rebuffed so he approached Oldsmobile, who were building a 4.0 L version of the new V8 engine for their Aurora sedan. Oldsmobile had been in a significant sales decline since the late 1980s and Oldsmobile general manager John Rock believed the Shelby sports car had the potential to reinvigorate Oldsmobile in the same way that Shelby's involvement with Chrysler and the Dodge Viper reinvigorated the Dodge brand. A new Shelby American, Inc. was founded in 1995 in Las Vegas. Don Landy was replaced by another of Carroll Shelby's business associates, Don Rager, and design of the new car began at Shelby's shop in Gardena, California while a new assembly plant was being built near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The new car, called Series 1, was shown as prototypes at the Los Angeles Auto Show and North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 1997. Unlike the arrangements Shelby American had with Ford and Shelby Automobiles had with Chrysler, financial support for the Series 1 came not directly from General Motors. Instead a select number of Oldsmobile dealers were sold the exclusive rights to sell the Series 1 cars for a $50,000-per-car deposit. This financial arrangement became untenable by 1998 and a 75% share of Shelby American was sold to Venture Corporation, supplier of the car's exterior body panels and many interior trim pieces. The production of Cobra replicas was not part of the transfer of ownership, with Shelby retaining those rights. Cars finally began delivery to customers in the summer of 1999, but initial build quality was very poor. Deliveries of finished cars did not resume until August, 2000. Venture Holdings was forced into bankruptcy by the bankruptcy of one of its other subsidiaries in 2003. Soon thereafter Carroll Shelby formed a new holding company called "Carroll Shelby International, Inc.", and it was taken public. A new Shelby Automobiles was also created as a manufacturing arm of the new company. In 2004 Shelby Automobiles purchased Shelby American and the assets to the Series 1 model. On December 15, 2009, Carroll Shelby International announced in a press release that Shelby Automobiles was being renamed to "Shelby American" in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the 427 Cobra and GT350. Cobra reproductions Carroll Shelby International was previously working with Texas-based Unique Performance to create new Mustang-based Shelby cars such as the GT350SR and "Eleanor". On November 1, 2007, Unique Performance was