Quote:
Originally Posted by Nedsel
2416 was ordered and delivered as a drag car, painted Princess Blue, with the Stage III (Weber-carbureted) 289, a hard top, and American Racing alloy wheels. The car's invoice makes no mention of altered springs, shocks, or slicks ... Among the questions that remain unanswered: Did Frye's Ford order the car for themselves, or for a customer? ... And regardless of who ordered the car, why was it apparently lacking some of the features Shelby recommended for a drag car?
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Ned, no matter what side we'll eventually come down on, CSX2416 leaves more than a few questions unanswered. The short answer to whether the dealership ordered the car for themselves can probably be found in the Registry: "Having been specially ordered, it was sold immediately to Brent Ascough, Jr. (Topeka, KS)."
As for why the car was apparently lacking some of the features Shelby recommended for a drag car? CSX2416 didn't just lack some of those features, it lacked ALL of them. The only feature that separated Brent's car from an ordinary street Cobra was the Stage III engine, and as I pointed out earlier, even a car equipped with the street 289/271 motor would have qualified a Cobra for D/SP racing. In fact, the factory offered just such a car as a Stage I Dragon Snake for $6,795. Classifying a Cobra as a Dragon Snake merely because of the Stage III engine is folly. By that reasoning, every 289 street Cobra ever built would fall into the Dragon Snake category.
But here is what I question the most: Why would anybody in their right mind custom order a Cobra for sanctioned dragracing, spend $8,684 and still have to go out and scrounge the most essential bits, when for a measly eleven dollars more he could have ordered a complete turnkey Stage III Dragon Snake? Am I the only one who finds that peculiar?
Here is what I mean. For his $8,684 Brent received the following items that didn't come with the Dragon Snake package (and might have gotten him laughed right out of the staging area):
Front grille and rear bumper guards
Exhaust pipe tips
Wind wings
Sun visors
Heater
Radio and antenna
sway bars
polished mag wheels
What he didn't get, but would have received (and needed for NHRA competition) had he ordered the $8,695 Stage III Dragon Snake package:
Scattershield
Competition pressure plate
Competition clutch disc
4.89:1 Differential gear ratio
Halibrand pin drive magnesium wheels
Racing slicks
Competition front and rear springs
50/50 lock-down shock absorbers
90/10 up-lock shock absorbers
Competition tachometer
Roll bar
My take on this? Brent bought himself one incredible sleeper Cobra for the street. Compare the two lists again, then see what you think the intent was. Had Brent bought a full comp Dragon Snake to cruise Main Street, here are some of the things he would have had to exchange (at extra cost) as soon as he took delivery, and I suspect Brent knew that:
4.89:1 Differential. Try to hook up 325 horsepower with that kind of gear ratio in a 2,200 lb car, and no slicks. You'll get beat by a girl in a Chevy Nova.
The wide rear wheels would have been Ok (I know, I ran CSX2019 on the street with the wide Halibrands), but the choice of rubber that would fit those wheels was severely limited. I used the biggest Dunlops available, and those were barely wide enough.
Brent would have had to replace all four shock absorbers, then install the two swaybars not found on Dragon Snakes (there aren't many turns in a 1/4-mile drag strip, and swaybars just add weight and screw up the suspension).
Replace the steel headers. One of the first things that goes away when you drive a Dragon Snake on the street is the leather boot on the firewall around the steering column. Those headers can get glowing hot with the Webers, and they're only an inch or so away from the leather boot. Without the boot, you'll never again have to worry about cold feet. Never mind that one of the header pipes is right next to the master cylinder which sometimes expands the brake fluid and locks up all four wheels in rush-hour traffic. Lots of things you don't have to worry about when every trip you take is no more than a 1/4-mile.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Didn't even mention the 2,000 lb pressure plate. I had friends comment on how light the clutch was. That's because they had taken up an inch of dead play and then hit a brick wall.
And yeah, Ned, good question: Why did the car go back to the factory for a color change? If you really want to go drag racing, why wouldn't you get a custom paint job with snazzy graphics done locally like everyone else?
In hindsight, I bought a used race car for the street for $3,600 because the standard 289 HiPo wasn't fast enough and I really wanted those Webers. For a tad more than twice that amount I could have done what Brent did and ordered a brand new Cobra for the street with a monster motor that was just as quick and way more civilized and even came with a radio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnSk...A&feature=plcp
Look what I'm complaining about!