Cobra Myths and Legends

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

Hi Jim

Indeed the special edition sold out early on (wish we had produced more!!) so that was a sound investment

But then it wouldn't be a 'special' edition, would it?

I wonder if the regular edition is traveling via slow boat...;-)

[xb-60]

This is from the Legend himself, in an interview with SUPERCAR CLASSICS in July 1987, so it sort of fits the "Myths and Legends" thread....

"The official name of the car with FIA is Shelby AC Cobra. I gave 'em permission to put AC in there. They were whinin' like babies over there, they wanted their name on it, and Ford talked me into it. I sold the Cobra name to Ford for a dollar - one dollar - while I was using Ford dealers."

and:

"...I don't have any real gripes about Cobra being licensed to Brian Angliss or to anybody else they want to licence it to. That's none of my damn business now."

and then:

"I got fed up with Ford. I didn't want any more. I was working with some nincompoops who thought because I was using Ford engines, they were my boss"

Cheers,
Glen

[Snake2998]

A hearsay story so not sure if true or myth: Ford allowed the trademark on the Cobra name to laps in South Africa so Shamrock registered it and used it for their kits - Ford sued them and Shamrock won with costs - Ford never paid costs so Shamrock attached the Ford Blue Oval Logo - Ford paid the next day.

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by xb-60

"The official name of the car with FIA is Shelby AC Cobra. I gave 'em permission to put AC in there. They were whinin' like babies over there, they wanted their name on it, and Ford talked me into it.

Great quotes Glen.

This one sounds like typical Shelby bull5h1t to me though. The car was an AC and there is no getting away from the fact, no matter how much Shelby claimed otherwise. Shelby came up with the idea, but it wasn't exactly a breakthrough idea as it had been done many times before. Presumably, it was Shelby who registered the car with the FIA so he could probably have used whatever name he wanted and including "AC" was the right thing to do.

Paul

[FatBoy]

There are plenty of tales and myths around the CSX chassis numbers and what the letters stood for.

Whichever story you happen to believe regarding the chassis numbers, there is a chassis prefix to throw a spanner in the works. I suspect that some of the prefixes were made up as they went along, with very little thought to the logic.

Following previous AC convention, the Mk.III chassis cars (coil-sprung) should probably have been a "D" prefix i.e. DSX#### - D series, S Shelby, X Export. Instead, they broke convention and went up from 2### to 3###. Maybe Shelby had something to say on it because he had been telling everyone the CS stood for Carroll Shelby.

Paul