Bold Moves: Episode 3 - The Legend of Carroll Shelby

The third installment of Ford's ambitious Bold Moves documentary series kicks off a three-part arc focused on the new GT500 . Fittingly, Part 1 centers on the man for which that car is named: Carroll Shelby. Chock full of great archival footage, the webisode begins with Carroll telling viewers in his own words how his relationship with Ford came to be. He approached then-president Lee Iacocca with the proposition that if Iacocca gave him $25,000, he'd build Ford a car that would go out and beat the Corvette. In one of the better moves ever made by an automobile industry executive, Iacocca ponied up the $25K. The rest, as you know, is history.

The episode goes on to show Ford's emergence in the musclecar arena, then takes viewers through the decline of performance in the fuel-strapped 70s to the design and product wasteland of the 80s, finally bringing the story full circle with Carroll's return to Ford a few years ago. Carroll Shelby's one of those people who you can watch and listen to for hours on end. You only get a couple of minutes with him in Bold Moves episode 3, but it's time very well spent.

Autoblog's fearless leader, John Neff, gets into the act himself as the scribe of the "Point" essay in the Point/Counterpoint feature on the site. In it, he makes a compelling case as to why halo cars like the new Shelby GT500 are important to automakers.

Your assignments, Autoblog readers, are the following: Watch the webisode. Read the essay. Weigh in with your own opinions in the comments.

Now get going!