This was Carroll Shelby's first race car

The 1949 MG TC belonged to a buddy, Ed Wilkins. Shelby borrowed it and promptly trounced Jaguar XK120s in it. Photo by Hemmings

Rough-ridin' 1949 MG TC kicked off Shelby's legendary racing career

This is the car that changed Carroll Shelby's life.
In May of 1952, Shelby joined his buddy Ed Wilkins at a road race in Norman, Okla., the two of them making the three-hour drive north from Dallas in Wilkins' 1949 MG TC. Shelby was 29 years old. He had never driven a car competitively, but Wilkins lent him the MG. "I had no idea what to do but just drive, and I won it and another race there, too," Shelby reminisced. "Ed was just a draftsman all of his life, but the highlight of his living was those races way back then." At that race, a driver from Boston brought a bottle of champagne, cracked it across the MG TC's radiator, and yelled, "I hereby christen thee Theodore Roosevelt, you rough-ridin’ son of a bitch!"
Shelby was inexperienced and outgunned, but he won his first race -- and then, he won a second one, that afternoon. He whipped a couple of Jaguar XK120s, but later joined their ranks: he soon switched to Jaguars at races across Oklahoma. And in 1954, he caught the eye of one John Wyer, who was impressed enough to put him in an Aston Martin DB3S at the 12 Hours of Sebring. His first big break.

A stock MG TC's 1,250cc engine produces around 55 horsepower. This one produces 100, which gave it a fighting chance against 200-horsepower Jaguar XK120s. Photo by Hemmings

He didn't finish -- "we gave that 2.9-liter Aston a good run before the rear end broke in the fifth hour," he said. But the racing career was cemented. A few months later, he went to Aintree, his first race in England, and took second place in the Aston. And then, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he drove with Paul Frere well into the night, chasing down Briggs Cunningham into the Mulsanne Corner, when the car skidded into a sandbank. When Shelby pulled into the pits, the front wheel spindle was broken. Shelby was disappointed, but he stayed with Wyer and Aston Martin's David Brown for years. And he could never forget 1954.

"1954 with the Aston Martins and being in England and Europe that spring and summer with friends and teammates was one of the best times of my life," he wrote. "John Wyer gave me a chance that gave me a name that led to a lot of good stuff in years later."

Shelby would finally make up for his Le Mans incident. After capturing the SCCA National Championship and Sports Illustrated's "Driver of the Year" award, both twice, and getting behind the wheels of Jaguars, Cadillacs, Allards, and Maserati Birdcages -- in 1959, he finally won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Shelby had finally, officially, graduated.

The humble MG wound up in the hands of one Syd Silverman, the heir of Variety magazine, who loved vintage cars and "probably wouldn’t sell it for anything less than a lot of money," even to Shelby. Silverman kept it for over 20 years before it went to collector Ron Pratte. And when the car went up for auction in 2008, Shelby told Barrett-Jackson: "This MG changed my life, because from that point forward, I knew that I wanted to be involved with racing and sport cars."

"I hereby christen thee Theodore Roosevelt, you rough-ridin’ son of a bitch!" Photo by Hemmings

Back in 2008, Barrett-Jackson held its first Las Vegas auction and the car sold for $313,500, a smash hit. On Jan. 15 in Scottsdale, the car will go up for auction, again, with Barrett-Jackson. Since Shelby has since passed, it'll be worth…considerably more.
This MG TC's original 1,250cc engine makes around 100 hp, nearly double its stock output. Engine fittings are new, owing to its continuous flogging as a vintage racer -- in 2005, it won the Collier Cup at Watkins Glen. Original parts are included, like the stock fenders, and a full SCCA logbook is included. Naturally, Carroll Shelby signed it.
It's fun to think about the alternate universe, where Nixon wins a third term and Shelby never built the Cobra -- if Shelby had decided to stay home and watch "Bonanza," he would've never become addicted to racing. And then he would've never gone to France. He would've never opened his driving school, pissed off Ferrari, inked a deal with Ford, taken GT40s to Le Mans, stuffed a big engine inside a tweedy British roadster (not unlike the MG), invented the Omni GLH, invented the Series 1, invented wheels for the Saab 900, invented his own line of deodorant…
He probably would've stayed home with the chickens. And we'd know him as a dude who made really good chili.
Shelby loved to sign things, but for once, he signed a car that changed his life.