ghia cobra - Page 2

JBCOBRA · #21 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 05:35 AM

That csx3055 is Really Cool! I sure hope it has A/C. Could get pretty Toasty inside. LOL

imagine2frolic · #22 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 09:33 AM

It kind of reminds me of a Gullwing MBZ.....

stengun · #23 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 07:51 PM

Howdy Everybody,

Here's a pic of the car that I'm talking about..........http://www.carsonline.com.au/AC_428_Frua_cabriolet.jpg.

Anybody have any info on this car?

Wow! I started this thread almost 5 years ago!

I have built a frame for a Daytona Coupe w/ a 95" wheelbase kinda like Factory 5's car. But my house/land and shop got bought by a developement firm (If you think that you really own your home, you're just kidding yourself. Plus I only got paid about 75% of the value, which paid off the mortgage. This really sucked.), so I've got everything in storage gathering dust. I have since then bought a new house and on Friday, I'm going to pour concert for my new shop. It will be 32'x40' with a 4' slab infront of the doors. Plus I will have a 8'x12' concert gun room to store all my guns and reloading stuff.

Paul

cobra427hp · #24 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 10:15 PM

Every year or two a Frue 428 comes up for sale in Hemmings Motor News. If you check old ads I would bet the owners still have some pictures. Most of the ads I have ever seen are for cars in England. Might check with the UK Cobra Forum People for pictures.

Trevor Legate · #25 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 02:34 AM

CSX3055 is currently undergoing a 2 - 3 year restoration process in the UK that might, finally, make it the car it should have been from day one. (Nobody ever took up the challenge) It needed the suspension sorted, which has been done and now the rather tacky interior is being rebuilt a per a 427, after removing some rather tacky 1970s quilted padding to the doors and dashboard. Once it's been painted it should emerge looking the proverbial million $$$ - and maybe it might be worth that as well. I look forward to getting some suitable snaps of the finished product, maybe this summer?
'Tis a big fearsome beastie and definately good, in theory, for 200mph+ (it used to start getting scary at around 130mph I'm reliably informed....)

mrmustang · #26 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blas

Then there was this too I believe.......no clue what this was...

Ask "Mongo" over on the SAAC forum, as he has the full story on this one.

macloft · #27 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 04:56 AM

Ha ya Paul (Stengun)
Pity the next developer who tries to take your land,sounds like you are ready for him now. What the heck is a gun concert room?
Bruce

powerslide · #28 (**permalink**) 03-18-2008, 08:13 AM

Paul: The AC428 with body by Frua debuted as a convertible prototype at the 1965 London Motor Show and as a fastback GT at Geneva in 1966. Production started in 1967.It was based on the 427 coil spring chassis, lengthened six inches, with softer suspension settings. AC built 58 coupes and 28 convertibles before production ended in 1973. It appears its lack of success was attributable to "bad timing" with the first "oil crisis" ruining the demand for seven liter cars. My two cents....

ROSS WEAVER · #29 (**permalink**) 01-20-2010, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

CSX3055 is currently undergoing a 2 - 3 year restoration process in the UK that might, finally, make it the car it should have been from day one. (Nobody ever took up the challenge) It needed the suspension sorted, which has been done and now the rather tacky interior is being rebuilt a per a 427, after removing some rather tacky 1970s quilted padding to the doors and dashboard. Once it's been painted it should emerge looking the proverbial million $$$ - and maybe it might be worth that as well. I look forward to getting some suitable snaps of the finished product, maybe this summer?
'Tis a big fearsome beastie and definately good, in theory, for 200mph+ (it used to start getting scary at around 130mph I'm reliably informed....)

Trevor,

Do you know the status of CSX3055's restoration?

FatBoy · #30 (**permalink**) 01-21-2010, 01:05 AM

I assume it is finished as it was at the Siverstone Classic event last July looking terrific.

Paul

Trevor Legate · #31 (**permalink**) 01-21-2010, 02:09 AM

It is finished and the owner could not have done a better job. The rear end has been tidied up to look like some of the other Ghia coupes which were neater in the nether-regions but at the same time it still looks, feels and drives like a period car (Cobra). It's now perfectly driveable and tractable on the road thanks to some intelligent mods plus the removal of the bent wishbone which went a long way to explaining the 'odd' handling that so many professional and skilled journalists and 'mechanics' missed. Duh. It also looks 100% better for having a proper 427 dash rather than the god-awful botched thing that some misguided soul nailed in before.
I've crawled all over the car and been for a long drive and I can't find a single thing to criticise - love it! It will remain with its very happy owner for a long time I feel, and quite right too since he spent many hours getting it just right; even better he has the right attitude towards the car and it will be driven!! It's finally with the owner it needed. Lucky guy.

ROSS WEAVER · #32 (**permalink**) 01-21-2010, 07:04 PM

Any photos you can share? I have never seen the rear end, but it sounds like it has been greatly improved.

B.M.B.C · #33 (**permalink**) 01-12-2013, 12:33 PM

Does anyone know if CSX3055 was based on a standard length chassis or did it gain a few inches in the making???

ROSS WEAVER · #34 (**permalink**) 01-13-2013, 10:05 AM

The chassis tubes were extended by 5" in the front. The Supersonic body was also modified to fit the chassis.

Historybuff · #35 (**permalink**) 01-14-2013, 01:18 PM

On the Ghia Cobra with the Fiat body, what was the interior-=-stock 427 Cobra or an all new interior? When it was at the Checkered Flag sales place in the US was that the one in Marina Del Rey on Lincoln Ave? What was the price back then?
Does anyone thing this is worth buying to rebody as a 427 Cobra? Wouldn't an Kirkham body fit right on it, so you wouldn't have to build wood formers, etc? I know a guy who owns a Fiat 8V with the same body so he'd been a good candiate for the body so he would have a spare for his car.
Lady Campbell must have been a sporting driver to order this car, did she have a racing background? Or was it more a case of her husband, the racer, ordering a car that she would probably be scared of...

B.M.B.C · #36 (**permalink**) 01-14-2013, 02:03 PM

I don't think she actually ordered the car as it is now, I'm pretty sure she owned the Fiat 8V that donated its body to the 427 chassis. The body was found in a junk yard after the car had been damaged at sometime in its life.

Your friend with the 8V body should be thinking about putting it on to a Kirkham stainless steel rolling chassis with the trick billet suspension, a KC 427 s/o Stroker... Say 527ci with some 58mm TWM injection stacks and lets go looking for some ZR1's

ROSS WEAVER · #37 (**permalink**) 01-14-2013, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Historybuff

On the Ghia Cobra with the Fiat body, what was the interior-=-stock 427 Cobra or an all new interior? When it was at the Checkered Flag sales place in the US was that the one in Marina Del Rey on Lincoln Ave? What was the price back then?
Does anyone thing this is worth buying to rebody as a 427 Cobra? Wouldn't an Kirkham body fit right on it, so you wouldn't have to build wood formers, etc? I know a guy who owns a Fiat 8V with the same body so he'd been a good candiate for the body so he would have a spare for his car.
Lady Campbell must have been a sporting driver to order this car, did she have a racing background? Or was it more a case of her husband, the racer, ordering a car that she would probably be scared of...

This car should always stay as it is. As Trevor has said in another thread, it is much more valuable than a Cobra 427 as it is a one-off car.

Trevor Legate · #38 (**permalink**) 01-15-2013, 02:14 AM

Thanks Ross, you beat me to it. It will be a cold day in hell before that body comes off and the car is reverted to yet another 427S/C clone (shudder). What the car is 'worth' today is totally irrelevant.

As also stated, Lady Campbell owned the original Fiat 8V, as anyone would know having done a modicum of research...

Mark IV · #39 (**permalink**) 01-15-2013, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

As also stated, Lady Campbell owned the original Fiat 8V, as anyone would know having done a modicum of research...

Awwww, now you are getting all "journalistic" and stuff. You could sell more books if you would just make the "facts" up!!!! Try it on your next publication................. Do you mean to imply that internet surfing is not "research"?!?!?!?! It MUST be true, it was on the INTERNET!

Thor maine · #40 (**permalink**) 01-15-2013, 04:51 AM

Ghia Cobra. I am looking at Shelby's Wildlife and on page 197 it has pictures of the "Ghia Cobra". It looks kinda like a Ferrari Daytona, says it made a couple of car shows and then disappeared. Is this the car the OP originally asked about?