A Cobra Valuation question

[eschaider]

OP, when we get stuff that has an uninformed hyperbolic social media feel to it, such as Shelby driving one of these cars in competition when in fact he had retired from competition prior to the Cobra adventure, it sort of cools the perception of how genuine the inquiry might be.

As luck would have it, the last race Shelby competed in was the Third Annual Los Angeles Times-Mirror Grand Prix for sports cars December 3-4, 1960. The race and the date may not be that well known but Shelby's retirement before the birth of the Cobra is.

Beyond the obvious condition of the car, Jeff (1985 CCX) pretty much nailed it in terms of valuing the car. The one other consideration might be if the car were campaigned by a well known Shelby Team driver like Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, Bill Krause or Dave McDonald to name a few. The provenance of being driven in competition by one of those drivers would certainly add to the value of the vehicle.

Of course my early condition comment falls flat on its face when confronted with the price one of the original Daytona Cobras brought after being locked up in darkness for decades.

In the end it is certainly obvious things like pedigree, but also the provenance of who drove it where and when. Away from the shop / team cars all the other Cobras essentially come down to restoration quality and possibly their CSX number.

[STLUCIE]

Originally Posted by eschaider

OP, when we get stuff that has an uninformed hyperbolic social media feel to it, such as Shelby driving one of these cars in competition when in fact he had retired from competition prior to the Cobra adventure, it sort of cools the perception of how genuine the inquiry might be.

As luck would have it, the last race Shelby competed in was the Third Annual Los Angeles Times-Mirror Grand Prix for sports cars December 3-4, 1960. The race and the date may not be that well known but Shelby's retirement before the birth of the Cobra is.

Beyond the obvious condition of the car, Jeff (1985 CCX) pretty much nailed it in terms of valuing the car. The one other consideration might be if the car were campaigned by a well known Shelby Team driver like Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, Bill Krause or Dave McDonald to name a few. The provenance of being driven in competition by one of those drivers would certainly add to the value of the vehicle.

Of course my early condition comment falls flat on its face when confronted with the price one of the original Daytona Cobras brought after being locked up in darkness for decades.

In the end it is certainly obvious things like pedigree, but also the provenance of who drove it where and when. Away from the shop / team cars all the other Cobras essentially come down to restoration quality and possibly their CSX number.

A car driven by a noted Shelby team member lends additional value on its face. My question still is whether all Cobras are "historically significant" or just those that were raced?

Also, any truth to the 289 cars being more desirable than the 427 cars?

[eschaider]

Originally Posted by STLUCIE

A car driven by a noted Shelby team member lends additional value on its face. My question still is whether all Cobras are "historically significant" or just those that were raced?

Also, any truth to the 289 cars being more desirable than the 427 cars?

All original Cobra's are historically significant as is evidenced by the sale prices they command. There can be some excellent replicas but they are in fact replicas. That doesn't mean they will not make an excellent car to drive around today. In fact many replicas are better driving cars than the originals just because of the advances in things like brakes, tires and suspensions.

Like in women, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There are those of us who are head over heels in love with the 289 generation of cars and then there are others that would not have anything but a 427 body style. The biases for engine are equally broad, so I would not say one is more desireable than the other across the board. Again beauty is in the eye of the beholder.