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That would mean head rests, passive restraint systems, impact absorbing bumpers and side impact beams that would ruin the original look of the car.
Taylor Vincent, a senior attorney for the U. S. Department of Transportation, says that in the past, some street cars from small volume manufacturers have been granted exemptions from safety regulations.
Vincent says that Shelby has not applied for an exemption, so "if the Cobra is freshly assembled from all new parts, it seems rather clear that it is a brand new car and supposed to meet safety standards."
Shelby and Landy say that they are selling the 427SCs as race cars, which do not have to comply with safety laws. They also insist-based on an opinion of a Washington law firm hired by Shelby-that since the new cars contain rebuilt '65 engines installed by the manufacturer, they can be given that year of origin and be further exempted from federal and state compliance, including emissions controls.
Vincent disagrees, and says the "core issue" is not simply the engine but "whether the Department of Transportation considers them (complete Cobras) new or used."
That decision, he adds, would only be reached after a federal examination of the entire car and all its parts to determine "what is fresh, what is of original manufacture, what is remanufactured."
Shelby has not applied for such a study, nor has DOT initiated one, Vincent says.
The completed cars and bare chassis in the series have all been issued California DMV titles. The first 10, according to a DMV spokesman, have been registered in Shelby's name, allowing them to be driven on public streets.
Obtaining duplicate DMV titles that re-established the new cars and bare chassis as complete, vintage Cobras came easily.
Shelby's guide through the DMV paperwork was Jeffrey Puentes of Sacramento Registration Service in Studio City.
Puentes, a licensed vehicle verifier, says he examined some completed cars and a stack of chassis. He noted numbers and transferred them, plus the model year and make, to state verification forms.
The signature, Carroll Shelby, appears on critical documents accompanying the 43 applications.
For Cobra CSX3099, for example, that signature is on a questionnaire stating Shelby has owned the car since 1965 and that it was last registered in 1967. In fact, only a chassis exists, and it was built by McCluskey in 1992.
On another document, a Statement of Facts, the Shelby signature certifies under penalty of perjury that: "I have owned this vehicle since 1965 . . . I have moved several times and have lost the title . . . the vehicle has been in storage."
Shown a DMV document with his signature, Shelby claimed that, in 1965, he had 43 completely assembled and titled Cobra 427SC cars. "At one time or other in the '60s I did have complete cars for all of these (DMV forms). I sold pieces and parts for 30 years and I trade pieces and parts today."
Shelby says he obtained original titles on all 100 Cobra 427s in 1965, but lost the 43 in question. (A DMV spokesman says California has no vehicle records for 1965. They were destroyed in a space-saving purge several years ago.)
Over a 10-month period ending in April, 1992-after Puentes' verifications-the DMV issued duplicate titles baptizing all chassis as 1965 vehicles.
A DMV spokesman said investigators planned to talk with Puentes. Their concern, he said, likely will center on Puentes' verification of chassis as complete cars.
Says Shelby: "All I did was hire Mr. Puentes to handle the registration. I said I wanted it done in a legal manner and that is what I did . . . The way he did it, I don't recall."
Puentes says Shelby wrote and provided the Statement of Facts and that he had no reason to doubt its accuracy: "But I'm not a Cobra expert. I'm not giving any authenticity to a chassis, just a number."
Shelby says he began building "reproductions" of his Cobra 427SC to stake a new claim and show Angliss there is only one Cobra and only one manufacturer.
Some say that at 70, Shelby is trying to bolster the cars' value and enlarge his contribution to the Cedars-Sinai heart fund, which he says is the most important thing in his life. Others believe an ego bruised by a hundred Cobra imitators, some building fiberglass replicas with Volkswagen engines, has brought an old tiger out fighting one last time.
Richard Kopec, national director of the Shelby American Automobile Club in Sharon, Conn. says it is a case of Shelby being Shelby and "selling a little bit of truth, a little bit of snake
oil, and some things best left unsaid."
Purists believe Shelby's new Cobras will never attain the value of his original cars. To them, purchasing a Cobra without a British-built chassis and body is close to buying a Stradivarius violin built from box wood.
The less devoted say new Cobras will always command top dollar. For a Shelby Cobra is an American icon.
Indeed, building parts manufacturer Robert Pecel of Studio City says he paid very close to $500,000 for one of the new Cobra 427s in November.
Although he says that he was never told by Shelby that the chassis or any portion of the car were of 1965 manufacture, Pecel says he had "no doubts" its chassis was a British-built original and that "65% to 75% of the car is a 1965 car. I made that assumption from what I saw (at McCluskey Ltd.) and what I had read."
Pecel drives his Cobra on the street, but has not applied for California plates. He says he intends to register the car in Arizona, where he has a second residence.
He says he is "a little disappointed . . . but not angry." After all, his car, however old-or new-was built by Shelby. Pecel plans no legal action, nor will he ask for a refund: "I might feel different if I had bought the car for investment purchases.
"But I bought it for me and I think I got a better car than my buddy's original. I bought it to drive and I love it and that hasn't changed."
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