Incredibly Rare Shelby Series 1 Heads to Auction in Las Vegas
Only 60 supercharged Shelby Series 1 examples were ever built. And this 10k-mile example might just be the nicest of them all.
It’s hard to imagine, but among Carroll Shelby‘s many accomplishments, the man was rarely satisfied with what he had done. For decades, helping Ford produce some of the most incredible racing and street cars in history just wasn’t enough. No, he wanted to build his very own car, from the ground up. Something that many have dreamed of doing, yet few have accomplished. Which is a testament to just how difficult a task it is. But Shelby ultimately prevailed, designing and producing the Shelby Series 1 in 1999.
The clean-sheet automobile embodied exactly what Shelby was trying to accomplish. It looked great, it was lightweight, and it had plenty of baked-in performance. But perhaps more importantly, it looked like a Shelby. Like a modern iteration of the original Shelby Cobra, with a wide open “mouth” of a grill and curvy body lines. Except this time, those body lines were fashioned from a mix of carbon fiber and fiberglass, covering an aluminum frame.
A total of 249 Shelby Series 1 examples were ultimately built, and the one you see here is #34. It’s also one of approximately 60 cars built with a supercharger upgrade that bumped horsepower from 320 to 450. And now this rare gem is headed to the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction on September 27-29, where one lucky Shelby fan will get a chance to bring it home.
The beautifully preserved example has only 10,000 miles on the odometer and appears to be in perfect, as new condition. It’s also quite attractive in silver with Le Mans red stripes. But most importantly, this Shelby Series 1 lives on as an example of what an automotive legend could do when he put his mind to it. And that’s just about anything he wanted to, of course.
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