Carroll Shelby Car Quotes & Sayings

In 1964, when Lee Iacocca said, 'Shelby, I want you to make a sports car out of the Mustang,' the first thing I said was, 'Lee, you can't make a race horse out of a mule. I don't want to do it.' He said, 'I didn't ask you to make it; you work for me.' — Carroll Shelby

Thank god there's no 48-hour race anywhere in the world, because chances are nobody could beat Porsche in a 48 hour race. They're probably the only cars in the world that would stand up for something like that. — Carroll Shelby

I've always been asked, 'What is my favorite car?' and I've always said 'The next one.' — Carroll Shelby

The Cobra is my personal favorite car. The original 289 Cobra is the car I respect the most. I like to drive the 289 better than the 427. — Carroll Shelby

The reason I moved to California the first time was to build the Cobra. I thought it was stupid to have a 1918 taxicab engine in what Europeans like to call a performance car when a little American V-8 could do the job better. — Carroll Shelby

Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races — Carroll Shelby

Driving race cars was an avenue for me to learn how to build my own car, and that was my ambition all along. — Carroll Shelby