Some facts about the Shelby Cobra and Carroll Shelby

The Shelby Cobra is arguably the world's most famous and recognizable sports car. The legendary 427 S/C was the ultimate expression of this incredible car.

The Cobra is a byword for fast, muscular motoring and for many years in its original guise was listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's fastest production car.

Conceived more than 35 years ago, the all metal Cobra body (unlike some competitors, there is no glass fibre here!) has the enduring good looks which have found it favour with a loyal circle of keen driving enthusiasts around the world.

The Cobra's interior is trimmed with English leather and deep pile wool carpeting. Both a convertible top and tonneau cover are supplied. But Cobra motoring has more to do with muscle-power than creature comforts. Since the car's conception by AC and Texan racing driver Carroll Shelby in the early Sixties, the Cobra has developed a well-earned reputation for delivering the ultimate in performance.

The car gained notoriety in 1963 when questions were asked in the House of Commons following a 196mph run by a Cobra along the then unrestricted M1 motorway in the UK.

  1966 Shelby Cobra 427 "Super Snake" - Sold at $5,500,000

"Cobra To End All Cobras" by Harley E. Cluxton

I've been asked to comment on the authentication of CSX 3015 and its relevance in and to the collector world. In the last ten years, there has been an astronomical increase in values running through almost every facet of the collector car market.

With vast amounts of dollars, euros, sterling and yen changing hands, it is no wonder that Manufacturers like Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Jaguar all have their own 'official' Certification Centers. With the blessing of Carroll Shelby, the Shelby American Automobile Club, through its' Shelby American World Registry, lists every Cobra, every Shelby Mustang, and every Ford GT by chassis number with its known ownership history. Originality is the operative word in Collector Car Values. Generally, the degree of originality coupled with pedigree and limited production drives the price.

CSX 3015 is absolutely the real deal.

CSX 3015 is one of only 23 (not 22) 427 competition roadsters built;

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

1966 Shelby Cobra Sells For 5.5 Million Bucks!

 

A 1966 Shelby Cobra, once owned by the developer of the car, goes for 5.5 million bucks at auction, a record for an American car.

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Timing is important in life and in automobiles. AC Cars of England had lost their supplier of engines and Ford Motor Company had a brand-new engine with only a Falcon to put it in. Shelby massaged both sides into sending him samples of their product and he married them together. Born was the Cobra. The 260/289-engined Cobra came as the fastest car on the planet and then Shelby's group of tinkerers started to make them even faster. So fast that they won the FIA Manufacturers Grand Touring World Championship in 1965, the only American car company to ever do so.

The 427-engined Cobra was even faster but Shelby's racing team was now racing Ford GT40's in International races. Henry Ford II had determined that he wanted to win the Le Mans 24-hour race for the Ford Motor Company. He usually got his way or there was hell to pay. Shelby American was the right team to hire and they delivered an overall win at Le Mans in 1966 and repeated it in 1967. Mr. Ford then lost interest.

The Shelby Mustangs of 1965 through 1970 were the products of Ford's great success with the Mustangs. The sporty looking sales sensation of 1964« didn't have much of a performance image. Ford decided to get it accepted for sports car racing but failed. They asked Shelby to help them and before you knew it there was a factory at the Los Angeles, California airport pumping out a couple of hundred GT350s a month. Pretty small numbers by Detroit Standards, but it seemed like there were thousands of them because everyone remembered their white paint with blue stripes. A dozen were actively involved in racing and it seemed like about half of the cars in the races were GT350's and they always finished up front. The non-race cars looked just like the race cars so everyone thought that all Shelby Mustangs were race cars. Advertising cannot build images like racing can. Ford sold Mustangs like they were ice cream. Since the early Shelbys were all painted white, you could call them vanilla ice cream but with Jalapeno peppers under the hood.

By 1967 the performance car market in the United States demanded a big engine in a small car and Shelby responded with a GT500, a 428 cubic inch engine in a modified Mustang chassis. The GT350 was enlarged to 302 cubic inches. Later, the factory was moved to Michigan and the engine was made 351 cubic inches and the 428 engines were replaced by a Cobra Jet 428.

By this time Ford Motor Company was competing with itself by supporting Shelby and building Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs in their own plants. The insurance and safety lobbyists were claiming that since the performance cars from all manufacturers were so high powered, they should have high insurance rates. It was time to end the program.