Shelby American, more commonly referred to as Shelby, is an American automotive manufacturer that was founded by Carroll Shelby in 1962. Carroll Shelby was a well known, and well respected race car driver, who had for various years sought to create a highly capable race car by combining a lightweight sports car body with a powerful American V8 engine. After numerous attempts, Shelby was finally able to source lightweight bodies and a V8 engine, with AC Cars in England providing AC Ace bodies, and Ford providing their new small block V8 powerplant. This now legendary combination was given the name Shelby Cobra. Shelby American was created in 1962 by Carroll Shelby in order to produce, sell, and race these cars, which drew international acclaim, and lead to Ford selecting Shelby to create the famous Ford GT40 and the Shelby Mustang. This success caused Shelby American to split into three entities, one for Shelby Mustang production, one for racing operations, and one that created automotive parts. Eventually, problems with Ford lead to Shelby deciding to leave the automotive industry in 1969. After years of inactivity, Carroll Shelby returned to the automotive world in order to work with Dodge to create high performance versions of their cars. During his time with Dodge he helped create models like the Dodge Viper and Dodge Dakota Shelby. In 1999, Shelby released its first entirely original car, the Shelby Series 1. Although Carroll Shelby passed in 2012, the company continues its wide range of operations to this day, notably building continuation versions of its famous Cobra.