A New Shelby Series II Is the Ultimate Christmas Gift

By the mid 90’s, Mr. Shelby should have been retired. But thanks to the success of the Dodge Viper along with several late-model Fords, the man in the black hat decided to build a car of his own design. Their target was to meet all highway safety and emissions laws for the ‘99 model-year, so millions were spent on building an incredible chassis with help from aerospace engineers.

The first hurdle was met by sourcing engines from Oldsmobile. Their 4-liter version of the Cadillac Northstar was offered in the Aurora along with brief run in Indycar. While the first 249 were being built by hand at Shelby American, the company was sold to venture capitalists. Being indentured servants to the bottom line choked production and forcing the project into bankruptcy.

Enter Bob Wingard. A rocket scientist by day, his aerospace company solves problems for the National Reconissance Office, and that’s all you need to know. What matters here, is that he is 6’6” (198cm) tall and he was looking to build a classic Shelby Roadster. Realizing the Series 1 was a marvel of modern engineering, he purchased the remaining chassis (with VINs) and trucked them to a farm in Maryland.

It is there that each one is built to order using methods and technology better than the big automakers. Weight was the first area to address. Since the chassis is aluminum, he continued the theme by pouring 4,000 man-hours into crafting a body of aerospace alloy.

Wingard Motorsports had enough body parts to build around 50 cars, and their Series 1 cars picked up with chassis CSX 5100 back in 2018. Standard equipment included hand-sewn leather, front and rear cameras, reference-quality audio, and a carbon fiber interior. To get the balance right, a Porsche 993 transmission was flipped upside-down and mounted in-place of the rear transaxle.

A torque tube strong enough to survive a trip to Mars was formed in a CNC mill connected to an inboard suspension that’s also built in-house. The Oldsmobile heart proved cantankerous at best, so Bob developed an aluminum 7-liter small block Ford V8. Utilizing the latest tall-deck Windsor, you will have 550 fuel injected horsepower. An aluminum Ford FE big block monster is also optional.

During shakedown runs at tracks along the East Coast, the only production cars capable of lapping the new Series 1 have been the McLaren 570S GT4. This is thanks to a partership with Penske Motorsports to supply a suspension that’s tuned to the car’s optimal 49/51 weight distribution. Watching an American supercar lose to England was motivation to try harder. Before the original program was canned by bankers, Mr. Shelby was working on a successor.

The Series II was planned to debut in 2007, and it would arrive with improved styling thanks to carbon fiber body panels. Under the hood, the Oldsmobile was treated to low-compression pistons and topped by a Magnuson supercharger. Unfortunately, the blower caught the eye of the EPA, who cried foul at Shelby for not having this powertrain properly tested for emissions. As such, only 1 prototype remains, and it last changed hands for nearly half a million dollars.

Bob also has the chassis and VINs for these, so here’s how I would order a 2022 Shelby Series II. Wingard Motorsports prides themselves on aluminum Ford power, but he won’t deny the best sellers are LS-powered. The chassis itself has better torsional rigidity than any supercar, and it supports a curb weight of 2,900 lbs.

To keep it that way, I would find an LS3 block from a Camaro or Vette and stab in a camshaft from Brian Tooley Racing. Titanium connecting rods and a forged crank would make it a screamer, so I would opt for the carbon fiber hard top to be insulated for foul weather driving. These are street-legal supercars with the provenance of being Mr. Shelby’s last creations, and each example is already in the Shelby registry. If you want something timeless and American, Wingard Motorsports waiting for your call.