Rarest Cobra

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by Thor maine

The King Cobra is a totally different car, it's a mid engine Birdcage tube frame CAN AM car.I was thinking more along the lines of cars that came from the AC-SHELBY-FORD effort.

Originally Posted by SunDude

Cobra Daytona Coupes (6 produced)

NOt to be nitpicky, but I never thought of the Daytona Coupes as being connected with AC, as they were a styling exercise completed here in the U.S. solely by Shelby American, weren't they?

Admittedly, not an originality buff at all........so I could be dead wrong about that. I just wonder if Thor meant to include them, too, that is IF I am right about them bearing no connection with the AC factory.

If so, I'd say the FIA roadsters are the winner! (I would lump both categories of the USRRC roadsters and both categories of the DragonSnake roadsters together, doesn't matter if they were for team use or private customers).

What were the Slalom Snakes and the Sebring Roadsters? I remember a Sebring top that extended halfway down the trunk, necessitating the dissection of the trunk so that the rearmost section would open with the hardtop in place, but weren't they just 289 models with differently styled tops? If so, which 289 model, the FIA or the USRRC? Not familiar with the Slalom Snakes, though....any info?

Cheers!

Doug

[Thor maine]

Originally Posted by YerDugliness

NOt to be nitpicky, but I never thought of the Daytona Coupes as being connected with AC, as they were a styling exercise completed here in the U.S. solely by Shelby American, weren't they?

Admittedly, not an originality buff at all........so I could be dead wrong about that. I just wonder if Thor meant to include them, too, that is IF I am right about them bearing no connection with the AC factory.

If so, I'd say the FIA roadsters are the winner! (I would lump both categories of the USRRC roadsters and both categories of the DragonSnake roadsters together, doesn't matter if they were for team use or private customers).

What were the Slalom Snakes and the Sebring Roadsters? I remember a Sebring top that extended halfway down the trunk, necessitating the dissection of the trunk so that the rearmost section would open with the hardtop in place, but weren't they just 289 models with differently styled tops? If so, which 289 model, the FIA or the USRRC? Not familiar with the Slalom Snakes, though....any info?

Cheers!

Doug

The six Daytona coupes all had 289 chassis built by AC, the bodies were done all over ,USA,England and Italy.

[SunDude]

Originally Posted by YerDugliness

Not to be nitpicky, but I never thought of the Daytona Coupes as being connected with AC, as they were a styling exercise completed here in the U.S. solely by Shelby American, weren't they?

Admittedly, not an originality buff at all........so I could be dead wrong about that. I just wonder if Thor meant to include them, too, that is IF I am right about them bearing no connection with the AC factory.

If so, I'd say the FIA roadsters are the winner! (I would lump both categories of the USRRC roadsters and both categories of the DragonSnake roadsters together, doesn't matter if they were for team use or private customers).

What were the Slalom Snakes and the Sebring Roadsters? I remember a Sebring top that extended halfway down the trunk, necessitating the dissection of the trunk so that the rearmost section would open with the hardtop in place, but weren't they just 289 models with differently styled tops? If so, which 289 model, the FIA or the USRRC? Not familiar with the Slalom Snakes, though....any info?

Cheers!

Doug

Like Thor said, ALL of the Cobra chassis were produced by AC Cars, including the Daytona Coupes.

The Sebring roadsters (CSX2127-2129) were campaigned by the Shelby American team. Surely you recognize this photo of Carroll with the cars.



The "Slalom Snake" package consisted of special wheel-tire-suspension-brake components suited for autocross and high-speed driving. CSX2537 is on display at the Shelby American Collection in Colorado.

[REAL 1]

wouldn't the rarest really Flip Top? One of one and unique.

[dallas_]

Originally Posted by REAL 1

wouldn't the rarest really Flip Top? One of one and unique.

That one would get my vote also.

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by SunDude

Like Thor said, ALL of the Cobra chassis were produced by AC Cars, including the Daytona Coupes.

Thanks...I wasn't positive about the Daytonas, thought they were a styling exercise managed by Pete Brock here in the U.S. including the stretched chassis. I can see that the chassis being original, i.e. having been produced in GB by AC cars, would include them in the population specified by Thor.

Originally Posted by SunDude

The Sebring roadsters (CSX2127-2129) were campaigned by the Shelby American team. Surely you recognize this photo of Carroll with the cars.

Absolutely...that's a photo I'm sure we've all seen many times, one of the iconic images of ol' Shel!

So...the Sebring roadsters...they don't look like slab-sides, so would they be FIA models or USRRC models? IMHO, they would not be a separate model unto themselves unless they had different chassis or body configurations. Where would they fit?

Originally Posted by SunDude

The "Slalom Snake" package consisted of special wheel-tire-suspension-brake components suited for autocross and high-speed driving. CSX2537 is on display at the Shelby American Collection in Colorado.

I guess the "Slalom Snake" package would be similar to the Sebring roadsters...must have been some sort of modification to one of the factory iterations...either the FIA model or the USRRC model. Where would they fit, given that my understanding (once again, perhaps flawed) is that they were merely styling/equipment "options" on an already existing model.

Not sure why this issue is so important to me, I've never been much of an originality nut, but I find myself, as I plan future upgrades on my Cobra replica, looking more and more at the Originality forum and planning the upgrades so that the end result will be a more original looking replica. My car just won "Club Choice" at the 1st Annual SHSU Auto Club Car Show, but when I had the "placard" that was placed on the car as it was shown completed, I made sure it said "1966 Shelby Cobra REPLICA"...but, having said that, IMHO there is no shame in attempting to make it appear to be a more accurate replica. I really liked what Dean Lampe did with his recent Hurricane build...even went to the trouble of installing dummy wiring in the engine compartment so that it would more accurately replicate one of CS's originals...that may be a bit "extreme" for me, but I like the intent!

One more question for the originality buffs here....what were the differences between the FIA and the USRRC models? I understand the FIA models had to have "bumps" in the rear "bonnet" to accommodate the FIA required luggage. What kind of wheel flare, roll bar, etc differences would cause them to be "replicated" by our replica manufacturers as FIA vs. USRRC? For example, Unique markets an FIA replica, and I think ERA markets theirs as a USRRC replica...

Thanks, guys!

Cheers!

Dugly