1965 Cobra Shelby

FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
Photographed this mint conditioned 1965 Cobra Shelby, with a great double white pin stripe down... more

by John Telfer

Title

1965 Cobra Shelby

Artist

John Telfer

Medium

Photograph

Description

FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
Photographed this mint conditioned 1965 Cobra Shelby, with a great double white pin stripe down the middle of the hood. Every Tuesday night, starting in May, is the Oyster Bay Cruise Night. It's free and there's classic cars, hot rods and some bikes. There's live music. The Main St is closed off and everyone comes out to see the cars and enjoy the town's pubs and restaurants. Take Rte 106 North all the way down into the town of O.B. and the cars will be on the left, sometimes they are at the Beach parking lot too. Most bikes park at the west end of the street. Starts about 5pm and runs through October.For more information on the 1965 Cobra Shelby please read below;
The new car was designed in cooperation with Ford in Detroit. A new chassis was built using 4 in (102 mm) main chassis tubes (up from 3 in (76 mm)) and coil spring suspension all around. The new car also had wide fenders and a larger radiator opening. It was powered by the "side oiler" Ford 427 engine (7.0 L) rated at 425 bhp (317 kW), which provided a top speed of 164 mph (262 km/h) in the standard model and 485 bhp (362 kW) with a top speed of 185 mph (298 km/h) in the competition model. Cobra Mark III production began on 1 January 1965; two prototypes had been sent to the United States in October 1964. Cars were sent to the US as unpainted rolling chassis, and they were finished in Shelby's workshop. Although an impressive automobile, the car was a financial failure and did not sell well. In fact to save cost, most AC Cobra 427s were actually fitted with Ford's 428 cubic inches (7.01 L) engine, a long stroke, smaller bore, lower cost engine, intended for road use rather than racing. It seems that a total of 300 Mark III cars were sent to Shelby in the USA during the years 1965 and 1966, including the competition version. 27 small block narrow fender versions, which were referred to as the AC 289, were sold in Europe. Unfortunately, The MK III missed homologation for the 1965 racing season and was not raced by the Shelby team. However, it was raced successfully by many privateers and went on to win races all the way into the 1970s. The remaining 31 unsold examples were detuned and fitted with wind screens for street use. Called S/C for semi-competition, an original example can currently sell for 1.5 million USD, making it one of the most valuable Cobra variants.
Cobra 289 Dragonsnake (CSX 2427) showing drag slicks at rear
Shelby wanted the AC Cobras to be "Corvette-Beaters" and at nearly 500 lb (227 kg) less than the Chevrolet Corvette, the lightweight roadster accomplished that goal at Riverside International Raceway on 2 February 1963. Driver Dave MacDonald piloted CSX2026 past a field of Corvettes, Jaguars, Porsches, and Maseratis and recorded the Cobra's historic first-ever victory. Later, Shelby offered a drag package, known as the Dragonsnake, which won several NHRA National events with Bruce Larson or Ed Hedrick at the wheel of CSX2093.[6] Only five Dragonsnake Cobras were produced by the factory, with three others (such as CSX2093) prepared by customers using the drag package.[7]
An AC Cobra Coupe was calculated to have done 186 mph (299 km/h) on the M1 motorway in 1964, driven by Jack Sears and Peter Bolton during shakedown tests prior to that year's Le Mans 24h race.[8] A common misconception is, that this incident persuaded the British Government to introduce the 70 mph maximum speed limit on UK Motorways which, up until that year, had no speed restrictions. However, government officials have cited the increasing accident death rate in the early 1960s as the principal motivation, with the exploits of the AC Cars team merely highlighting the point.
The AC Cobra was a financial failure that led Ford and Carroll Shelby to discontinue importing cars from England in 1967. AC Cars kept producing the coil spring AC Roadster with narrow fenders, a small block Ford 289 and called the car the AC 289. It was built and sold in Europe until late 1969. AC also produced the AC 428 until 1973. The AC Frua was built on a stretched Cobra 427 MK III coil spring chassis using a very angular steel body designed and built by Pietro Frua. With the demise of the 428 and succeeding 3000ME, AC shut their doors in 1984 and sold the AC name to a Scottish company. The company's tooling, and eventually the right to use the name, were licensed by Autokraft, a Cobra parts reseller and replica car manufacturer owned by Brian A. Angliss.
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June 21st, 2012