entrance to Carrol Shelby museum and facility
service facility at Carrol Shelby museum
man talking to tour group at Carrol Shelby museum
Chassis of a mustang on a lift at Carrol Shelby museum
shelby radiator installed in a project at at Carrol Shelby factory
Ford f150 raptor on lift at Carrol Shelby factory
Shelby 1000 ford mustang on lift at Carrol Shelby facility
Shelby 1000 ford mustang on lift at Carrol Shelby facility
Custom cars waiting for upgrades at Carrol Shelby facility
Customer cars at Carrol Shelby facility
Shelby Ford Focus at Carrol Shelby museum
Shelby Super Snake F-150 Raptor and Mustang at Carrol Shelby museum
Shelby super snake ford mustang at Carrol Shelby museum
cars lined up for upgrades at Carrol Shelby factory
vintage shelby cars at Carrol Shelby museum
vintage shelby daytona coupe and Cobra cars at Carrol Shelby museum
CSX2000 shelby cobra at Carrol Shelby museum
a pair of historic shelby cobra coupes at Carrol Shelby museum
a pair of Shelby mustang GT350 coupes at Carrol Shelby museum
Shelby Series 1 at Carrol Shelby museum
Shelby series 1 display at Carrol Shelby museum
the first cobra ever made at Carrol Shelby museum
33 shelby cobra at Carrol Shelby museum
shelby cobra golf cart at Carrol Shelby museum
visitors signing wall at Carrol Shelby museum
woman signing wall at Carrol Shelby museum

Outside the Shelby American headquarters. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

(Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

(Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

View from underneath a customer car on a lift at the Shelby Speed Shop. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

View from underneath a customer car on a lift at the Shelby Speed Shop. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

A Ford Raptor in the process of getting its Shelby Package installed. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

A Shelby 1000 Ford Mustang on a lift at the Shelby Speed Shop. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

A Shelby 1000 Ford Mustang on a lift at the Shelby Speed Shop. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

(Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

(Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Ford Focus, AKA the “pocket rocket” as Carroll Shelby liked to call them. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Super Snake Ford Mustang and Ford Raptor.(Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Super Snake Ford Mustang and Ford Raptor. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Customer cars in the Shelby American “Speed Shop,” where Shelby packages are installed and final inspections and quality checks take place. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Other Shelby vehicles on display in the Shelby American Museum. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Other Shelby vehicles on display in the Shelby American Museum. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

The very first Shelby Cobra, CSX2000. Carroll Shelby was once offered 23 million dollars for this car, and he said no. This car was on magazine covers, and after each photo shoot, Carroll would take it to be painted a different color. By doing this, he fooled people into thinking he had more than one. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

The “Rumor Car” (left) got its name because the totally chrome 427 Cobra is rumored to be built in the 90’s entirely of leftover 60’s parts, which is true. Carroll Shelby had it mirror finished. On the right is “33,” A CSX7000 series Shelby Cobra. It was originally built as a challenge car for racing. It has also been used as a test car, pace car, and track car by Shelby factory drivers. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Mustang GT350 on display outside the Shelby building. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Series 1, fully designed and engineered by Carroll Shelby and features a carbon fiber body. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Shelby Series 1, fully designed and engineered by Carroll Shelby and features a carbon fiber body. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Another view of the first Cobra. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Another view of “33.” (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

A Shelby Cobra golf cart on display and for sale at the museum. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

OAC’s Sierra Guterba signing the wall at the Shelby American headquarters. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

OAC’s Sierra Guterba signing the wall at the Shelby American headquarters. (Image/OnAllCylinders - Sierra Guterba)

Carroll Shelby.

The name is legend in the auto industry. Shelby is well known for creating the famous Shelby Cobra, but he also had his hand in creating high-performance vehicles for Chrysler, General Motors, and of course, Ford. Shelby’s death at 89 in May 2012 devastated many in the auto industry, but his legacy lives on each day at Shelby American, a high-performance car company and division of Carroll Shelby International.

“At the end of the day, we’re all just car people and car enthusiasts,” said Gary Patterson, Vice President of Operations and Test Driver at Shelby American. “That’s what Carroll was.”

Shelby was funny. And you always knew exactly what was on his mind, Patterson said. The man didn’t have a filter.

We got a behind-the-scenes look at Shelby American’s “Speed Shop” where technicians install, upgrade, and complete final inspections on Shelby packages for customer vehicles.

We saw Ford Raptors. The Shelby American crew was preparing to install emissions-legal 575-horsepower packages in them.

We saw Mustangs. Lots of them. Gorgeous ones. Scheduled for power upgrades.

Scattered among them were Ford Focus vehicles. Carroll called them “pocket rockets,” Patterson said.

Don’t laugh. The Shelby upgrade on the Focus gives these compacts 300 horsepower—enough muscle to outduel some of the Mustangs at a recent Shelby Bash.

Shelby and Patterson were colleagues and close friends. Patterson spoke affectionately about how he often would pick up Carroll from the airport in his Corvette, just to “poke the bear” a little. Patterson’s daily commute is 100 miles round-trip. The Corvette is his daily driver.

Patterson is from Findlay, OH. He relocated to Las Vegas in 1990 and has been with Shelby American for 17 years. Hold your horses Ford Guy, the Corvette isn’t his only ride.

He’s got a 2007 Shelby Super Snake, a 2008 Shelby Code Red, a 1999 Shelby Series 1, and he still owns his first car. That car is a 1969 Mach 1 Mustang with a 428 CJ engine that he raced in high school. Patterson does some of the evaluation and development driving for Shelby American and also provides driving demonstrations at regional events.

Next time you’re in Las Vegas, visit the Shelby American museum.

The tour is about an hour long, and both entertaining and informative. You’ll leave smiling.

You’ll learn about the cars in the museum, all the company’s accomplishments, its current projects, and other fun facts. Like why the walls in the back manufacturing section of the building are covered in people’s signatures.

Thousands of them. Representing 15 years of passionate Shelby fans.

The story goes like this: The company moved into its current building in July 1998. People were asking for Carroll’s signature. So the Shelby team decided it would be cool if everyone who came to tour the factory left their autographs as well. So began the tradition of visitors signing their names and leaving messages for us to find years later.

Shelby officials plan to move from that building where the autograph tradition started 15 years ago. Patterson said there is no current plan for autographs in the new building. But something you can count on is that the spirit of innovation and looking ahead to the future to see what’s next will continue at Shelby.

The company is relocating from its location near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to a new space on the Las Vegas Strip before the end of 2013. The move will start in November and the new location should be settled into and operational by December. Patterson says this change will help with efficiency by putting everything in the same building. The new facility will be more easily accessible to the public.

The new space represents Carroll Shelby’s commitment to always push forward. To innovate. To evolve.

“If you asked Carroll what his favorite car was,” Patterson said, “he’d say ‘the next one.’”