[snakeeyes]

I have to add my name to the list of folks who wasn’t aware of the difference between Finish Line and CSX Parts. As a longtime member of this forum who had kind of gotten away from the hobby for the last decade or so, I turned to my old sources for parts and accessories when I recently got sucked back in, LOL. As I mentioned earlier in this thread that was primarily Finish Line and Cobra Restorers, both of which were problematic (exorbitant and rigid shipping prices in one instance and lack of responsiveness in the other). Because of the way the Finish Line website is currently set up, with FL on one side of the landing page and Cobra Performance on the other, I didn’t snap to the fact that they were, in fact, separate companies.

About ten days ago I noticed the reference to The Cobra Experience and was curious as to what it was. In Googling it I realized it was what looked to be a very interesting collection of Shelby-related cars. Even better, it’s located in Martinez, California. Although I live about 1700 miles from there, as luck would have it I was working within two hours of Martinez all last week. I decided to try emailing Emily Lambert to see if I could view the collection, as it’s an appointment-only deal save for periodic open-to-the-public days.

I didn’t hold out much hope for a reply, at least not in time for me to see the cars, but Emily responded within minutes. Moreover, although she was out of state on what sounds like a fabulous annual road trip with over a dozen original Cobras, she was more than happy to set me up to see the collection last week. In fact, she arranged for me to meet with Sam, who she references in her post above.

Long story less long, last Friday I drove down to Martinez on my way to the Sacramento airport and spent an amazing two hours walking around The Cobra Experience. The place is incredible; I believe they have 13 or 14 original Cobras including two USRRC cars, CSX 3022, CSX 3009 (the ex-Ed Lowther, ex-Skip Scott Essex Wire 427 car, ‘66 SCCA AProd champ and 1973 ARRC champion with Sam Feinstein), one of two factory 289 Dragonsnake cars, Dan Gurney’s Lotus 19B “mechanical rabbit”, a McCluskey Daytona, a spectacular recreation of GT40 chassis J-1, a 289 modified years ago for autocrossing, several 427 street cars including one that ran 165 mph at Bonneville in the late 1960’s and still wears its paint (dents, dings, and all) from that era, the prototype Sunbeam Tiger, and several Shelby Mustangs. I thought I had heard of every car related to Carroll Shelby, so I was shocked to come across something called the Zoomer. According to the placard it was commissioned by Pete Lovely in 1962, uses the second of two 260 engines Ford sent to AC Cars in 1963, and took so long to complete that Lovely took delivery in 1967, raced it that year, then stored it until his death in 2013. The car looks like a cross between a Lotus 11 and a dune buggy, and must be even lighter than a 260 Cobra.

To not describe the setting for those cars would be to overlook more than half of what makes the place so amazing. Seemingly every nook and cranny around the cars is stuffed full of engines, sculptures, a display of all of the different wheels that were used on Cobras, hundreds of scale and die cast models, racing programs and all kinds of other print materials including a complete Shelby-related library, chassis for 289/427 Cobras and a GT40 hung on the walls, a 1957 AC Ace bare chassis, and on and on. To me, the most amazing thing is the very back corner of the museum, where a huge assortment of tools and equipment from Shelby American resides. This includes the engine hoist used in the Shelby shop on all of the Cobras, GT40s, and Mustangs (there’s a huge blow up of the shop on the wall, with the hoist visible in it), tool boxes, dyno equipment, etc. etc. The coolest thing (IMHO) is the original block of wood used as the pattern for the “FIA suitcase” for the 289 Cobra FIA and GT40 cars. As the sign on it says, it was later used as a step stool in the shop.

I’m hardly scratching the surface of all of the neat stuff The Cobra Experience has packed into its amazing space in Northern California. A fully-stocked gift shop naturally led to me spending a whole bunch of money on my way out. Sam, who as Emily mentioned works for Cobra Performance (downstairs from the museum) is a car nut and was very knowledgeable about the stories behind the cars.

Bottom line? If you’re anywhere near Martinez, make it a point to call or email the museum ahead of time and plan to spend as much time there as they’ll let you. Beyond that, add Cobra Performance/CSXparts.com to your short list of parts sources, as they are in it for the long run and are very, very responsive to calls and emails.

Hi, Emily!