This is an interview which was done with Wallace Wyss on his most recent publication, COBRA AND SHELBY MUSTANG PICTURES. He is a published author, recognized Shelby biographer, as well as artist. His books include the following:

Here are some of his paintings:

Motor City Maven

Wallace Alfred Wyss is a native of Detroit, Berkley, Michigan to be exact, which, if you look on the map, is bounded on the East side by a little ol’ 8-laner road called Woodward Avenue.

“Yes,” says Wyss, “I spent many a summer night cruising Woodward. In fact, around 1965 I got hep to the fact that auto journalists were loaned free cars so I began writing for my college newspaper so I could get free test cars, including a 427 Corvette.”

Wyss also befriended many auto industry bigwigs including William L. Mitchell and Larry Shinoda which fueled his interest in high performance cars.

Following his graduation with a BA in journalism, he joined the ad world, writing ads for muscle cars like the Chevy Nova SS.

“But the pull of working on the West Coast entranced me,” says Wyss and he left advertising to go out to California in 1969 to work for CAR LIFE magazine, then published by Road & Track.

After CAR LIFE folded, he joined Motor Trend and after two years there began free-lancing and writing books.

His first car book was Shelby’s Wildlife: The Cobras and the Mustangs, which sold an astonishing 50,000 copies. “Oh there was a book before that, Shelby’s own book called The Cobra Story but that ended at the year 1965 and Shelby was still doing lots of newsworthy stuff right up to 1969.”

The book stayed in print for an incredible 17 years.

Wyss went on to write and publish books on Ford such as The Super Fords; and Mid-Engine Exotic Cars which included the Pantera and GT40. He wrote two books on DeTomaso; one entitled DeTomaso Automobiles, the other DeTomaso: the Man and the Machines.

He also wrote books on Porsche, Ferrari and even one on drag racing.
After 40 some years of thinking how to rewrite Shelby’s Wildlife in a new way, he came across Brock Yates book on Harley called Outlaw Machine : Harley-Davidson and the Search for the American Soul

That book gave me the way to do it,” recalls Wyss. “Instead of having to go through it pedantically, saying stuff like ‘the carburetor in the ’65 Shelby was 715 cfm, etc.,’ I could discuss the bigger picture, i.e. why Ford backed Shelby; how Shelby beat Ferrari, and so forth. Plus I added all the funny stories I had ever heard and a little Texas wisdom.”

“Overall,” says Wyss, “I wanted to make the book a fun read. If Yates had written such a book, I wouldn’t need to write it but since he didn’t he left the door open for me.”

When Wyss submitted it to his publisher, he even had a subtitle that was Yates-like: “SHELBY One Man’s Search for the Soul of the American Muscle Car.” But the publisher changed it.

Wyss even convinced his publisher, Iconografix, to print the book at a low cost price–$19.95—and to group all the black and white pictures in one section, the way low cost car books were back in the Sixties.

“We published a more lavish book with color throughout later called Cobra and Shelby Mustang Photo Archive,” says Wyss, “but that cost $10 more because of the color. It wouldn’t have been possible to combine all that with the first book without the whole thing costing $40 so you can learn about Shelby from me in two stages, first get the book that has the big picture in words and then buy the second book to see the cars in color.”

Wyss has now embarked on a second career—that of a fine artist. He has five canvases hanging in a store in Agoura CA (World Class Motoring).

“I did the first few on Shelby as driver or on the Cobra or Ford GT to tie in with my books,” says Wyss. ‘Later I’ll do the other cars I like, oddballs like the Bizzarrini Strada or Serenissima Torpedo.”

The works can be seen on the website http://legendconnection.org/links.aspx
Wyss lives in the inland empire of Southern California in the winter but each summer journeys to his homesteaded ranch, Cobra Ranch, deep in the forests of Mendocino. He has also become involved in thoroughbred horse breeding and hopes to have something he can put on the track in a couple of years.