Ken Miles The Shelby American Years

Ken Miles is one of the most famous sports car racers in history, and his time at Shelby American was the pinnacle of his career. Ride shotgun with Ken Miles through the twists and turns of Sebring, Laguna Seca, Riverside, and Le Mans as seen through the lens of Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman! The hiring of Ken Miles by Carroll Shelby in February 1963 initiated arguably the greatest pairing of driver/owner partnerships in the history of motorsports. Not only did Shelby hire Competition Manager Ken Miles as an accomplished road racer but also Miles brought professionalism, innovation, and a keen attribute of being able to surround himself with budding, talented individuals. The list of race cars that Ken piloted at Shelby American is nearly unrivaled: the Shelby 289 Cobra, 390 Cobra, 427 Cobra, King Cobra, Shelby Daytona, Mustang GT350R, and Ford GT. Ken dominated the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) racing season by winning 8 of 10 races to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship. However, it was at Le Mans where Ken Miles became a worldwide household name. The robbery that was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans is laid out in excruciatingly accurate detail as Ford royalty Carroll Shelby, Carroll Smith, Homer Perry, Leo Beebe, Charlie Agapiou, Bob Negstad, Carroll Smith, and Peter Miles recall the race and the tragedy that followed two months later. Recapture Ken Miles’s career as told by esteemed Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman in this firsthand account titled Ken Miles: The Shelby American Years!

In the late 1950s, a young John Morton was transfixed with sports car racing. His dreams of competition eventually led him to enroll, in 1962, in the Shelby School of High Performance Driving. In a bold moment after the last class, Morton asked Carroll Shelby if he might come to work for the newly formed Shelby American. The answer was “Yes, here's a broom.” Thus ended Morton's college career and began his long racing career. Over the next three years, Morton would be a firsthand witness to the evolution of one of the most iconic sports car builders and racing teams of the 1960s. Inside Shelby American is his personal account of a company overflowing with talent, from designer Pete Brock to fabricator extraordinare Phil Remington to drivers like Dan Gurney, Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, and Phil Hill. The cars were equally captivating: AC Cobra, Mustang GT350, Ford GT, Daytona Coupe. In this book, Morton’s story is intertwined with the memories of other Shelby staffers of the period, revealing through historic photography and an untold perspective the rousing story of America’s most legendary racer and car builder.

Ken Miles follows the racer's life from the early days in England to his tragic death at Riverside Raceway in 1966. The book format is somewhat different from others. It is essentially a scrapbook. More than 130 photographs are included. Many are from private collections and have never before been published. A fascinating feature is remembrances written by some who knew Miles best, like Carroll Shelby, Augie Pabst, John Morton, Bill Pollack and Ken's son, Peter. Miles himself was an accomplished writer and a few articles he wrote are reprinted. The book starts off with a complete chronology from birth to death and ends with the eulogy delivered by the author's father and a never-before assembled race record. Miles second-place finish at the 1966 Le Mans was mired in controversy. This book goes some distance toward clarification. Interspersed throughout are articles from period publications. The scrapbook is held together with text by the author, a close friend of Miles and his family.

Written with Carroll Shelby's full collaboration and with a foreword by Edsel B. Ford II, the great-grandson of Henry Ford, this is the definitive record of America's preeminent twentieth century sports car builder and racer—now available as an ebook. It was motoring author Rinsey Mills' passion for AC cars and motorsports history that led to his first meeting with Carroll Shelby. His suggestion that they should collaborate in order to create an accurate record of Shelby's life and achievements at first was rebuffed but later taken up with enthusiasm. This authorized biography is the result. Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography was a long time in the making, as Mills left no stone unturned in his quest to produce the complete study of Shelby's remarkable life. He carried out extensive research and conducted numerous interviews, fully capturing the narrative of Carroll Shelby within and outside of the automotive racing world, including his: Childhood in Texas Wartime service with the Army Air Force Postwar entrepreneurship Earliest race wins in 1952 Legendary 1959 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Monumental release of the first Cobra and the formation of Shelby American in 1962 Historical partnership with Ford that would last for decades Personal interests and travels Present-day legacy Fascinating photographs from Shelby's personal collection complete a book whose original hardcover edition was published mere weeks before his passing, making Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biographya magnificent and lasting tribute to one of the greatest automotive figures of the twentieth century.

Shelby American Up Close and Behind the Scenes takes readers inside the shop that produced the 289 Cobra, Daytona Coupe, 427 Cobra, Mustang GT350, and more from 1962 to 1965.

By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind. Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather's company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up. Baby boomers were taking to the road in droves, looking for speed not safety, style not comfort. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari, whose cars epitomized style, lorded it over the European racing scene. He crafted beautiful sports cars, "science fiction on wheels," but was also called "the Assassin" because so many drivers perished while racing them.Go Like Helltells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.Go Like Helltransports readers to a risk-filled, glorious time in this brilliant portrait of a rivalry between two industrialists, the cars they built, and the "pilots" who would drive them to victory, or doom.

In the new edition of this classic text, Brian Laban brings the story of the AC Cobra up to date. In the early 1960s, a flamboyant Texan, Carroll Shelby, dreamed of a special kind of sports car, a marriage of European style with lusty, affordable American V8 power. He took his dream forward and he persuaded British sports car specialist AC Cars to build his car, and US industry giant the Ford Motor Co to fund it. Its name also came to him in a dream - Cobra. The original production of the Cobra lasted just five years and encompassed barely a thousand cars built within the original framework. But it was only the beginning of a story that is still very much alive, encompassing 'continuations', spin-offs, and a massive worldwide replica industry. Shelby and AC Cobra details the man behind the cars, the story of their development and engineering, racing pedigree and owning and driving these powerful, iconic cars today. Fully illustrated with 250 archive colour photographs.