Legacy In the Rear-View Mirror:
A Short History of Carroll Shelby's Cobra® Whether or not you're familiar with 1960s-era auto racing, if you're a fan of American sports cars, you've heard the name. The Cobra® is truly one automobile that stands out from all others. Conceived and built by legendary automotive engineer Carroll Shelby, when the Cobra made its debut in the early '60s, it was quickly apparent that there had simply never been a car like this one. On roads and racecourses, the Cobra would change everything -- leaving European race competitors like Ferrari stunned as a bunch of ragtag Americans robbed them of their hold on the checkered flag. At the same time, the Cobra captivated the imaginations of driving enthusiasts all over the world. The original Cobra made its debut in 1962, and by 1968 it was all over. But not really. Because of the unique brand of performance embodied by this benchmark racing and performance car, a whole industry has been built up that's devoted exclusively to building carbon-copy replicas. It's estimated that there are more than 40,000 replicas on the road today. In fact, in recent years Carroll Shelby himself has reappeared and has begun a project of building and releasing several variations of his own ultra-authentic re-creations of the original. The Cobra is a car whose reputation has not only endured but also flourished and intensified over time. After all, the last original Cobra rolled out of assembly in 1968, right in the middle of the muscle-car era. Floyd Garrett -- the owner of the Muscle Car Museum in Tennessee and someone who knows a few things about fast cars -- reviews the history of the Shelby Cobra to give some clues about why this rare vehicle has retained so much mystique for nearly four decades. Cobras were built in Great Britain -- only about 1,000 of them in all -- between the years 1962 and 1968. In fact, the original Cobras were themselves a component car, in a sense. The aluminum bodies, chassis and undercarriage components were manufactured in Britain by a company known as AC (an abbreviation for Auto Carriers), then shipped to Carroll Shelby's facility in California, where the engines and transmissions were installed and final assembly was completed. Carroll Shelby was a chicken farmer from Leesburg, Texas, who became interested in hotrods and drag racing and eventually went on to become a world-class race driver. During the 1950s, he was twice selected by Sports Illustrated as driver of the year. Following a heart attack, Shelby retired from racing in 1961. He remained interested in racing, however, and when he opened the Shelby School of High Performance Driving and took out a small ad in Sports Car Graphic magazine, he was overwhelmed by responses. In September 1961 AC Cars of Ditton, England, lost its source for the six-cylinder engines that it had been using in its two-seat roadsters. Shelby airmailed a letter to the company proposing that they keep building their chassis for a limited-run sports car to be powered by an American V8 engine. The owner of AC agreed, provided that a suitable engine would be available in the United States. Later that year, Shelby found out about a lightweight, thin-walled cast compact V8 being designed by Ford. Shelby formed an alliance with Ford to provide power-plants for his new project, and the AC CobraB. , "powered by Ford," was born. As it happened, the timing was just right because Ford was eager to increase its profile in the development of high-performance products. The major automaker wanted the prestige that went along with adding a performance sports-car to its fleet. This was the dawn of the muscle car -- those powerful automobiles with striking good looks and charisma like Chevrolet's Corvette and later the Ford Mustang. The Cobra was, without a doubt, the right machine at the right time. Shelby claims that he came up with the name for his creation in a dream. In the middle of the night he awoke and, on a notepad that he kept on his bedside table, jotted down a single word that had appeared to him while he slept. He then went back to sleep. The next morning he woke up and saw the word cobra hand-written on the slip of paper. That omen was good enough for Shelby. In short order, a 260-cubic-inch engine and four-speed transmission was installed in one of the roadster bodies. Shelby and a friend immediately took the newly christened Cobra out to road-test it -- and to look for Corvettes to bait. None was found. The Cobra name was soon to find wide recognition. Production startup was slow since fitting the Ford engine into the AC chassis required some reengineering, but in mid-1962 a prototype was offered to automotive journalists for test-drives. Sports Car Graphic magazine described the car's acceleration as "explosive." Soon the British/American hybrid, this aluminum-bodied roadster with the muscular American V8 shoehorned into the engine compartment, would begin making racing history. In 1964 the Cobra team would win in its division at Europe's biggest auto race, the 24-hour Le Mans. In 1965 the streamlined Daytona Coupe version, sculpted by American automotive designer Peter Brock, took the prestigious World Manufacturer's Championship. In its heyday the Cobra had no equal on the track. In turn, it dominated such world-class competitors as Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar and Corvette. Shelby outfitted the early Cobras, those built in 1962 and early '63, with Ford's 260-cubic-inch small-block V8. At the time the engine was widely available as it was popular in Ford's Falcon and Fairlane passenger cars. Shelby later substituted the 260 with a 289 engine of the same block, and the car was labeled the 289 Cobra. Its thin-walled high nickel-content made for a lightweight but reliable performance engine. It was those 289 engines, in the early "slabside" Cobras (so-nicknamed because of the absence of the fender-flares that would become familiar later) that established the Cobra's racing reputation. But for long straightaways like those on European racing tracks, more thrust was needed. During 1963 and '64, while Brock was designing the aerodynamic fastback-styled Daytona Coupe, work was begun on the engineering of a new generation of Cobra roadster -- the one that would solidify the legend. In November 1964 the prototype was tested in England. The following January the newly named 427 Cobra -- featuring a tube frame, aluminum body, coil-spring chassis and, most notably, a big-block racing engine -- was unveiled at a press conference at Riverside International Raceway. The new version would be offered in three variants: - The 427 Competition Cobra, outfitted for racing and equipped with a driver-side windscreen.
- The 427S/C Cobra. The "S/C" stands either for "Street/Competition" or "Semi-Competition" -- depending on whom you ask. This stunning version sported gleaming side-pipes, hood scoop, a three-point rollbar, and other racing accoutrements. It did have a full windshield and was otherwise rendered slightly more "civilized" for the street. This version is by far the most popular variation among today's replica-makers.
- The 427 Cobra, or "street version," came without a rollbar, hood scoop or oil cooler (although these were available as options). The exhaust system was under-car (rather than with side-pipes), and it featured chrome "bumperettes."
In all configurations the 427 Cobra's frame was beefed up from that of the 289 predecessor. Coil springs replaced the outmoded transverse-leaf setups used on the 260s and 289s. The final topless variant of the breed, the flare-fendered big-block 427 roadster, is still today regarded as the quintessence of brute automotive power. Carroll Shelby built the last of the original 427 roadsters in 1968. The sun had set on the electrifying duels at Laguna Seca, Riverside, Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans -- where bare-fisted American muscle had thrashed the Italian stallions and all other also-rans. But the legend, and its physical presence on the road, continues to grow in the form of faithful replicas built and driven by dedicated and romantic enthusiasts. The Cobra persona has proved to be timeless.
RESOURCES :
cobracountry.com
Premiere online resource for all things related to CobraB. reproductions. Established by enthusiast Curt Scott, and maintained by Crown Communications of Santa Clarita, CA, the site contains news, articles archives, a directory of Cobra-replica specialists and manufacturers, aftermarket sources, announcements of upcoming shows and rallies, listings of Cobra clubs, links to other Cobra sites, and more.
Cobra Country
Website: www.cobracountry.com
The Cobra Story: A Man, His Dream and His Automobile
Author: Carroll Shelby and John Bentley
1965, Trident Press
Carroll Shelby website
The Carroll Shelby Web Site
The official web site of the man who created the legend.
Includes biographical information, a historical timeline, information about new Shelby cars and products, news, links and more.
Web site: www.carrollshelby.com
Shelby Cobra: The Shelby American Original Color Archives 1962-1965
Model: 0879387572
Author: Dave Friedman
(1994)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Essential AC Cobra : The Cars and Their Story 1962-67
Model: 1870979850
Author: Rinsley Mills
(1997)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Shelby Cobra Gold Portfolio, 1962-69
Model: 1855200236
Author: R.M. Clarke
(1990)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Carroll Shelby's Racing Cobra
Model: 0850454573
Author: Dave Friedman and John Christy
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Shelby American Racing History
Model: 0760303096
Author: Dave Friedman
Out of Print
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum
Floyd Garrett's Muscle Car Museum
320 Winfield Dunn Parkway (Hwy. 66)
Sevierville, TN 37876
Phone: 865-908-0882
Fax: 865-908-9997
"One of the finest collections of American muscle and stock-car based race machines..." Car Collector Magazine
Web site: www.musclecarmuseum.com
Shelby American Inc.
Carroll Shelby's company specializing in manufacture of a new series of authentic Cobras.
6755 Speedway Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89115
702-643-3000
Web site: www.shelbyamerican.com
or
"http://www.shelbyamerican.com/cobra/">www.shelbyamerican.com/cobra
clubcobra.com
Clubcobra.com is an online resource for information on Cobras and Cobra replicas.
Web site: www.clubcobra.com
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