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Shelby’s First Racer At Auction

Posted by David Kinney

CARROLL SHELBY’S FIRST RACE CAR TO CROSS THE BLOCK IN VEGAS

Cars That Matter has just learned that Carroll Shelby’s first race car, a 1948 MG-TC has been consigned to Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas auction this October. Shelby competed in his first sports car race in Norman Oklahoma in 1952 in the TC which he borrowed from then-owner Ed Wilkins. The current owner is publisher Syd Silverman.

This TC, because of its history, is likely the most valuable MG-TC on the planet.

The MG-TC is the first MG to be sold in volume in the US, having been discovered by US servicemen stationed overseas. While slow and underpowered, the spindly MG-TC introduced thousands of American drivers to the joys of sports car handling. Shelby on the other hand, perhaps because of his experience in the TC, went on to cure the AC Ace and Sunbeam Alpine of underpoweredness by conceiving the AC Cobra and Sunbeam Tiger respectively.