The vast majority of men and women in the old car hobby are doing something that is awesome with their free time. They're preserving history by restoring or restomodding old cars and giving them a second or third or fourth life. They're using their brains, and their hands, and their money, and their friends, and their families, and passionate professional builders they hire to create and renovate what was magical when it was new and now is superlative renewed and functional in current times.

Held on Saturday, August 17, 2024 towards the end of Monterey Car Week, Concorso Italiano celebrated all things Italian, especially pertaining to Italian automobiles and the Italian way of life. For 2024 as with in many other years of the Concorso, non-Italian marques were also invited to attend. There was a smattering of American, British, and German vehicles also on exhibit, as if to provide a contrast to the numerous artful Italian automobiles that comprised a commanding presence at this year's event. Indeed, the Concorso Italiano media team even invited Classic Industries to partake in covering this longstanding Italian-themed super car and vintage iconic Italian marques celebration.

Classic Industries was at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to witness and celebrate 50 years of vintage auto racing history with the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2024. When Classic Industries' humble scribe (namely me) learned about this vintage racing extravaganza, he knew where he wanted to be from August 14 through August 17, 2024.

Nowadays, if you are a vintage Shelby Mustang enthusiast and you have sufficient cash to purchase a 1965-1970 Shelby Mustang, you might be most likely to simply find, test drive, negotiate, and purchase the best possible example GT350, GT500, or GT500KR that you can afford. You might not be too concerned about the Shelby's exterior paint scheme.

A Classic Industries coworker told me several months ago to go visit the Segerstrom Shelby Event Center, in Irvine, California, and several times thereafter over the passing months. Every time he mentioned it, I'd make a mental note to myself while responding to him with something like, "Yeah, I gotta go there and check out all the Shelby Mustangs, Cobras, and Shelby Daytona coupes." 

Author's Note: This is a Classic Industries team member's car. As of this writing, we've logged over 900 miles on our Factory Five Racing Mk4 Cobra roadster replica. Since this is the very same sports car that is the subject of the book that I wrote, How To Build Cobra Kit Cars + Buying Used, we thought you would enjoy reading about our first test drive of the FFR Mk4 after Dad and I constructed this little road burner.

Installing new carpet in your American muscle car or truck is a fantastic way to lay the groundwork for transforming your vehicle's interior. Sears & Roebuck Co., a renowned mail order and retail giant, popularized the Good-Better-Best approach to marketing their extensive range of products. Who can forget the exceptional quality of Sears' Best Craftsman tools that stood the test of time? Classic Industries employs a similar strategy when it comes to carpet options, ensuring that finding the perfect carpet for your ride is a breeze.

First generation Ford Mustang enthusiasts know that the fastest 1965-66 Ford Mustangs are the Shelby GT350 2+2's. Most of these limited production Shelby's were thinly disguised SCCA race cars that were built for the street for homologation purposes. A scant 36 of them were full-on racing machines that dominated SCCA B production racing in 1965 and 1966. These beauteous beasts are still vintage raced to this day. They're often competing heads-up against 1963-65 Shelby Cobra 289-powered roadsters.

Being immersed in the classic car hobby can lead to many great lifetime adventures and pursuits. Beach Gypsy Classics (BGC) is a growing business venture based in Orange County, California. Huntington Beach firefighter, paramedic, resident, and longstanding Classic Industries customer Chuck Stubbing, with his wife Kelly, started BGC after renovating a Wimbledon White 1966 Mustang notchback coupe.

While perusing the antique car classifieds section of the Orange County Register in the summer of 1994, I read a listing that sounded too good to be true. Someone had advertised a 1969 Shelby GT350 Mustang SportsRoof for sale, and it sounded like the deal of the century. According to the Kelley Gold Book for that year the car was underpriced by at least $4,000.