1. In 1959 Carroll Shelby, after retiring from motorsports, got serious about his dream of building an American sports car. The basic philosophy was to combine beautiful, swift European sports cars with the speed of American hot rods. He went to Chevrolet and bought three 1959 Corvettes. Shelby then shipped them to Italy where Scaglietti built custom bodies on top of the proven and strong Chevrolet powertrain. The car came back beautifully styled, an incredible mix of American power and Italian design. The result was so good in fact that Enzo Ferrari himself threatened to pull Ferrari’s business from Scaglietti if they continued to work with the blue collar (and inferior to Ferrari) Corvette.

    In 1959 Carroll Shelby, after retiring from motorsports, got serious about his dream of building an American sports car. The basic philosophy was to combine beautiful, swift European sports cars with the speed of American hot rods. He went to Chevrolet and bought three 1959 Corvettes. Shelby then shipped them to Italy where Scaglietti built custom bodies on top of the proven and strong Chevrolet powertrain. The car came back beautifully styled, an incredible mix of American power and Italian design. The result was so good in fact that Enzo Ferrari himself threatened to pull Ferrari’s business from Scaglietti if they continued to work with the blue collar (and inferior to Ferrari) Corvette.