The restoration of two historically significant Shelby Mustangs were completed just in time to make it to the Amelia show.  To start the show, Chuck Cantwell (chief engineer on the Shelby Mustangs) drove the first Shelby GT350R (chassis #003) up to the podium with Shelby mechanic Jerry Schwartz in the passenger seat.

I drove the first street Shelby Mustang GT350 (seen here with chassis #002).  002 had been completed so close to the start of the event that it still had the original tires on it.  The audience was treated to a recreation of a pit stop as the tire went flat and we pulled out the spare and changed the tire on the field!  

If you know much about the six Daytona Cobra Coupes, you know there are three different body shapes. 

• The first Coupe, CSX2287, was built in California under my direction to my design, with Ken Miles and John Ohlsen. 
• The second Coupe body, CSX2299, was built in Italy, without my supervision.  These two cars have the most dramatically different bodies from each other, primarily the shapes of the roof and the shape of the headlight area. 
• Once arriving in Italy I explained to the Italians why I had designed the Coupe with the shape I had and they built the next four Coupes with the best of the designs from CSX2287 (its roof) and CSX2299 (its headlight shape).

We especially like the poster shown to the right because you can easily see the differences between these two cars as they run at Le Mans in '64.  We actually offer this poster for sale here along with a comprehensive description of the differences between the two cars. Besides the roof line, primary differences between the six Coupes include door to rear fender transitions and vent shapes and locations.  Most, if not all, model companies have made their Coupe models by replicating one Coupe and then reproducing that same one car for every Coupe, just changing the livery and numbers to have it represent a particular car, even though that body shape may be incorrect for that particular car.  It drives me crazy (-:

We have had a great relationship with Sunrich Hobbies (makers of TrueScale models) with them making several historically accurate BRE Datsun models.  We are pleased to announce that they are now taking on the massive task of creating accurate 1:43rd scale Daytona Coupe models.  With our involvement for months! they are not only getting the body shapes correct but every other detail as well. Looking at a series of prototypes a few weeks ago, I am impressed!  The models will come out over time... some this year, some next year. We will keep you posted on availability.  As always, news hits our facebook page first here. 

The focus on our trailer business means something must give and it's going to be the memorabilia we offer. 

Now is the best time to get that poster or shirt you've been thinking of before it goes away, or just check out the numerous items we've been carrying here.

As with a lot of projects under tight budget and time constraints, compromises need to be made.  The Daytona Coupe had them and the GT350 was no different.  Over the years, occasionally us team members would gather around an original car and talk about what we had originally planned for the car.

One of the original GT350 crew at Shelby's, Jim Marietta, recently purchased a clean 1965 Mustang K car with the goal of rewriting history.  He's gathered what members of the original team still exist to convert his car into the GT350R we originally wanted. The car sits in our BRE shop waiting for the fun to begin!  (seen above, L-R, Marietta, myself, Ted Sutton)

First, let's cover the frustrating issues we've had with the website that Shelly (seen below, just before she had time to duck out of the picture) has fixed.  1) You can now choose FedEx shipping again!  It's been a long time since the provider of the FedEx module on our website made a change that broke it on our site.  Shelly dug in and got it working again.  2) Next was that annoying space that was appearing at the top of the BRE homepage, and in some cases was saying link not found.  Shelly found it was some kind of google ad link that we don't use but was throwing-up in the background of the website. 

Beyond "fixes", Shelly's primary goal is to create a series of videos under the heading of "Peter Brock's World".  I'll be "telling stories". That could be numerous different experiences I've had with cars. It could be how I got into the hang gliding.  It could be what kind of art reaches me. We've taken quite a bit of footage already.  When we launch the videos we'll announce them first on our facebook page here.

If you follow us on Facebook you saw the arrival of our 28,000 pound press brake (seen here). The brake is what bends the aluminum sides of the trailer. That indentation gives the aluminum enough strength that framing members are not needed, which decreases weight, increases durability, increases interior room and you never bump your elbow or head on a piece of frame.

The last piece of equipment needed to start building the trailers has just been completed.  It's a vertical three bar roller (seen here) that will bend sheets of aluminum into that perfect and beautiful curve at the front of the Aerovault trailers.  With that piece of equipment done we will now finish our skeleton trailer that I'll take to our composite shop where I'll work on the final shape of the roof.  Once that is done production will begin in earnest! 

We currently have a waiting list for the new MKIIs.  If you're interested, call us at (702) 843-5320 to get more info or talk about getting on the list to hold your position.  Deposits will be taken when we have pricing finalized. 

Our travel respite ends next week.  We start in Beverly Hills Thu 4/10, to be interviewed about Dave MacDonald.  Not only was Davey an amazing person and expert Shelby driver, he came to Shelby's as a proven Corvette driver.  Dave is being inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame. I'm very honored to be a small part of the induction, being interviewed for a video that will be shown during the ceremony in the Midwest.

RRDC Dinner in Long Beach: That same evening we have dinner with the Road Racers' Driving Club in Long Beach where Mario Andretti will be the guest speaker.  It's an amazing group of people and we look forward to the annual dinner during Long Beach race week.

El Segundo: On Friday we will be visiting Mattel.  They've done a few Hot Wheels models of the BRE 510s and we continue to work with them on future offerings.  When they sold their Redline BRE 510, seen here, exclusively to their Redline Club members over the holidays, it sold out in two hours.  Two weeks ago, one of the cars was sold on ebay for $760!  We look forward to visiting their design studios and staff on the 11th.  We sold our inventory of the cars via our BRE Datsun facebook page here. 

Saturday the 12th meet us at the ADM Corvette Event!: 10am-2pm we'll be at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo for a book signing in conjunction with their Tribute to Corvette Design event.  This is a very unique museum you should become familiar with.  We hope to see you there!  Details can be found here.

Datsun Roadster Show: Solvang, CA, April 25-26th.  We have wanted to make the annual Solvang Datsun Roadster Show for years.  With Kit (BRE's mascot) in the cab, this year it's finally going to happen.  Chris Breyer is one of the best car club presidents we know, putting on amazingly interesting activities all year long for his SoCal Roadster Club and other Roadster owners as well.  Go here for details on a really great event.  

Corvettes at the Blackhawk Museum, April 27th:  Just say "the Blackhawk" and it brings good memories to mind.  This great museum in Northern California (Danville to be exact), will be host to the Northern California Corvette Association's Legends on Display car show. You'll see Corvettes from every generation in the parking lots of the Blackhawk Plaza. 

In the museum from noon-2pm I'll be talking about the history of the '59 Stingray Racer and the '63 split window Sting Ray.  The event is April 27th (yes that's right, with Kit as co-pilot we'll be bookin' it out of the Solvang show to get to the Blackhawk show the next day).  Event times are 8am-4pm during which I'll be signing books when not speaking.  Get more details here. 

The annual SAAC convention (details here) will be at one of my favorite tracks this year... Elkhart Lake, May 15-17th.  The track grounds are like a beautifully groomed park.  We plan to take my red Coupe to the event in a newly finished Aerovault MKII!  You may remember that last year we took his-and-her Coupes to the SAAC convention. 

June 20-21st in London, OH we hit the first ever Turn-Key Nationals. Just west of Columbus, the organizer of this show used to put on the Ohio Cobra Show. He found however that lovers of all cars wanted to participate.  Not only will there be lots of Cobras and Corvettes, we've heard rumor the Datsun contingent plans to come out in droves... woohoo!   Experience history at the first year of this event, details here. 

Bloomington Gold - the ultimate in Corvette Conventions.  June 27-29th at the University of IL campus will mark Bloomington Gold's 41st event. This is a pretty impressive all-Corvette event with seminars, an auction, exhibits and judging, a tour and an autocross!  I will be giving two seminars:  "Duntov's '57 Sebring Racer... the SS Corvette" and "Origins of Mitchell's '59 Stingray Racer and the '63 Split Window" on Fri the 27th.  Saturday and Sunday we'll be displaying our new Aerovault MKII and doing book signings, all on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign, IL.  Get all the details here.