My friend George has owned more Shelby's and specifically more Cobra's than anyone, with as many as 65 in his posession in the late 80's including a Daytona coupe (ya, I know). I asked him about this subject and he told me that he was always a huge Shelby fan, and he just started buying as many as possible at '$8 - 11k' in the 70's and $16 - 22k in the early 80's (these were excellent condition, the one's needing restoring were from $2500 up, with all the parts!!!). His son in law and I won't even discuss the Daytona with him which he sold to one of the 'Walmart's' years back. At least he still has the black LeMans winning GT40 I was fortunate enough to spend a day riding and eventually drive a '66 427 CSX a year ago last fall, and it was the single most amazing motoring event of my life (which isn't a whole lot, but I'm sure I'll never top it). I HIGHLY recommend everyone to go for a ride on a twisty country road in one of these, kit based or not. It is absolutely sensational. I can see a kit in my future some day, screw the chastising I'll get from my friends with 'originals'. Great stories on this though, please keep posting!!!!
A customer of mine sold his CSX car last year for $875000.00 !! Car was worth about $3400.00 in 1969 >>>>.
Thanks for all the input but I think we are getting off of the subject. The original question was "What was the cheapest price you can remember seeing an AC Cobra in driving condition sell for." Thanks
Daytona coupe at a used car lot in the early 70s' sold for $4000 ... Same car sold at RM auction for 5 million in 01... I was lucky enough to get a ride in it at Lime Rock before she went to auction.
Well.........certainly not the cheapest price, but in 1966 I had just graduated with an Assoc Degree in Engineering and had a great job loading trucks for Helpfrey Motor Freight in Portland, OR and was part of the Teamsters Union. I was making around $7.50 (which if the calculator is correct would be like making $49/hr today) and hour. I had a 1958 Volvo and while taking the car to have it serviced at Jim Fisher Volvo in Portland, OR they had two Sunbeam Tigers on the show room floor. The salesman asked if I'd be interested in taking a ride...........said sure. We went down Grand Ave. (now Martin Luther King Blvd) and got onto the Banfield Freeway (now 84) going East. The car was very quick and cornered like a go kart...............I really wanted it! After the ride he asked if I was interested in driving it home to show it to my dad who would have to co-sign for me as I was under 21. I drove it home and as I drove into my folks driveway my dad came out...........took one look at the car.............and walked back into the house..............he wouldn't co-sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The sticker on the car was $3250. After I got my Volvo out of the shop I went to the local Ford dealer, they had a brand new 289 Cobra and the...........sticker was $6400 and change.
In 1966 used Cobra and XKE were equal in price. Between $2,000.00 and $3,000.00 with the norm about 24- 27 hundred. I ended up with AC ACE for $50.00 and no title. Sold it for not much more as title was impossible for me to get. Divorced and party moved 1000 miles away. So I sold it . Rods were knocking.
My dad had a chance at a 427 back in '72. The guy wanted $7,000 and the car had less than 4,000 miles on it. My mom was pregnant with me at the time, so he passed. He test drove it though and was tempted. -Lee Atomic Radio www.atomicpinup.com
Pete, I was at the the SAAC convention in 2000 or 2001 in Connecticut. I will dig up my pics tonight and look it up. I know 3 guys who sit on the board of directors and worked for a shop that only did Shelby and Cobras. They would take me with and I would work the show. SAAC guys are as hardcore has HAMB guys... They would race 427 cobra like it was 68' .... $$ is no object for most of them. We would fix crashed cobras... Real ones not kits......
The stories about SAAC are true, I've been a member since the '70s. I helped restore this 427 in the late '70s. The owner bought it from the guy who raced it out of the Motion Performance shop on Long Island. It held B/SP (I think) records in Nascar while Nascar ventured into drag racing sanctioning and ran in all the sanctioning bodies. When Carl bought it it had a 428 Police Interceptor engine in it and the roll bar had been removed, but the chassis mods and the handbuilt headers were still on it. Paid $6800.
Yeah we need to get off of this subject. Everytime I think "shoulda, coulda, woulda" I get sick ... I traded a perfect '66 GTO 4 speed tri-power for an '68 Opel station wagon and paid boot! .. Puke .. !!
In '68 I was shopping around to trade my '66 Mustang and stopped at a Ford dealership in Toledo. They had a Cobra on the lot, black, no top, 289 "used" for $2500.00. Really don't remember what year it was. I loved the car, but decided against it because it had no top...What an idiot I was. I ended up trading the Mustang for a '68 Camaro Rally Sport convertable.
In 1963, new ones (289) were advertised for $3995. That was closed to the price of a new XKE 4.2 L DOHC 6. And also just a bit more than the Lotus Elan roadster with a DOHC 4. The Cobra had more muscle, the XKE the better top end and the little Lotus could out handled both of the others and nearly every thing else on the planet at that time. In 1966, the 427 Cobra's went for $6995. A helluva deal for that much power. About the same as a 427 Vette, and a helluva lot less than a Ferrari 330 or 365. I think I still have a Sports Car Graphic mag had some of the first advertising for the Cobra 289's.
Sorry if I have brought up some bad memories but I think I have proven my point. There was a time when you could have bought a running AC Cobra for two or three thousand dollars. Maybe a little earlier than I thought. Late 60s instead of the 70s. Keep them coming though. I'm loving the stories. Rebel
I just checked 2 different online inflation calculators and got 2 different answers: $7500 1970 dollars = $34,807.69... OR $40,813.72 2009 dollars. A buddy of my Dad's swapped his '32 roadster hot rod ('40 Merc flattie, Kinmont brakes etc. etc.) for a '65 Cobra some time in the late '60s. Tough call.
Big A wrote: Not that tough really. Don't get me wrong I love original 32 roadsters hotrods, but from a wow factor standpoint that was a good deal. Plus even if he only kept the Cobra until the mid-nineties it would have possibly fetched upwards of a cool quarter of a million buckaroos on the right venue. Especially if it had been well taken care of over years and was still a numbers matching car. A friend sold a '64 289 in 1989 for a little more than $233,000 and had an offer of $450,000 for his original 427, which he turned down.
In about 69 or 70 a customer brought a early Cobra into the shop I was working at. We did a lot of work on it and it came out nice. But he had $11000 dollars in it including the used purchase price. I thought he was INSANE. At that time there was a AC Bristol roadster on consignment there for $800 and it never sold in over 2 years. Cobras were sports cars and new ones depreciated very quickly. The fact that they were in fact also a Hot Rod and Muscle Car gave them some staying power and a built in demand factor that came along later. I don't see that in a Viper, but I guess some people do. Anyway, times change and now I think being in a Cobra $350K is REALLY INSANE! I hope the guy guy who spent the $$ with us, kept his car long enough to come out good on it. He did it for love not speculation. I got to drive it home a couple of nights and still remember how good it felt and sounded.
I don't see Vipers appreciating like Cobras. They are produced in much higher volume, don't have the racing pedigree with high profile personalities, and they are loaded with electronics and creature comforts that deteriorate over time. They'll be more like 55-57 T-birds IMO. I did see a red Viper parked inthe grocery store parking lot a few weeks ago, on a snowy slushy night all covered in crap. I thought that was cool. Like the guy who drove his cobra to work every day for 10 years after buying it new. I forget the name and the rest of the story at the moment.
Around '72, a good buddy's brother bought a 427 version, a retired track car that had seen better days, and paid 55oo, Given the looks of the thing at that point, I at first thought he was nuts........Then I got a ride in it. One of my top 5 rides/drives for sure.
At Laguna Seca, 2003, during the Monterey Vintage races, I was hoping to see just one Daytona Coupe, instead I saw 4 out of the 6, and yes, they ran the shit out of them...
Yah my Dad was in Sanjose in the late 68 working at Filco ford and he to had a chance to by a 289 Cobra for $4'500.00 The guy started it drove him and my dad around the block and when it came time drive it my dad said he did not want the car it was to much and at the time he was looking at a XKE Jag for $1400.00 and bought neither of them what an Idiot but I guess $45.00.00 was a lot in 68.
You're kidding right? You're actually comparing a world class supercar to a 55 Tbird? I couldn't disagree any more with your statement about racing pedigree. Theirs is every bit as strong as the cobra's, simply younger. Creature comforts?? The originals didn't have rollup side glass. Don't be fooled by rubber bumpers and FI, it's the real deal. BTW the performance car skillset of the today involves FI. In no way shape or form will fuel injection be the demise of those cars. By the time Vipers are collectible the generation that fears FI will be on their way out as buyers. Greater production???? Guess what, we got greater population and worldwide demand for those cars due to their international racing pedigree. Also note the talk of chrysler selling the viper to an independent manufacturer. Meaning someday there will be OE mopar vipers, and aftermarket vipers (likely including kit form). Sound similar to any other american supercars? The very same opportunity passes by today. Disagree if you like, but note all the naysayers about the value of cobras when they were 10-15 years old.
Ok if you want to talk Cobras get ahold of a cat named Geoff Howard from Danbury Conneticut !! Has a memory like an elephant and his favorite phrase is Back In The Day >>>>.
Cobras are like Duesenbergs in that they were never really "cheap" relative to the time. That 2000.00 used Duesenberg in 1950 was still a lot of money for a 20 year old Used car. Cobras were the same way - never really cheap, relatively speaking. In the early 70s a guy out this way had 2 427 cars that he wanted 5k each for. Seems cheap until you realize what a nice new car you could have for that money at the time.
Just so happens today I picked up a new car for my fine at the Ford dealer. They have 2 new Shelbys. 1 convert for 49k the other a KR for 84K .... These will be collectible in years to come. SAAC I'm sure will keep the value up and put them in the Shelby registry.
I wouldn't own either of those. My wife works at a Ford dealer. They have a KR on the floor right now. I walked up to it and noticed right away that the stripes are vinyl and really crooked, before I was within 20 feet of it. There is a difference between hand assembled cars and mass produced cars that get cheap graphics as part of a "special" package. EVERY AC Cobra was a special car, hand assembled for a particular purpose, even if many never saw the track. Today's Mustangs and Vipers are mass produced street cars for Gold Chainer Joe (with few exceptions on the mega-Vipers) and Jane NotAsoccermamma. You want to see today's AC Cobra equivalent? Um... Me too. Even Roush and Saleen are using too many factory parts and catalog pimpin' parts to put them in the same class. Maybe Callaway or Lingenfelter, but that's just a maybe. ca ching $.02
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