Anyone have any information on this DRAGONSNAKE?

[hdsvette]

I just ran across this thread while doing a search for "Sieben & Skinner cobra". The reason I began searching: My grandfather (Harry Skinner) is the "Skinner" referred to, on the side of the car. The car was based out of Kansas City mo. Stories of this car have been in my family since I was a kid. I believe the car was owned and driven by Tom Sieben and maintained and tuned by my grandfather, Harry Skinner. I have pictures of this car on the track at Kansas City International Raceway from the summer of 1973. I will try to get them dug out and posted sometime this weekend.

[Bernica]

As others have already said, don't restore it! Hell, I'm not sure I would even dust it off!
Great stuff!!

[buddyg]

This thread is nearly 7 years old, anyone know what he ended up doing with this car?

[hdsvette]

Here are some pics taken of the Sieben & Skinner car (CSX2353) at Kansas City International Raceway, summer 1973:

[Blas]

Look closely at rear of car. Are those an early attempt at wheely bars?

[MIG427]

Just saw these posts . I was not on site in 2009 . When I saw this Cobra it was mid to late 70's in Mahomet IL . Chuck Rayburn had it for sale . Chuck was a previous owner of two GT350 race models a 1965 and a 1966 . His family were owners (part?) of University Ford in Champaign IL . The Cobra in the garage did not have a roll bar , hardtop or wheels and was not wrecked .
It did have the tall shifter ,webers , large cut out in the hood and a SUN tach mounted on top of the dash . I will try to find the photos that were taken with my Kodak 110 camera . Hope to post in the future . Chuck did mention Salt Walther in the conversation .
Best ,
Mike

[hdsvette]

They are indeed wheelie bars. A heavier ("weighted") flywheel was used on the car. This caused the car to tend to wheel stand hard. The bars were put on to correct this issue. Wheelie bars were pretty common in drag racing by 1973.

[Nedsel]

MIG427, something doesn't add up. If you saw this car in the mid to late 70's, it would have been after the shots taken above, when the car definitely had the hard top, wheels, etc. And apart from narrower rear wheels, that is exactly how it looks today. I'm hoping you can locate the photos you took to see what they show and when they are dated.

[Harry D Skinner]

This should shed some light on the early years of this Cobra. It was originally purchased new by Tom Sieben whose family owned Sieben Construction in Kansas City Missouri.

Tom was a bit of a playboy and heavy drinker on occasion and wrecked the Cobra near Riverside Missouri not long after he made the purchase.

It was taken to Riverside Automotive and Body shop to be repaired. Alex (body shop owner) had a frame machine and was well known for his good work. My dad, Harry D. Skinner Sr. operated the auto repair portion of the shop and had been involved in drag racing in Kansas City for years.

Tom decided it was safer for him to ride around in his Lincoln and he and dad turned the stock Cobra into a strip car (mostly stock still).

One interesting note, according to dad, when they were working on the "289" they discovered it was in reality a 260. Again, according to dad Shelby was having trouble getting 289's because of the strong demand for the domestic vehicles and Mustang introduction. Dad was known to embellish a story at times though....

They installed a weighted flywheel and took it to the strip. Tom was the driver and when he went to take off at the line the Cobra stood up, teetered on the rear bumper and came down hard on the front end causing a lot of damage. Hence, they redid the front axle system and followed the Dragon Snake concept complete with spoke wheels......and installed the "wheelie" bars. All of this was done at Riverside Automotive by Dad, Tom and some of dad's employees.

Tom continued to be the driver but dad always claimed that he had lost a bit of his nerve after standing it on end and it just never performed up to expectations.

This Cobra was raced in Kansas City, Salina Kansas and Green Valley Texas Nationals I believe.

The last outing was in 1973 at Kansas City International Race Way and Tom complained it just was not running right. We changed the jets in the Webbers (we put the same size back in) and Tom said it was much better! This was the first time I heard of the Dragon Snake concept. Dad was arguing with strip officials about the cars classification. Not sure who won that one.

Riverside Automotive moved to a building in down town Kansas City and the Cobra and the 1937 "711" Fiat were housed there.

The last time I saw the Cobra was when Tom, Dad and I pushed it out of the storage side and helped load it onto the trailer of a collector that I think, was from New York. We laughed as we put boxes of the stock parts into the guys vehicle knowing what a monumental task it would be to take it back to stock condition.

I would like to know the location of this Cobra, it was part of the family heritage.

[MIG427]

The older I get the less I remember , the order that it happened .
Best ,
Mike

[hdsvette]

The top could've been temporarily removed, as well as the wheels, when MIG427 saw it.

[FarRider]

Nice bringing up this thread as already asked has this drag car or the one wrecked surfaced since posted in 2009?

[Ozgur_Tan]

.....

[Ozgur_Tan]

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/img/...289-92568.html

[93CobraR]

If anyone still following this thread and has any of the pictures from before or any more information, please let me know? I started this thread a long time ago, and I forgot to follow up.