John Willment Racing - Cobra Coupe

[bertiebloke]

Originally Posted by Ian Webb

Can anyone out there solve a riddle? In January 1966 John Willment Racing advertised for sale their Cobra Coupe, one of the '63 Le Mans team cars and "Cobra chassis, new body, 4.2 Ford V8. Rebuild not complete. As is £1,000." Which car, or chassis, was this? What became of it?

Well it may have taken 6 years to get an answer but I hope I can fill it in a bit for you. My boss bought this car from Willment. At the time there were some slightly dodgy financial shenanigans with Willment (JW) and they went from being one of the biggest Ford dealers & race teams to financial ruin in a very short time. I believe the sale was done just before that time but it was certainly all kicking off around then.

As part of the deal the car was modified for road use with a quieter, road legal exhaust system, road tyres and a few other mods. The engine was slightly detuned, as a sop to the insurance company, by use of smaller carbs. I'm told the car was quite nice and controllable on the road.

I believe it has incorrectly been reported that the car was sold to a policeman, that's not correct. I believe he was early to mid twenties at the time (he admits he was a very lucky boy). I'd have liked to hear the discussion with the insurance broker.

He reported that he paid the modern day equivalent of around $50,000 for the car.