One racing. Doug Fian, who was, you talked about Corvettes earlier, Gary, Doug Fian was, I think, 22 years, the head and the team manager Corvette racing, winning unbelievable numbers of races.

The list continues to go on. Rich Brooks, who heads up the Ford, the GT garage up in Detroit area and that whole group of folks are coming down. Here's one of the coolest parts. Last year's grand marshal was Kippo Senko, another, another incredibly accomplished designer and racer himself.

He's coming back. And that's one of my favorite points is when you've got folks that are nationally in demand and they want to come back to your show the next year after they've already been, that's a pretty good testimonial that I'll take all day long.

There's a laundry list of people. There's a laundry list of cars. We've got multiple of the GT 40s that are going to be their real ones. We have multiples of cobras. We've got a dragon snake that's coming and the original 427 car once they've gave it the beefed up frame.

And you're going to see Shelby vehicles from 65 on up and to the current because we want to make sure that Gary has a chance to talk about where the company's headed and what they have available right now as well.

So beyond that, you know, everything between brass era cars and super hyper cars that we're going to have. And you said, where is it headed getting getting things like brass era cars is harder and harder.

A lot of them are ending up in museums or the people who have had the passion for those cars for many years.

Maybe their children had a passion for those but then you get to the grandchildren side because these cars are now more than 100 years old in those cases.

And so you're talking about multiple generations. Sometimes those are those kinds of cars are a little harder to get. But to me, it's very important to have those because I always try to make sure our event idea is you want to bring four generations of people together so they can all have a great time together

and how often are we able to do that in our society today. And this is one of those unique events where young people do come in and get a chance to see the historical stuff.

But then they're also going to see the latest greatest hyper car that they read about the magazine may never be able to afford it.

They'll be there and literally everything in between cars from the 50s and 40s and you know the muscle car era that's still really going strong.

And it's it's Gary you said earlier, you know, you love all the different types of cars and I used to have my biases when I was younger.

And I have to say, I am the owner of a 41 Lincoln. I would have never dreamed that in a million years.

But I have really truly a great gain and appreciation because again, as Gary mentioned, every single car, everyone has a story.

And for me anyway, it's all about the stories.

I think we certainly agree with that. We certainly make a living telling those stories here on this show.

So we certainly concur with that.

Gary, let me ask you this. Knowing Shelby as you did.

If he were here today, what do you think he'd say about the current state of not just the Shelby brand, but the new.

I'm going to call them the muscle cars, you know, the ones that you that we're seeing more readily available now than maybe when they first came out.

What do you think he would have to say about that?

You know, I think he would be very, very excited.

You know, like even even in his late 80s, like I mentioned earlier, he was talking about the next ones.

He was talking about future powertrain innovations.

I've got some things roll around in my head right now, as well as some of our team.

And we've really, you know, one of the things that Carol did well back then.

And I think we continue to do well today is partner with key people in the industry because we're not going to be able to do everything ourselves.

Certainly we're not going to Shelby's not going to make the best supercharger, the best breaks or the best engine to start with and those kind of things.

We need valuable key partners that are the experts in those field.

So we have those key partners. Carol was real good about that in the 60s.

We're good about that today. And I think he would be very amazed at what, you know, our team has been able to put together with not only those companies, but also how they integrate and how they work well together.

And, you know, we bring people together. So it's a it's a win win.

And what starts out is, well, you may be a supplier, it turns into more of a, you know, a partnership and how can we also help you.

And it's not just a one way street. I want to make sure and our team does that, you know, if we do business with somebody, we want them to feel good about the business.

We want them to share the latest, greatest innovations that they have with us and we want to be able to use it.

We want to be able to use our brand to help them with promoting their new products and the latest, greatest things.

So I think that Carol would be very proud of the team and what we've put together.

And he'd be very excited about the innovation that we currently have today, the amazing performance that we have today and what he would also know is coming.

I think when you look back on the historical segment of the, the muscle car era, and by that I'm going to, I'm going to say the, you know, the 60s, early 70s, you know, the saying that we,

arising tide raises all boats. And of course, you know, the Mustang, the Camaro, the, the, the Corvette, the Mopars, none of them would be who they are today without the other.

And you just hit upon something that I think is very important is, is you want that success for, for the other brands as well.

Of course, you know, I mean, you want your brand to do, do well, but, you know, that, that mantra hasn't changed, you know, that, you know, that competition is good for everybody.

And it's going to keep, it's going to keep those cars being built and enjoyed.

I'm going to put you on the spot here, Gary. I'm going to put Robert on the spot here also. But so, but I'm going to start with Gary outside of a Shelby.

Is there a particular car that you're, you're actually fond of that you say, you know what? Yeah, I like that car. I'd like to have one of those in my garage.

Well, the problem is I'm a car guy. So to answer with any one car is difficult because it's also the application. Am I driving it on the racetrack?

Am I driving it on the street? Or is it an off-road vehicle of some kind? And I like all of those things.

Or is it a beautiful 75-degree day and I'm going to drive down Big Sur in, you know, Northern California, go along the coast?

Or, I mean, so it's a different flavor of the ice cream for, for different, for different events.

So I've got some, you know, really fun and neat cars that I've driven over time, both historic and current.

You know, so, but to name any one of them, I mean, I like there's certain Porsche models that I think are really cool.

I really like the McLaren 720S, but you know, the Senna is cool, but it's just different.

And the 918 Porsche was really fast, but it seemed a little heavy.

I mean, there's just a whole lot of things that it just depends on really how you feel today and what the application is.

Like I'll race anybody, but I get to pick the track, right?

Sure.

There you go.

There's times when the Raptor will outperform the Shelby Super Snake if we're going off-road.

So I just, you know, I think it's great. It's the best of times ever is today.

We are actually living in what I believe is truly the best of times and it's today.

It's a good safe answer here.

So, Robert, how about yourself?

All right. So think about this. I'm not young anymore.

When I was a kid coming up, we all dreamed our cars had 300 horsepower, knowing deep down, none of them really did.

Now you get some guy can go show up at a dealership and walk out with an 800 horsepower car and we'll see an 800 horsepower plus car driving around literally every day.

It's pretty incredible.

On the flip side, I tell people everyone should be required to drive a car like that 41 Lincoln because none of us will tailgate nearly as much as we should.

True that.

I guess what I could do is I just talk about what I drive all the time, right?

I drive in a suburb with a 228,000 miles on it.

It's a big box. It blows cold air. The stereo sounds pretty good. It rides really nice.

And I've averaged 19.3 miles per gallon out of the thing.

That would have been impossible to believe could happen back 40 years ago, 50 years ago.

So yeah, I mean, the modern cars are pretty incredible and they last and I guess in many ways it's safer.

I'm not a big fan of the intrusive safety features that are out there right now, but I would like to have things that stop and turn really well.

And a lot of those older cars, the brakes and when you have 14 inch wheels and 15 inch wheels, the brakes are limited to that.

Right.

And we see these cars with gigantic wheels and tires that kind of tease about them, but it accommodates massive six piston brakes that can stop a vehicle that would have been unheard of 40 years ago at Le Mans, for example.

What's out there is just incredible.

And like I said, I used to have a bias when I was young and I ran Circle Track and it was a lot cheaper to build one brand versus the other.

And yeah, I teased somebody about an engine that I saw in a Ford product and joked and said, why is this distributor on the wrong end of the engine?

I don't feel that way at all anymore.

There are so many amazing things out there that I literally feel goosebumps just talking about it right now.

That's real.

It's a real thing.

And Gary mentioned Porsches.

There's so many great different vehicles that there's a reason why you have them, a Clarence 720S, for example.

And there's a reason you have a grunt on demand muscle car.

It's a completely different experience.

Literally just talking to people on the phone earlier today, the newer versions of the Ford GTs, the 0506, very much a car that is, what's the word I'm trying to think of, not done with computers.

It's a car that you drive that car where the new Ford GT that they had come out with later does everything better, but it doesn't have the same soul.

So every experience you're going to have is different no matter what era vehicle it comes from.

I know people who are going on a tour, they only allow two cylinder cars.

He's so excited to do it.

In the meantime, I know he has an 800-something horsepower current vehicle and literally everything in between.

Yeah.

It really is.

And sometimes you want to drive a manual transmission.

Yes.

Yeah.

And now, Robert, you don't have to fight over where the distributor is because there is no distributor.

There you go.

That's right.

The best answer I ever got was, so when you had to adjust the points, you didn't have to lay over the whole engine to go ahead and adjust them.

And I'll make, that's the best answer. And I'll tell you when we're not doing this, I'll tell you who said it and you'll get a kick out of it.

I think you hit a great point in talking about the soul of the vehicle, regardless of what it is.

That's the word.

We feel we're very much a part of it as much as Robert and of course now Gary.

We're very, we're very proud of this show.

I'm very proud to be a part of it.

Robert, we are literally weeks away from this event.

It's all about it.

What are you looking forward to most other than the day after when you get to actually sleep in?

What are you looking forward to most and have you even begun to think about next year?

We've already planned out to 2028, JP.

The question of what am I looking forward to most?

That's the easiest question ever.

It's the people.

Yeah, yeah.

That's really, that's 100%.

That's what it is.

I feel like we got half the Detroit coming down, right?

Such wonderful people and every single person that comes with every single vehicle,

they have built and put their money and their heart and their soul and their blood and everything else into that car because to them,

it's the most special vehicle on earth.

That's something you come to realize over time and you may look at a car and go,

why would somebody put that much money into that vehicle?

Guess what?

There's the story that Gary mentioned earlier, but it's always about the people.

Yeah, yeah.

If you go to your third car show, it's still about the cars or something wrong with you.

That's exactly right.

Gary, how about for yourself, Gary?

It does sound corny, but it is the people.

So I did start out with it was always about the cars.

What kind of cool car am I going to see and all that?

After all these years and stuff, now it's like a big family reunion,

but there's new family members all the time.

And that's pretty cool.

And hearing the new stories, you mentioned Hunt Parmel Ball,

and I just met him literally within the last year and a half, two years.

I guess it's been two years now, but what a remarkable man and story behind that guy.

No kidding.

Carol Shelby and how he befriended this kid that was literally a PDI guy at a dealership,

and he's a teenager, fresh out of high school, his nose is still wet.

And he's got all this passion and he's drag racing what he could at the time,

which was some hard car it was used and it was something he could barely afford.

You still live in his parents and he gets his dad to co-sign a loan for this car

and he still has it.

He bought it new in 67.

He promised Carol Shelby he drag racing.

Carol loads the trunk with a dual quad intake manifold and camshaft and crane cylinder heads

and all this stuff.

So this kid could go drag racing.

He never charged him for it.

That car will be here as we'll hunt.

Yeah, that story.

We've got a 69 Z28 coming.

The original owner is being flown in by the gentleman at the Chevrolet dealer in Plant City

who restored the car and we're going to show those two vehicles and have the original owners

talk about why they ordered those cars the way they did.

And I'm just ecstatic about that.

Are they going to be the most valuable cars there?

Are they going to be the biggest draw?

Probably not, but that story to me, those two stories and those two people meeting together

and us being able to have that happen, that's one of my favorite parts of the whole event.

Oh, yeah.

And you know what?

You just never know who you're going to meet or what new stories you're going to get

or quite frankly, there's some pretty cool variations of cars that you never knew existed.

That's right.

So you don't know what's going to show up and you know, that's half the fun.

And then it's the people behind the car that that really makes the story.

Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.

That's for sure.

Well guys, I know again, I'm looking forward to it.

We'll be there in a couple of weeks.

Robert, we always see you motoring around trying to track you down.

Gary, we're certainly going to connect with you.

We've certainly got some some interesting stuff to share as well.

But I know again, myself, I'm looking forward to it.

It is the Lake Mirror Classic and Concord, which is coming up.

Tell us again, Robert, what's the date on that?

October 17, 18 and 19.

And beautiful downtown Lakeland, Florida, which is about halfway between Tampa and Orlando,

right along Interstate 4.

So it's about the only interstate that goes east west in Florida.

But yeah, we're certainly looking forward to it.

Again, you're going to see some amazing cars.

It's clearly one of the very best events in the country.

I can't say that enough.

And we are super, super proud to be affiliated with it.

Having the lake right there is pretty cool too with the Mahogany boats and the amphicars and everything else too.

Yeah, that's that's that's a super car cool part of it as well.

So Robert, thank you again for for your time and for sharing the information.

Gary, thank you as always.

We're certainly looking forward to seeing you guys there.

And we're looking forward to seeing some more really outstanding vehicles and meeting some some great people.

So thank you again for joining us.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

We will see you guys there.

See you guys.

Thanks for riding along with us.

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The Lake Mirror Classic: Cars, Community, and Carroll Shelby

About this episode

Redline Synthetic Oil

Meekum Auctions

Shelby American

Ford Mustangs

Shelby Cobra

continuation cobras

Ford versus Ferrari

Ford Mustang Mach 1

Chevrolet Corvette

Pontiac GTO

shaker hood scoop

428 engine

four-speed

Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

ground up restoration

Shelby Series 1

Dodge Viper

Mopar

Cadillac pace car convertible

Dodge Dakota

hybrid

innovation

ABS

Ford Gt

427

hyper car

Lincoln

Chevrolet Camaro

Mopars

Porsche 918

Mclaren 720S

Porsche 918 Spyder

Ford Raptor

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