The holy grail of Carroll Shelby's creations, the only (1 of 5) Cobra coupe made in the US has maybe found peace at last, in a museum.
Shelby was first, and always, interested in racing. In 1964 a prototype Cobra coupe was built by him in Ventura, California. Although our other chassis were built and shipped to Italy for final fabrication, the one prototype coupe, CSX2287, was the only one raced by the Shelby team and the only one completed by Shelby himself.
After a successful racing agenda the car went to the Bonneville Salt and set almost two dozen records with top speeds approaching 200 mph. Not too shabby for an American street car in the sixties.
The car wound up in a number of folks' possession over the years. Music mogul Phil Spector wound up with it and raced it around SoCal in his heyday. Spector sold it to his body guard when he bored of it. His body guard left it to his daughter. The daughter hid the vehicle in storage and it remained there for 30 years. Reclusive and hard to find the daughter wouldn't even open her door when Carroll Shelby himself finally found her and attempted to purchase the car.
Somehow, someway the daughter was eventually coaxed into selling the car for a reported 4 million bucks. She then willed the money to her mother and committed suicide by setting herself on fire. For almost ten years the car was embroiled in law suits. Spector's estate claimed ownership saying he never really sold the car to his bodyguard, just wanted him to 'take care of it.' The judge didn't buy it.
The car has finally found it's way to an appreciative owner and a home in a museum, unrestored and in amazingly good shape.
Now, imagine how much more it would be worth if Steve McQueen had raced it through the streets of SanFran instead that old green Mustang? 😉
Couple of comments;
IF Steve McQueen was driving that baby in the film, the Charger would have disappeared "off the screen" so fast, that it wouldn't have really been much of a "chase."
I remember someone (Hot Rod, Road & Track, or similar) stating that an SC Cobra came with a Highway Patrolman behind it as standard equipment (WAY BEHIND IT).
Loyal
The 2017-2018 Shelby GT500 ain't bad looking either. Built to compete with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Bad ass looking car. 😎
Loyal, post: 445825, member: 228 wrote: Charger would have disappeared
It had a 426 hemi with 2 4bbl holly carbs. 😎
FL/GA PLS., post: 445860, member: 379 wrote: It had a 426 hemi with 2 4bbl holly carbs. 😎
I bet that car could get from gas station to gas station faster than anything else on the road.
paden cash, post: 445864, member: 20 wrote: I bet that car could get from gas station to gas station faster than anything else on the road.
Unless it runs out of gas before it gets there.....
FL/GA PLS., post: 445860, member: 379 wrote: It had a 426 hemi with 2 4bbl holly carbs. 😎
Actually, the Charger used in the film had a 440 Magnum not a Hemi.
Loyal
60's to mid 70's was a great time for motor heads and racing fans. There is a new release documentary about Bruce McLaren that is out now that gives a great history of the time. Drivers that built their own cars, like Shelby. Imagine that! Jp
Loyal, post: 445872, member: 228 wrote: Actually, the Charger used in the film had a 440 Magnum not a Hemi.
Dang, yer right, anyway both engines hauled ass. But since I was a Chevy fan in the old days nothing could touch a 427 Chevelle SS. 😉
FL/GA PLS., post: 445889, member: 379 wrote: Dang, yer right, anyway both engines hauled ass. But since I was a Chevy fan in the old days nothing could touch a 427 Chevelle SS. 😉
This may not have touched it but it touches something else:
Aussie 1971 XY Ford Falcon GT HO Phase III in onyx black, 351 cu in. At the time and for some time after the fastest four door production car in the world. Cost new A$5000. Now reported to go for up to A$1,000,000.
Richard Imrie, post: 445894, member: 11256 wrote: This may not have touched it but it touches something else:
Aussie 1971 XY Ford Falcon GT HO Phase III in onyx black, 351 cu in. At the time and for some time after the fastest four door production in the world.
I love watching your Super V-8 series you have down there. NASCAR could learn a little something from ya all. Jp
Richard Imrie, post: 445894, member: 11256 wrote: This may not have touched it but it touches something else:
Aussie 1971 XY Ford Falcon GT HO Phase III in onyx black, 351 cu in. At the time and for some time after the fastest four door production in the world.
Having bought a 2-door one of those for $50 in the mid 70's ( it was dented, primered, leaked badly, and the back seat had been used to haul hay to the horses) I never imagined one as a muscle car. What a hoot! The "Fifty Dollar Falcon" had an upscale relative down under!
There's an in car YouTube vid out there of I think Bathurst racetrack with a GT HO chasing a Charger, both flat out - exciting stuff.
Richard Imrie, post: 445894, member: 11256 wrote: This may not have touched it but it touches something else:
Aussie 1971 XY Ford Falcon GT HO Phase III in onyx black, 351 cu in. At the time and for some time after the fastest four door production car in the world. Cost new A$5000. Now reported to go for up to A$1,000,000.
I always liked the Aussie Ford Falcons ever since I first saw Mad Max.
Richard Imrie, post: 445897, member: 11256 wrote: There's an in car YouTube vid out there of I think Bathurst racetrack with a GT HO chasing a Charger, both flat out - exciting stuff.
I would love to drive Bathurst, what an awesome track
They found the green Mustang from the movie Bullit. The best car chase ever from a movie in my opinion,
Norm Larson, post: 445899, member: 7899 wrote: I would love to drive Bathurst, what an awesome track
Try this then, it's the video I was thinking of (the Ford isn't chasing a Charger, I think they are GM Holden Monaro and HQ).
[MEDIA=youtube]AUu5gjyYmMQ[/MEDIA]
In the 1960s Chevy had a 409ci mystery engine.
One complete engine may get outrun by any housewife's grocery mobile and then the next one built from the same parts list would blow the doors off any other stock engine.
There has been no rebuild kit, ring set or piston set or bearing set, each part had to be ordered and bought individually.
A Harris, post: 445926, member: 81 wrote: In the 1960s Chevy had a 409ci mystery engine.
One complete engine may get outrun by any housewife's grocery mobile and then the next one built from the same parts list would blow the doors off any other stock engine.
There has been no rebuild kit, ring set or piston set or bearing set, each part had to be ordered and bought individually.
Somewhat on topic;
A couple (maybe 3) years after my Grandfather died, my Grandmother called my Dad and asked if "we" (Dad and I) would come over and look at her car. She said that it was guzzling gas (worse than usual), and running like crap. It was the last car that my Grandfather bought (late 62 or early 63), and was a Black Mercury Monterey with a blue (yuck) interior. My Grandfather was famous (maybe infamous) for driving between Odgen Utah and his ranch in Dillion Montana in Warp Speed terms, so we knew the car could really move.
Well we pooped the hood, and it had a 3-duece 409 FE Big Block in it (405 HP w/ 12:1 compression ratio etc.). That explained the crappy gas mileage, and when Grandma told us that she hadn't even changed the oil since Grandpa died (let alone go it tuned up) the problem was obvious!
Loyal
A Harris, post: 445926, member: 81 wrote: In the 1960s Chevy had a 409ci mystery engine.
One complete engine may get outrun by any housewife's grocery mobile and then the next one built from the same parts list would blow the doors off any other stock engine.
There has been no rebuild kit, ring set or piston set or bearing set, each part had to be ordered and bought individually.
My brother and I had our crowning glory race car in '68 and '69. A 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS with the 409, 4.11 rear gears, and Borg-Warner T-10 4 speed. The SS interior had chrome trim around the edges of the bucket seats and the factory tach centered above the steering wheel. It had one 4 barrel and Chevy had an option that year for the dual-4 barrel carb that we always dreamed of obtaining, but never did. It was a beautiful ride. The old 409 was full of torque but the valves started to float over 5500 rpm. That didn't matter, with the stiff rear gears it was a great stop light to stop light race car. Top end was around 110 mph. We kept a time ticket from the drag strip under the horn ring that proved the car was into the high 13 seconds.
Holden tore it to pieces one night by rear ending a Nova at the top end of third. Him and his three buddies all went to the hospital. The girls in the Nova somehow made it out with just a few bumps and bruises. The last time I saw the hulk it was a crumpled pile behind the fence at the wrecker yard. 🙁
