As part of the year-long celebration of Carroll Shelby’s 100th birthday, Clive Sutton, the high-performance and luxury car specialist has announced their plans to offer the widest ever selection of official Shelby-related vehicles.
For more than 15 years, Clive Sutton has been importing Shelby vehicles to the UK. They are also the only official distributor in the UK. As part of the plans to celebrate the 100th birthday of the brand’s founder, Clive Sutton will include continuation and replica sports cars to their list of Shelby GT500 Mustangs and 700 bhp Shelby Super Snake / Off-Road F-1150 trucks.
Born on January 11, 1923, Carroll Shelby, the American performance motoring icon, and his iconic brand, Shelby Cobra, was created 40 years later in 1963. These dates simply makes 2023 a very important year as it coincides not just with Shelby’s 100th birthday, but also the 60th anniversary of the original Shelby Cobra.
As part of the celebration, Clive Sutton will offer clients the chance to acquire a faithfully recreated Shelby Cobra Continuation Model. Also known as the MkII Slab Side, the CSX7000 and CSX8000 are impressive recreations of the Shelby Cobra 289 that won the 1965 FIA World Championship. It matched the original Shelby Cobra exactly. Each highly coveted Continuation Model is made to order and is added into the official Shelby register. Price ranges from £270k to £400k.
There is already a 60th anniversary edition that is planned to be produced and those interested to acquire it can now reserve a build slot with Clive Sutton. The Sutton team will also be offering the only replicas that have an officially-licensed Shelby body – the Superformance MkII and MkIII. These models bring together modern production techniques with engineering to create a faithful tribute to the original Shelby models with an added modern-day reliability and performance. The replicas will be available in both right- or left-hand drive, and the Superformance models will have a variety of modern-day enhancements like fuel-injected Roush or Coyote V8 engines, five-speed gearboxes, and disc brakes.
Founder and CEO Clive Sutton shared, “Carroll Shelby was an inspiration to me in my youth, the power, performance, and style he brought to racing and motor cars in the 1950s and 1960s captivated me as it did many of our customers. Offering a spectrum of performance-focused Shelby models from modern day GT500s to the continuation Shelby Cobras and Superformance replicas is a privilege that we can’t wait to share with our customers in Shelby’s 100th year!”
During the exclusive Salon Privé concours event held at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Clive Sutton introduced a highly specified 560HP Roush-engined Superformance MkIII. As a tribute to the 100th birthday of Carroll Shelby, Clive Sutton specified the powerful, custom-built Roush motor and the Ferrari Grigio Silver finish for the MkIII. Priced at £185k, the example will top the MkIII range. Clients will be able to specify their own MkIII variants for import with price starting at £135k.
The example that was showcased at Salon Privé offers series performance with a power-to-ratio of 514 bhp-per-tonne due to its very very impressive 1,089kg kerb weight. Similar to the performance of the original Shelby Cobra, the MkIII Roadster is very powerful with 540 lb-ft of torque matched with the Roush 427IR eight stack fuel injection engine’s 560 HP to provide instant acceleration and still have a lot to give throughout the rev range.
Aside from the MkIII Roadster, Sutton clients can also acquire a regular MkIII or the performance-focused MkIII-R. Those who are more interested in acquiring the nostalgic characteristics of the original Shelby Cobra can get the Superformance MkII Slab Side. Prices start at £128,950.
Clive Sutton is already taking orders for the full range of Shelby vehicles as well as Shelby-licensed Superformance products. Some units are available for immediate customer delivery. Those who are interested to apply can call the Sutton team on 020 7483 6500. Clive Sutton specializes in importing from the US and across Europe the most unique, powerful, and desirable vehicles. Clients can simply look for luxury and supercar stock or built their bespoke luxury vehicles through the Clive Sutton website.
