SHELBY AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE CLUB

Website : www.saac.com

The Shelby American Automobile Club was founded in 1975. It presently has approximately 4,000 members in the United States and another 500 around the rest of the world. When it comes to Cobras and Shelby Mustangs, if we don't know it, it's probably not worth knowing.

While SAAC has continually evolved over the past 36 years, its basic reason for existence has not changed since that very first day.The club is dedicated to the preservation, care, history and enjoyment of the World Championship Cars built or inspired by Shelby American.

For most of us, SAAC is more than just a loose organization of owners and enthusiasts who enjoy cars produced and sold by the same manufacturer. The club is part family, part hobby, part historical archive and part refuge from the pressures of the day-to-day world.These cars provide the opportunity to lose yourself in the past, when high performance, horsepower and speed were unquestioned virtues. They came from a time before the suffocating blanket of government over-regulation, when bragging about 0-to-60 times and top speeds were the coin of the realm. They start out as simple automotive diversions but quickly become a part of your life. Join us and find out what makes these cars so special.

SAAC has hosted a national convention each summer since 1976. For three days this gathering becomes the center of the universe for these cars and those who own and/or enjoy them. Attendance ranges between 1,000 and 5,000 enthusiasts, families and friends. The event is open to the public, and is held at a major-league race track. In the past, SAAC conventions have been held at Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca Raceway, Mid-Ohio Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sears Point International Raceway, Ontario Motor Speedway, Portland International Raceway, Pocono International Raceway, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Lime Rock Park, Road America, Michigan Internal Speedway, California Speedway, Nashville Motorspeedway, Virginia International Raceway, Miller Motorsports Park and New Jersey Motorsports Park.Convention events traditionally include car shows, high-speed open track running, vintage racing, parts swap, technical seminars and evening programs featuring guest speakers who are well-known in the motorsports world or who were influential in Shelby American history. Please feel free to visit our club website ( www.saac.com ) or meet and chat with members and enthusiasts at our discussion forum ( www.saacforum.com ).

If you like what you see, and if Cobras, Shelby Mustangs and Ford GT40s hold a special place in your heart, join us today.  

Member Benefits

·  Some of the benefits of SAAC membership are tangible and some are intangible and, therefore, hard to measure – especially in dollars and cents. Some are of value to all members and some are of value to those who have a specific need for them (although they are always available to every member).

·  The club's publications rate the highest on everyone's scale. The articles and photographs (most in color) printed in SAAC's online magazine are something you will see nowhere else. Four issues of "The Shelby American" are put up on the members-only side of the club's website each year, but the individual articles that make up each issue are posted on a weekly basis. Previous issues are archived and are available to members. All members receive a color hard-copy "Annual" that contains all four issues.

·  SAAC hosts an online forum which allows members and guests to communicate on just about any subject relating to these cars. The web address is www.saacforum.com and if you haven't already stopped by for a look around, you should do this at your earliest opportunity. It is informative and entertaining.

·  SAAC was instrumental in finding and working with an agency which provides low cost agreed-value insurance, not only for Cobras and Shelbys but for any special interest-type cars members own (including Mustangs and Cobra replicas). The low rates are due to SAAC members' good record and also because the club takes an active role in verifying that cars which are insured as Shelbys and Cobras are, in fact, realistically valued and are legitimate – not fakes (which invite insurance fraud and, thus, adversely affect rates).

·  SAAC provides no-charge insurance appraisals for members. Professional appraisers charge between $250 and $500 for the same service. SAAC's letter verifying the value of a car is recognized by every insurance company that provides special interest, collector to agreed value insurance.

·  SAAC offers a communications network that dispenses technical information to members at no cost.

·  SAAC provides the best annual national convention of any marque club in the country. If you doubt that, you have only to attend some other club's annual convention and compare it with what SAAC has been doing every year since 1976.

·  SAAC provides vehicle authentication for members at no charge. Imagine trying to buy a Shelby or Cobra without being able to find out if the serial numbers match, or if there is something questionable about its past history. Professional consultants charge $100 an hour or more, often with 3-hour minimums. Ands most do not know these cars like we do.

·  SAAC publishes a World Registry. Whether a member purchases a copy or not, the effect is the same: The registry protects the authenticity of all Shelbys and Cobras, and this directly reflects their overall values.

·  SAAC works with law-enforcement agencies, legal counsel and the courts regarding stolen or misrepresented and fraudulent vehicles. SAAC's work in this area helps to maintain the values of the genuine cars and also enables the insurance company that administers the club's special interest insurance to provide it at low rates.

·  SAAC assists aftermarket manufacturers in making out-of-production parts available. It often supplies information and/or specifications to insure that parts are accurately reproduced, and then provides a communication network which puts the makers in touch with those who need the parts the most – owners, most of whom make up the club.

·  SAAC members track down, organize and maintain an extensive library of surviving documents in order to authenticate individual car histories. Such information is shared with other members.

·  SAAC maintains extensive and ongoing relations with the national automotive press to continually promote Shelby Mustangs and Cobras as well as attempting to insure the accuracy of anything printed with regards to these cars. SAAC is the accepted authority on Cobras and Shelby Mustangs.


·  SAAC members qualify for exclusive discounts on FPG Certificates of Authenticity (if and when applicable).