Have you seen the movie, Ford vs. Ferrari? Anne and I took it in last week and enjoyed it much. Afterward we checked out a website that compared fact from fiction, though I already knew how true it is. I worked for Carol Shelby, the force behind all of this.

The Daytona Coupe, a race-track-enhanced version of the classic Cobra.

I dedicated a spread to my brief time at Shelby in the book, Our Lives Together, The Early Years (available on Amazon or on this website).

A “section drawing” was a school project, learning that paid off in my work on the Daytona Coupe.

It was my first job after a two-year course in technical illustration at Trade-Tech in Los Angeles. I was 20. Anne and I were only just beginning to be “a thing.” I was driving a Triumph TR3, going to races, and amassing a collection of speeding tickets.

Here’s a freeze frame from a video interviewing Carol Shelby. I was watching it one day and suddenly: “Hey, that’s me.”

Here’s one of my drawings. I worked directly from the altered Ford parts, making blueprints for Detroit to understand the changes.

I’d been hired by chief engineer and unlettered genius Phil Remington, who (opposite from usual) was much better looking and more manly in real life than depicted in the movie. My job was to make accurate technical drawings of the speed modifications to the already huge Ford engines. Detroit wanted to see what California was doing. I did this until I completed them all and then went to work for Pete Brock, the styling designer.

Another of my drawings. It’s the Daytona Coupe before it became reality. I still have the full-size blueprint.

Pete, having already made his mark in Detroit with Corvette, made a series of beautiful freehand drawings in colored chalk from which Ken Miles chose his favorite. Ken Miles features large in the movie, as he should, being the winningest race driver of the time. My job was to make this life-size “section drawing” from which to build a plywood “buck” on a Cobra chassis.

Here’s the buck with the three of us that worked on it . . . I’m the one in the sweater. I found the photo on the Internet when producing Our Lives Together. (Click to enlarge.)

(By the way, this is where I was working the day Kennedy was shot, always a memorable moment.)

From here aluminum was formed over it for the first prototype. After that, just nine cars were built, and became very rare classics. Is that me, in that same sweater, bent into the car? Maybe.

One more, this one discovered on the documentary of Carol Shelby.

Check out this video of the Daytona Coupe . . . just to give a taste of the look on the track, and especially the blood curdling sound.

Cobra Classic, oil, 12×16. With my loose painterly approach, I’ve come a long distance from exacting technical illustration of the early years.

PS. By coincidence I recently made a few paintings of sports cars, including this Cobra roadster. I only drove one once, out on an empty airstrip. From a standing start, it’s the fastest thing I’ve ever experienced. For other cars I’ve painted see the Star Motors collection on my website, here.

PPS. For those of you on the Blank Slate list (my writing blog), I just came across another significant benchmark for the age 27. It turns out that Raphael was just 27 when he did his first major mural, “The School of Athens.” Pretty impressive, and 27 a pivotal year, the year that got my life turned around.

Feel free to share with any who like the movie, or anyone else.