When Were Slabsides Invented

[Harpoon PV2]

When was the derogatory phrase Slabside first used to describe the 260 & 289 Cobra's? I have been reading through my literature on Cobra's that spans from Sports Car Graphic Magazine, May 1962 to Sports & Exotic Car March 2014 and nothing, none of the writers in books or magazines used the term! The Sports & Exotic article is a fun one, since they tested two cars owned by one lucky owner, a BEX Bristol powered Ace, plus a COX Cobra, COX6057, better known to us as The Cobra In The Bedroom! Be carful looking that up on your search engine, besides COX6057, you will find other Cobra's in bedrooms that might give you night mares!

The article that got me thinking about the above question, was in Car And Driver December 1991. Apparently, the editor had earlier that year lamented that all original Cobra's were and I quote, "sealed in plastic and locked in bank vaults," because of their worth, $225,000 for a small block to over $400,000 for a big block. A small block owner named David Felestein said he would bring his up to Michigan so the writers could thrash it. Long story short, when they hit the border, they encountered Wizard of OZ weather. Hiding under an overpass, with no top, driver and passengers wrapped in plastic, while a tornado was somewhere in the vicinity, but they made it, and the test went forward the next day! I like the drivers quote about small block Cobra's, The writer said, "Cobra owners fall neatly into two groups: those that covet leaf-spring cars and those who worship big-blocks. 'I'm a small-block guy,' Felstein said. 'For me, the leaf-spring cars are Bo Dereks, the 427s are Dolly Partons. Besides, the entire Shelby American legend --- the 'Hey Little Cobra', the Daytona Coupes, the FIA World Championship driven by Gurney and Bondurant - the whole shebang was done with small-block Cobra's'."