Posted 21 September 2005 - 21:20
Several of the Daytona Coupes were used as street cars by their private owners. Whats amazing is that when Shelby put them up for sale, almost nobody wanted them. He sold one right away but the rest sat around for years. I think he still had two or three when he lost the lease on his building at LAX and had his "garage sale". One coupe sold for less than $4000! I was eleven years old at the time and couldn't quite raise the funds.
The one that cropped up a couple of years ago was CSX2287, which was actually the prototype coupe. It was the last coupe actually raced by the Shelby team when it was used to set speed records at Bonneville in 1965. Shelby sold it to a fellow named Russell who owned the Russkit slot car company. Russell sold it to record producer Phil Spector (who is currently on trial in LA for murder) who drove it on the street occasionally. Spector supposedly sold it or gave it to his bodyguard who later sold it to his daughter. She stored it in a rental lockup where it stayed unseen for 30 years. By all accounts she was rather unbalanced and resisted all offers to sell the car or even let anyone see it. In 2000 she commited suicide by self-immolation. Her mother, as her closest relative, claimed her estate and took possesion of the car, and promply sold it to a classic car dealer who quickly sold it to a wealthy collector. Except, a friend of the now deceased lady said she had promised the car him, and then Phil Spector chimed in and said he never sold the car in the first place and since he was the last registered owner it was still his. Is everyone clear so far? Good. So, lawyers became involved and lawsuits were filed. But since the collector who had bought the car A) actually had it, and B) was quite wealthy, well, you know how it works.
Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.
Cheers,
Kurt
