Are you kidding me..???? You think that the Cobras and Shelby's were hand built by "craftsman" ??? NO NO NO, mass produced cars that were thrown together for racing. Parts were cheep especially the "R" models... Big engines and tough gearboxes and a 9" rear... Parts fit like shit the welding on the Cobras chassis were beyond crude Daytona coupes were pieced together last minute. Carroll Shelby was and still is a cheep bastard.. Ford may have wanted to beat up on Ferrari but money was still a issue. Your right, good luck finding a hand build car today.... Go research the CSX2026 car and come talk to me then....
They still hand bend & build aluminun bodied Cobras for Shelby here....... www.kirkhammotorsports.com Enjoy
Well, yeah. The Cobra wasn't a world class sportscar. It was a racecar that you could drive on the street. Especially the 427 which is the one that gets all the attention. Brutal, unsophisticated, hairy chested, hazardous to the ungifted, no stereo, no power seats no armrests no heated seats no AC no weatherstripping etc. Primitive even by 1963 standards. Like an overpowered go kart for adults. You couldn't reasonably own one without knowing how to work on it. Dreamed up by a former racecar driver who may be a flim flam specialist but surrounded himself with the best of the best to build and race the car. Who on the Viper team is the equal of Shelby, Pete Brock, Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Dan Gurney, Etc? Where is the equivalent of the GT-40 which added to the Cobra provenance? Has the Viper challenged Europe's best and come out on top, the way Shelby/Ford did Ferrari? There were fewer than 1100 Cobras built, there's more vipers than that built every year. The body was pounded out on tree stumps in England by panel beaters, not assembled with air screwdrivers on an assembly line by UAW workers. Terribly flawed, yes, and that's what gives a car character. In comparison to the Viper, the first T-birds were also production line luxury sports cars, power seats and all, and quite hot for the day, even available with an OEM supercharger. They were raced quite successfully also. The 55 bird was as much a 'world class' sports car as the 55 vette, and the Viper is compared to the Z06 vette today. The Cobra outran everything else on the road, even the Ferrari GTO. Compare a Viper to the current european supercars and they will hand you your hat. A dead stock Cobra held the 0-100-0 record for years. So yeah, I do think they compare.
That $6800 new sounds about right. That would have been 2-3 thousand more than a new Corvette at that time. And as far as used prices go, that's what those Corvettes and Cobras were...definitely not classics then, just used cars. I remember that a friend bought a nice '64 Stingray fastback for $1850 in 1969.
Man, you hit the nail on the head. One of the local shops got a "real" '67 GT500 in as a basket case, and since they knew I built a clone, they asked me to come by and help them figure out how the taillight panel parts fit together. I was absolutely amazed at how horrible the cuts were where they fit the Shelby/Cougar taillight buckets in. Mine were cut with a cutoff wheel, and filed to fit nicely. These appeared to have been slashed in with a air hammer.
If I wasn't so damned old I would keep this note for future reference to show you that none of these will ever be of any value to anyone except to those with no taste and too much money . I saw the UK ( top gear) show where they drove one and despite 400+ RW hp measured on the dyno,there is nothing in the design or dynamics of them to even begin to consider calling them great cars.They are just a marketing ploy and a rather weak fashion statement,nothing more nothing less. Real SC 427's had and still have comming lots of racing successes around the world in all sorts of classes and were based on a chassis designed by one automobile engineering's greats,constructed in factory by hand by one the pioneers of car construction with a body design based on the 1951 Ferrari Barchetta. Where as the cars you mention have a 100 year old rear suspension design with a body designed by marketing wonks to fascinate middle aged wannabe's. Todays cheap cars that will be valuable in the future include Nissans Godzilla,the AMG DTM CLK (4.5 liter 280mph ,100 built in LHD) and a very few others. These two demonstrate real advances in technology ,something the cars you mention don't. In fact Ford Australia's Falcon XR6 turbo is a far better car than the Saleen or Shelby ever will be and you don't need to spend a motza to own one.
No AC was ever mass produced . The Sunbeam tiger,a Shelby creation was mass produced by the UK's Rootes Group using a stylish body on a Hillman Husky can floor pan with Ford 260 SB engine .And todays lowish values reflect this.. I've worked on both a Genny SC 427 Cobra last year and Ferrari's, including a $4M resto of a 275GTB alloy body car and both demonstrate the hand built approach. I wouldn't call the welding on the cobra's Moly tube frame as primitive. You have to know welding before you can qualify a statement like that. I have seen cobras(real ones ) head off tracks because of the twitchy handling but never because of component failure. This is the body buck that used to build all the bodies For Shelby back then. The panels were wheeled out and fitted to this ,then gas welded together. certainly no mass production at Thames Dutton. The engines were assembled by Shelbys Crew using Ford short blocks. None were assembled in any Ford plant. The trans were close ratio bull nose top loaders and certainly not a common top loader . Placing the engines in the cars were done on an individual basis with no robotic arms or component stuffers in sight.
Thank you Dirtynails. And further to my point, they were purpose built, meaning that they had a specific purpose in mind. They were all business and regardless of who did the final assembly, those that raced them assembled them again.... and again....and again. You can not say that about any OEM supercar today sold for south of $150K, perhaps $250k.
I just looked in a may, 1979 issue of Hemmimgs. There are 3 Cobras in ther. One says "expensive", one says $34,000, and the other is at $68,000. All 3 make big claims about how perfect they are. Or you could get a restored 66 GT350 for $8500 or a 1979 mustang pace car for $9000.
somtime in the early seventies I am at my grandmothers house, my aunt says she is going to take me to see her boyfriends cobra, I am 8 or so, I dont know what a cobra is , but I am crazy about cars and especially fords, He showed me this beat up red cobra with drag slicks on the back and no engine, I remember him showing me how thin the aluminum was by bending the wheel lip, a little while later they loaded it on a sketchy trailer and hooked it to the back of a motor home , they moved to northern california with it, I never saw it again, I have loved cobras ever since. I have always wondered what happened to that car, It couldnt have been worth too much when I saw it, but I heard it sold in the 80's
1. One friend of mine bought his 427 SC Cobra (1st one made)new in '67 and sold at auction for $3.5 MILLION! 2. In 1979 I went with a friend to look at a Model "A" at a body shop in Dayton, Ohio. They had a Restored 427 Cobra there for $30,000. I tried to convince him to buy that but he bought the Model "A" 2dr. for $8,000.00. I couldn't come up with the $$.
We'll see how cheap this Daytona goes for.. http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=SC0509-79207
I know this hasn't been active for a while, but I just saw it. In 1969, I was a 17 hr old gearhead that moved from rural Okla to Wichita Falls, TX to go to school. I had only seen Cobra's in hot rod magazines, never in person. I was car-shopping, trying to decide on a 9 yr old '60 Chevy for $300, or a 6 yr old 63 1/2 Galaxie for $500. A car lot that specialized in hot rods and muscle cars had a 63 or 64 289 Cobra. Orange w/o stripes, black interior, 2-4 bbls, snotty cam, etc., for $3,500. I couldn't afford it, but he took me for a ride. I was hooked! Down thru the years, I always wanted one, but couldn't ever afford a real one. So, in 2008, I started building a Factory Five with a FE (428 stroker). No, its not aluminum, its fiberglass, but a lot of 32's and other street rods that I see have fiberglass bodies too. I still like the lines, handling and performance of the Cobra, and I'm having a blast with it. If I ever hit the lottery, I'll buy a Kirkham roller, and put a 427 SOHC in it. PS; the owner of the car lot in Wichita Falls in 1969 was a bankers son in his mid 20's. His dad had backed him on the car lot and the inventory too. The Cobra was his dads. Banker dad also had a P-51 Mustang fighter that I was supposed to get a ride in, but that never happened.
Here's an interveiw with a guy the purchased a 289 Cobra for $3600 , he got lucky the car was an original Draggin Snake and he held on to the car for Big Bucks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV6I9X0Qd78 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV6I9X0Qd78
The 1st time I ever saw an AC Cobra in person was at the Ford Dealership show room in 1965. It was a 289 Cobra and the sticker price was $6800. Seems cheap now, but it was a lot of money then. You could have bought a Vette, Porche or Cadillac for less!
I have always loved the Cobra probably the first car I truly wanted. I someday may own a replica. Its not tge same but its the closest I will ever get. If I cant make myself happy then why live at all.
In about 1980 I bought a Sunbeam Tiger from local a gentleman who also had a 289 Cobra (not for sale). He bought it in 1969. He really wanted a 427 car, but couldn't afford the $2500+ asking prices. He paid ended up paying $1800 for his 289 version. Steve
My uncle got $800 trade in for his 260 in 1970. The best I ever saw advertised was a Shelby GT350R for $2500; I did not get there in time.
1968, University Ave, San Diego car lot..........289 slab side for $6500, I was making $45 every two weeks and living aboard ship...........so it was out of reach!
My little buddy was the original "aimer" of that car- they put him in there as he was the lightest guy in the shop, and he could actually drive and row a four-speed. Look at the pics and you'll figure out which guy LOL
In 1966 in Minneapolis a guy advertised a 65 289 Cobra for $1200 bucks needing a few dent repairs. Got directions to his farm and drove my AH Sprite about 50 miles out to the boondocks and kicked the tires so seriously he let me test drive it. Couldnt get loan from anyone even though I was making $2.00 per hour. Go figure.
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