Quick! How do you know if a Shelby Cobra on the street is real? Trick question. It isn’t. As we all know Carroll Shelby’s Magnum Opus has long since become a legend far out of the reach of anyone that doesn’t want to buy one as an investment and only as an investment. Buy it, lock it and stuff it in a climate-controlled garage for a couple of decades until you sell it for so much money you’ll be able to finance the rest of your life without having to work. Case in point…
The thing about the Cobra replicas is that, at least to my eyes, I kinda see it the same way people see old Chevrolet Novas. A place where you can attach whatever engine your wildest dreams can imagine. Only that instead of a very plain sedan/coupe, you get a curvy roadster. I’m pretty sure they’d be chorus of people shouting “Blasphemy!” and “Burn the heathen!” from many enraged Shelby fans should you attempt to pull that thing with this car.
It’s an extensively documented series I Cobra finished in red with the requisite stripes and a black interior. Power is supplied by Ford’s 260 ci. (4.3-liter) 260 hp V8, making CSX2047 a 1-in-75 car. Not the rarest series I though as only 51 of the later models with the bigger 289 engines were produced. The odometer is displaying 33,116 miles. The guarantee that the classic car market will not crumple like a wet paper bag is not included.
The current seller has extensive information on CSX2047 as you would expect with something this rare and valuable, he even has the little blurb with which the first owner advertised it for sale in 1973: “1963 Cobra, CSX2047. 60,000 mi BRG/ black interior. New rugs, battery, exhaust system, F-60×15 Polyglas on 8″ spokes, hood scoop. Beautiful car. Best offer over $5000.00” I’ll just go out on a limb here and say that as an investment this car is paying off brilliantly, even if it has had an incorrect paint job over the course of its life.
Yes, CSX2047 is absolutely not an exception when it comes to the prices of Shelby’s as this one is advertised at $985,000. Easily enough to cover me buying every single thing my family owns again (including the house) probably twice over if I’m honest. Still, if you want to keep an investment that can powerslide should you be inclined to make it do so; the listing is here. Do note that the value may be diminished slightly by the powersliding. Me? I’d buy an E.R.A 289FIA replica and put a not-V8 in it. Alfa V6? Rotary engine? The 2.0-liter from a CLA45 AMG? Actually I think Mercedes is bringing their own I6 engines back, I can wait for those. Or perhaps…
I hate the stripes, they’re not even the right size for period Shelby stripes… grr. I do however quite like the 260/289 cars, they’re much more true to form sports cars and most importantly they’re seldom replicated vs the flared 427 bodied cars. Which, at this point, I’m more interested to see a Nova than yet another one of those at car shows, real, fake, continuation, blah.
Yeah, the stripes aren’t so great but, ironically, changing them to period-correct would probably diminish the value of the car since those ‘aftermarket’ incorrect stripes were exactly the sort of thing that were done back in the day.
And, while it certainly doesn’t happen often, you do occasionally see these mega-expensive and ultra-rare cars out on the street. I once saw an original 1963 Ferrari GTO that had been driven to a local Cincinnati-area car show, and that’s certainly more valuable than any original Cobra. The thing was, I suspect that other than a select few, there weren’t many there aware of what that car was (and what it was worth).
I too like the 260/289 V8 cars because of that true to form nature of not being as ridiculously overpowered as the 427s. I’d much rather drive the small blocks for a nearly daily driver.
I would rather have a replica as you can drive them about, have a good time and not worry about somebody looking at it funny as that is all you need to dent an original.
I agree with XR7Matt, don’t like the stripes on this car. I would also have preferred the BRG and the 8 spoke rims over the resale red and wire wheels.
Looks like it has been driven a bit though. 60,000 miles in 1973 and (1)33,116 now.
After reading the ad and the car’s provenance, it would appear that it was not driven that much at all after being bought from the original owner in 1973. Maybe the speedometer had to be swapped out, or??
That was my first thought, the odometer had been rolled back. But I decided to hope for the best, that it had actually been driven.
I put over 100,000 miles on my TR6 from 1991 to 1998 so I didn’t think 73,000 was un-doable in 40 years.
Looks pretty good, bogus or not.And speaking about bogus, does anybody remember the bogus `63 Corvette split window coupes that were “made” from `64s with that rear window conversion kit?
It’s most definitely not bogus. Its credentials are all in order.
People did that to VW Beetle split windows too.
I remember folks cutting ’63 ‘Vettes to GET RID of the divided windows in the 1960’s .
Just for fun look up the Cobra Carrol built for his own use , you won’t believe the power train .
-Nate
Same thing went on with split-window Beetles after the ovals arrived.
Regarding Shelby’s personal Cobra, aka ‘Super Snake’, with its twin-supercharged 427 engine, it would have been more accurate to name it ‘Death Trap’. Cobras had twitchy handling to begin with (whatever the engine), and that kind of horsepower made it a veritable suicide machine of the first order. Only two were ever built, Shelby’s, and one for Bill Cosby that was the subject of his famous comedy routine, “200 MPH”. Cosby only drove his car once before getting rid of it. Ultimately, it killed the next owner when he drove it off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. The story goes that the throttle either stuck open or he committed suicide.
I always wondered if the two Super Snakes were built specifically because of the conversation Cosby had with Shelby that he recounts in the comedy bit. IOW, if it hadn’t been for that chance encounter, maybe those Super Snakes might never have been built. Even Shelby, himself, recounted a story were the car once kicked down at speed (it was an automatic), causing it to begin spinning.
I saw Carroll’s Super Snake a few years ago when it lived in Pittsburgh, prior to its restoration. The owner at the time, a local Porsche dealer used to drive it around the neighborhood on occasion. Everyone just assumed it was a replica.
Nice. A bit over the top for me, I’d prefer the original BRG and silver painted wires, but if you can afford the car you can afford to have it properly painted.
One of my favorite R&T articles by Peter Egan is about picking up an original small block Cobra:
http://www.erareplicas.com/history/r_and_t_289cruise/cruise1.htm
I’ve always liked these more than the 427 Cobras which look a bit cartoony. Also you could probably drive around in a tastefullly done small block replica and have fewer problems with drool on the fenders and sneers from replica purists.
Unsure why it does not have period correct black and yellow 1963 California plates?
I was wondering the same thing.
And re: the color, I would hope that anyone with this kind of money would have the good sense to properly respray it BRG with no stripes. But, as we are all painfully aware, money and taste are often mutually exclusive.
There are a couple of things that are slightly off about that license plate. It would most likely have been issued in 1974 – the suffix is pretty close to this original 74 pair I have. It’s showing a red and white 1977 sticker – there should be a month sticker with it. So I suspect that the car was never on the road with that plate.
Car guys don’t care about license plates as much as license plate guys do, and in the 1970’s there wasn’t the strong emphasis on having the original black California plates that we see nowadays. The owner probably got busted for not running a front plate, couldn’t find it, and had to replate.
Regarding the month decals for the top left: I seem to remember that month stickers were not issued until the middle 1980’s. All the photo’s of my parent’s cars (1960-1970s) don’t have month stickers, only the year stickers. My trusty 1980 Pinto got the month sticker at some point…I remember reading the placement instructions and sticking it on…likely around 1986.
I had red and green AC Cobra slot cars for my track as a kid a real one would be awesome which colour BRG of course fairly close to the colour my Citroen is.
Aurora T-Jets, right? I got my uncle’s hand me down slotcars as a kid. A sour milk beige Cobra with badly hacked rear fenders and a lazy gold stripe down the center became a favorite car of mine until I finally destroyed it from too much racing ‘love’. Always was a fan of the real cars by way of that little slotcar.
I don’t care if its a wheezy AC, a ballz out 427 or even a fiberglass kit car that any Elmer can build if he’s competent in a shop….these are sexy, SEXXY cars. I thought that it was a cool move to have Big Chris (Vinnie Jones) score one at the end of Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels.
Indeed, this car has a history, but so does its pathetic current owner.
I have a pretty good idea why owner Bob Shiro, stated in the listing, is selling it:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20884491/saratoga-businessman-robert-schiro-sentenced-three-years-state
Good riddance!
Despicable,words fail me to describe this dirtbag .A replica Cobra is probably the only way most CCers can get one unless there’s any CEOs or rock stars here.
I must confess to never feeling the Cobra love. Even as a kid in the 80s, all my mates loved the Cobra, and I never knew why. Both then and now I’d rather have an E-Type Jag! But it is interesting to see one a non-replica Cobra for a change
Yes. Yes it is. Is that from the Beatle’s song YES IT IS?
1970, rode with a friend to an ice race in Wisconsin. Most memorable sights – 1970 yellow Torino losing it on a curve, blowing thru a snowbank, and spinning about a half mile across the lake. The other, a ‘beater’ 427 Cobra parked in the paddock, it was driven there by a college student from Madison, and raced. I remember seeing it and thinking “this will be a handful”. Definitely not a replica, it was a well used car, seat covers, patched top, faded paint and all.
I live on Cape Cod….and get to see these Cobras, not often…but often enough..WHY?… the next town over, Wareham is the home of Factory Five the Cobra replica people….there’re beautiful cars to see on the road. Several years ago I saw a line of Cobras, as far as you could see heading to the Factory Five HDQ’s what a sight ….What do I drive? A 1966 Triumph Spitfire Mk2….owned it 40 years…the Cape is an interesting place for cars and bikes….Saw a Vincent Black Shadow in Woods Hole…..it was like a mirage…:-)
I’ve been wanting to build a Factory Five replica ever since they first came out back in the early 90’s when I read about the company in Cobra’s magazine. Their current Mk4 is really a nice looking 427 car and they finally are offering a 289 FIA, which is my favorite.
But, I wouldn’t sell my 1969 TR6 (owned for 23 years) to get one.
I always liked the TR6, (had a 1961 TR3A, back in the 70’s)…I had a friend who bought a brand new 1973 TR6….nice,nice car….. sold it 3 years later and bought a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass, :-(…..I wouldn’t mind a Factory Five Cobra w/302……but I’d never sell my Spitfire.