Carroll Shelby is nothing short of a legend in sports-car racing. So it's no surprise that his name and that of the Shelby Cobra are synonymous with high performance.

In my reporting this week I was struck by two extremes on the "Shelby" scale -- a Shelby Cobra model of the Tomberlin E-Merge, a low-speed battery-powered car (below, left) getting ready to come onto the Fresno marketplace by way of trucking businessman Bruce Lackey, and a Dodge Viper Shelby Cobra (below, right) being shown at the Central California Auto Show by insurance broker and Internet car dealer Marvin Rose of Fresno.

There's a family resemblance, I suppose, but I think it's safe to presume that any similarities are only skin deep.