Original leaf-spring Cobras and "model years"

[Dan Case]

Going back to model years, I do not think such a matter was important at the time of the Cobras before September 1964. Which version of specifications was in play when any given car was completed was significant. 427 Cobras often picked up a model year designation for original Bills of Sale. If you tabulate what is in the Registry these names show up that include model years:

1966 427 Cobra
1966 Cobra
1966 Cobra Street
1967 Cobra
1967 Cobra, Street
1966 Cobra 427
1966 Cobra, Street
1967 Shelby Cobra
1966 Cobra Competition Model
1966 Cobra Street Version
1966 Ford Cobra
1967 S/C Cobra
427 Cobra - 1966
427 Cobra, 1967 Model Year Street
Competition Model 1966 Cobra


For original 1960s Cobras/427 Cobras/289 Sports with all the different chassis prefixes CSX, CS, COB, and COX the single most important detail when seeking parts and information is the complete chassis number. Which facility complete a give car was secondary and more distant third was exactly when a given car was completed are important to know before seeking assistance. It has been that way since CSX2001 got into private hands.


Then there were the ‘factory’ prepared race cars (which could mean Continental Cars for CSX2001, or Shelby American for most, A.C. Cars, or Holman-Moody for CSX2009) were completed one at a time or in small groups was an important clue as to how any given car might have been day one in a customer’s hands. After that for racers, for which race are you interested in as most Shelby team cars got changed race to race or event to event depending on the latest great innovations of the particular week.


We bought CSX2310 in October 1983 and it was in need of a few service parts. When I asked for pricing and availability of my wish list items, the only question the parts dispatch clerk asked was something like, ‘What is the chassis number?’. The same question has come up when buying anything for the car ever since.


Cars were made in contract batches and within those groups specifications could be changed and often did. My current tabulations of changes I can document in some way for CSX2001-CSX2589 (mostly street stock) cars is thirty one (31) pages long and I add line items anytime I come up with additional information. My itemized list includes nothing for the COB/COX60xx cars which were done much differently than CSX2201 and later cars built at the same time.


CSX2001-CSX2100, there were very many specification changes. Without offering the car’s chassis number when asking technical questions or order parts, you might not get the correct information or part for your car. CS 2030 became the first car in RHD drive and first car with rack and pinion steering for example. Front brakes changed for that one car also.


CSX2101-CSX2200, again there were many specification changes through CSX2188. I not aware of any specification changes CSX2189-CSX2200 so far.


CSX2201-CSX2300, hundreds of changes were introduced at CSX2201 from main frame details up. CSX2200 and CSX2201 would have looked similar on a new car lot but electrically and other parts and assemblies wise they were very different.


CSX2301-CSX2400, not many changes were phased in.


CSX2401-CSX2500, not many changes were introduced. Some planned for CSX2401 were not implemented until further into the series; a situation that confounded our research for years.


CSX2501-CSX2589, not a lot changed but 1965 Fairlane engines with automatic transmissions got added to the options list.


COB/COX60xx cars, I have not worked on a list of changes within their manufacture, but they were electrically very different than the CSX2201 and later cars built at the same time.


Disclaimer, I have not tried to document all the changes in 427 Cobras. That said CSX3002-CSX3100 chassis were intended to be race cars but the contract was aborted about mid way (the series was not completed). Unsold chassis already in California got just enough civilization for them to be sold as street cars with 1966 Fairlane 8V engines.


CSX3101-CSX3200 were different in numerous ways and things like an automatic transmission option and an under car header system became available. A small group of cars were made with smaller rear wings (a.k.a. fenders).


CSX3201-CSX3300, I do not know how many changes got included but Shelby American sent a significant list of design and parts changes they wished to A.C. Cars for their run.


CSX3301-CSX3360, sorry I know little about them other than the change to a 427 4V engine.


COB/COX61xx chassis, sorry I have not collected data on them, but they were not exactly like the 427 Cobras being built at the same time; HP289 engines and transmissions being very different for example.




I started in circa 1971 trying to understand why Cobras were so different from each other. Many people have wondered such and the biggest chassis revisions are outlined in broad strokes in various commercial publications. Late 1962 through the summer of 1965 most new Cobra buyers bought the car they wanted from inventory or custom ordered something to their tastes, street or race. A small number of buyers bought street cars and went racing with countless self-done performance modifications. The trend since the early 1970s has been for subsequent owners to morph the Cobra they have towards the Cobra they wish they had. Usually but not always that means a move away from any original configuration. Toss in some famous racers and rebuilders who tend to homogenize every car they touch into configurations that works well for them and it takes almost no analysis to determine that not many highly original content original configuration cars still exist. An advertised low mile 'untouched' car today usually has as many as two dozen things that have been changed on or around just its engine. A generally highly “restored” Cobra might have a few hundred non-stock details. If you count replacement fasteners, especially for the original British ones, and materials of construction a “restored Cobra” might have as many as 800 individual variances or more from the day it left for delivery to whoever ordered it. (One must also keep in mind that quite a few cars have been recreated from little or nothing. In those cases, nothing you see might have ever been inside the facilities A.C. Cars, Ed Hugus, or Shelby American.)

[1795]

Dan,

That is just an amazing amount of work and dedication that you have done in your lifetime, and we all benefit tremendously from it. If any university would ever offer a Doctor of Cobra degree, you certainly have completed your dissertation and would have it conferred! Until that time, I confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Cobra.

Jim

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by 1795

Dan,

That is just an amazing amount of work and dedication that you have done in your lifetime, and we all benefit tremendously from it. If any university would ever offer a Doctor of Cobra degree, you certainly have completed your dissertation and would have it conferred! Until that time, I confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Cobra.

Jim

LOL…


I have been answering Cobra details inquiries for four decades now. Our family was in a local antique car club and the Antique Automobile Club of America, I started working on Model A Fords with my father circa 1960-61. The clubs were ‘car clubs’ for sure but friendships were super important. Active members helped each other with their old cars. If someone needed help pulling a frame back straight, it was done for free between friends.


I started trying to make my available funds equal the current value of a Cobra in the spring of 1968. (My pricing data chart starts in 1968; a chart I still maintain for fun.) By 1971 I was trying to figure out the versions of cars and which version I wanted to own. The two dollar curves crossed in 1983 and we obtained our black car. I continued the practice of helping where I could that started back circa 1960-61, this time with Cobra details. Over time lots of questions have been answered and recorded for use the next time the same or similar gets asked. Long ago I started a file of details of engines in new Cobras on a 3X5 index card. The main engine file is now a digital text document 133 pages in length in its 186 revision level. That is one file on a subject. There are several other files also related to engines covering details most might never think of. (Example: Continental Cars did this and Shelby American did this for one specific part requirement.) The fuel pumps slide show is 50 pages, stock carburetors slide show 115 pages, COBRA cast SAE 1030 steel safety bell housings 20 pages, and etcetera.


It has been not all one-way exchanges as many of the people I have assisted have helped us answer other questions I did not myself have access to. It is play for me.