Shelby little involvement in creating the Cobra

[Historybuff]

Regarding Goober’s comment that the first Cobra had a 221 cu. in. engine while it was in its birthplace of Thames-Ditton, Surrey, I wonder if the Scottish owner knows what marque and chassis number car it was installed in while still at AC? Or was that in an AC still bearing the AC chassis number?

I read that Shelby went over to the UK and tested a car at Silverstone with this engine.


The most repeated story is that this car was later shipped sans engine to Dean Moon’s shop and there received a 260 cu. in. engine.
The car’s serial number is given as CSX2000
and there’s pictures of it on this website

http://www.csxinfo.net/csx2000/page4.htm

A prominent LA car collector has a very early Cobra. I didn’t know what the chassis number was until today—Oct. 24th,2008 when on a website called
http://saacforum.com/index.php?topic=801.0
they said
“ The following is from VeloceToday.com September 17, 2007

"A unique centerpiece will be the very first production Shelby Cobra, CSX2001, being restored for this occasion through the car’s owner and Chairman of the Petersen’s Checkered Flag 200 Group, Bruce Meyer."


They show a picture of the car, captioning it: "Shelby Cobra roadster s/n CSX2001 undergoing restoration by Mike McCluskey in California. This first production Cobra will be on display at the Petersen Museum for the tribute dinner, "An Evening with Carroll Shelby." Only Shelby himself owns an earlier Cobra, Prototype s/n CSX2000."

Another guy on the same site says:
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CSX2259
Newbie

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Posts: 42




Re: 1963 REIMS, FRANCE AC COBRA
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2008, 11:42:35 AM »
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Also of interest is the badging on the nose of the car, it uses both the first and second design badges. This car was the first production car assembled and to competition specification by Ed Hugus (east coast assembler and distributor for "SAI") for his friend. This car would be the first cobra sold to the public and the first competition car sold to the public by "SAI"......

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Much earlier, in a very old magazine, and I can’t find the reference, I read that the chassis number of the first Cobra ever built was CSX1001 but I guess a car builder can choose any numbering system he wants and before Shelby began production he
decided to make the first series a series beginning with the number “2”.

All this is background leading up to my question: What was the designated make and chassis number of the car that Shelby tested with the 221 cu. in. V8 in England?

If nobody knows that, another long-time unanswered question that floats around in my head is: “Has it ever been printed what the chassis number was the early 260 Cobra that Ford had, with the windshield not having a metal frame ( maybe it was plexiglass but still sized as high as a normal windshield, not a racing windscreen though I believe it had curved edges)?"

I know that this car was photographed at Ford’s Dearborn Proving Grounds because I recognized the fence (designed by Thomas Jefferson) as the one which I once scaled in a failed attempt to shoot pictures of upcoming cars.

I suspect that this was a very very early Cobra, perhaps CSX2000 and know that Ford tested the Cobra early on, but never read any reference to the chassis number of the one they tested in Dearborn.


In one of the old issues of Shelby American, they interviewed a former Ford engineer that said he tested an early Cobra with the requirement that the car be made suitable "for Mrs. Ford to drive" and that he tried many combinations of shock absorbers and springs until he got the car so it could handle. I suspect this might be the same car, but never subsequently saw a picture of Mrs. Ford (either the original Mrs. Henry Ford II or the second Italian-born Mrs. Henry Ford II) with "her car."