Much has been said about Carroll Shelby following his decision not to renew the licensing agreement for Shelby American Automobile Club, and much of it has not been terribly nice. Here in The Garage, we were fortunate to receive a bit of insight into the situation from our man on the west coast, Gary Faules earlier this week. Shelby’s people have been kind enough to keep The Garage in the loop with the following release:

CARROLL SHELBY LICENSING RESPONDS TO COMMENTS BY
KEN EBER AND RICK KOPEC

Gardena, Calif. – December 7, 2007
Carroll Shelby, CEO of Carroll Shelby Licensing Inc., (CSL) has issued a statement in response to allegations made by the owners of the organization formerly known as the Shelby American Automobile Club.

“I wanted to explain my concerns to the members of the Shelby American Automobile Club directly, but couldn’t because SAAC has refused to give me a list of its members, even though the licensee agreement with SAAC requires them to allow me access to their books and records. So I am being forced to share the facts through a news release.

Rick Kopec and Ken Eber, two of the individuals who run the for-profit business called SAAC, have said that they don’t know why we didn’t renew their annual license. That’s not true. We’ve sent e-mails, made phone calls and mailed letters explaining our concerns for quite some time. Except for the message noted at shelbylicensing.com, they went unanswered. For the past several years, I’ve repeatedly told them that I was unhappy with their disregard of the reporting requirements of their license agreement and the way they managed the club. And, for the past eight years, their business hasn’t kept the terms of its extremely favorable agreement with my licensing company, Carroll Shelby Licensing.
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Recently the Internet has become an explosion of controversy with regards to Carroll Shelby’s announcement that he will not be renewing SAAC’s licensing agreement to use his name in conjunction with the operation of the club and furthermore Shelby has demanded the handing over of all documents regarding the registry of all Shelby vehicles by SAAC. (Click here for letter from Shelby’s lawyers.) I am appalled by all the bad mouthing of Carroll Shelby especially by so many that have no personal relationship with him whatsoever. I have been reading hundreds of post many of which are slamming Carroll and talking smack about a subject they know very little about. Many of them are making comments about how Shelby will do anything for a buck and how he is no longer interested in the old Shelby’s and so on. Give me a break and get real! The truth is the majority of them sound like a bunch of high school kids getting ready to fight in the school parking lot. I will say I am impressed with a few members of SAAC who agree that Shelby obviously knows what’s best and has a bigger vested interest in preserving the integrity of all things Shelby.
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