1965 Shelby AC Cobra MK III

This car is very special to museum founder Mel Martin. It has only six original miles and the dash was signed by the legendary car designer Carroll Shelby (January 11, 1923 - May 10, 2012). The AC Cobra was designed by Shelby to race. He wanted it to be a "Corvette-beater" and it did just that. In 1963, at Riverside International Raceway, Shelby's car outran an impressive field of Corvettes, Jaguars, Porsches, and Maserati's to give the Cobra its first win.

Shelby was an American automotive designer, race driver, and entrepreneur. In addition to the AC Cobra, he is also known for his involvement with the Ford Mustang, which he modified during the late 1960s and early 2000s.

He established Shelby American Inc. in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles, as well as Carroll Shelby Licensing in 1988, which grew into Carroll Shelby International.

A chapter in Shelby's remarkable life is told in the 2019 movie, Ford v Ferrari, starring Matt Damon (Shelby) and Christian Bale (driver Ken Miles). In the movie, Shelby and Miles "battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966" - something that most racing "experts" of the day thought was impossible.