Name That Car!

Here's a chance to exhibit your automotive acumen and impress the ladies. Take a gander at this shot and give us your best guess as to what car this is. The surprising answer is after the jump.

So, you think you know? Here's a hint- it was conceived by one of the greatest names in automotive history and its engine was supplied by a company that has since faded into that very same history.

Here's an even bigger hint-

That's right, it's a 1999 Shelby Series 1. Originally envisioned as the modern torch bearer of the legendary Shelby Cobra, and the only clean-sheet car Carroll has ever undertaken. For the power source, Shelby tapped Oldsmobile, then desperately looking for something, anything, that would provide them with some justification for existence. Sadly, the Federal certification costs sucked almost all the venture capital Shelby American had raised, providing next to nothing for marketing, employee salaries or supplier payments. Shelby, recognizing a sinking ship by the icy tendrils of creditors tugging at his Pilotis, sold the concern to Venture Corporation, who surprisingly was unable to make a go of it either.

All in all 249 of the 320 bhp Aurora V8-powered droptops were built. Today they command big bucks and provide their few owners with smile-inducing, if not maniacal, performance. More recently, a few of the unfinished cars have been completed and sold without drivetrains, but they do not share the same VIN sequence with the Shelby-anointed cars.

Did you get it? Don't worry, we won't tell if you didn't.