John Willment Racing - Cobra Coupe

[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?

[computerworks]

This will get confusing....

The "Willment Coupe" was CSX2131...

"...In 1964 The John Willment Team of Chertsey England purchased CSX2131 as a spare chassis. Willment realized the aerodynamic advantage of the Pete Brock designed Daytona coupe campaigned by Shelby American. He decided to construct his own version based on drawings supplied by Shelby American with the help of John Ohlsen from Shelby American and completed by Frank Gardener of the Willment team.
Upon completion it was entered in many European and South African races."

...none of which was LeMans.

I would have to check further, but I think....
The 1963 AC team car at LeMans was a roadster.
The 1964 AC team car was the A98 Coupe...not the Willment Coupe.

...and this car should not be confused with CS2131...the famous 39PH

The Willment Coupe is part of the Shelby American Collection, in Colorado

[cobrajeff]

Ron -

You beat me to it. Here's what it looked like a couple years ago at Bill Murray's shop:



regards,

Jeff

[Tom Kirkham]

39PH also known as CS2131 (although I am sure the VIN plate read CSX2131 when I looked at it) was one ot the team cars at LeMans in 1963. It had the LeMans fastback roof, split trunk, and big side vents. An interesting side note is that it ran on D-type rims for the 63 LeMans race.

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Tom Kirkham

... An interesting side note is that it ran on D-type rims for the 63 LeMans race.

[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.

[Nedsel]

Was your boss George Pitt?

[Leaper]

I sat in this car a few times in 1964/5. Myself and a friend (who later was, and as far as I know still is, very much involved with the Motor Racing Marshals Club) used to visit the Willment workshop in Feltham some evenings.
One thing that strongly sticks in my mind is that there were two - what an aircraft man would call - navigation lights, side by side on the roof. Red on the left, green on the right. (Pretty obvious, I know).
I remember Bob, an Australian mechanic, told us that it wasn't a real Shelby, but a copy.
I found this disappointing, but today am happy that I have 'known' such a unique vehicle.
It didn't half rattle and buzz when the engine ran, talk about RAW and ROAR! The Lotus 30 that Willment also ran seemed demure in comparison.

[LMH]

Originally Posted by Tom Kirkham

39PH also known as CS2131 (although I am sure the VIN plate read CSX2131 when I looked at it) was one ot the team cars at LeMans in 1963. It had the LeMans fastback roof, split trunk, and big side vents. An interesting side note is that it ran on D-type rims for the 63 LeMans race.

Similar wheels Tom but CS2131 used Dunlop alloy wheels also used on the Jaguar Light-Weight E-Type. It's a 10 slot one piece wheel. The D-Type used a two piece Dunlop wheel with round vent holes. The wheels on CS2131 were spline drive with a bolt on adapter for the Rudge spline hubs.

I know, I'm picking nits again!
Larry

[Tom Kirkham]

Originally Posted by LMH

Similar wheels Tom but CS2131 used Dunlop alloy wheels also used on the Jaguar Light-Weight E-Type. It's a 10 slot one piece wheel. The D-Type used a two piece Dunlop wheel with round vent holes. The wheels on CS2131 were spline drive with a bolt on adapter for the Rudge spline hubs.

I know, I'm picking nits again!
Larry

Pick away.

[Nedsel]

I'd still like to know the name of "bertiebloke"s boss, to see if our information on George Pitt is accurate, but his post above remains the one and only he has contributed, so it's not likely he will be reading this.

[Trevor Legate]

It's been a subject of much discussion in the Shires, but for what it's worth, owners of both 2131 and 2130 now tend to refer to their cars as 'CSX' cars and not 'CS' as shown in the AC Chassis bible. Mostly, it's due to the chassis plates which are both orignal and both stamped CSX. It could be argued that the scribe who made the book entry decided as neither car went to Shelby, they did not require the 'eXport' letter but the old winos (under the bridge) were so sozzled they stamped the plates with the 'X'.

So there you have it.....

[BrianWaite]

I have a few photos of the Willment Daytona being built in the UK that some members might find interesting. However I have not a clue as to how to upload them, so anyone interested will have to ask by email.

[PANAVIA]

if I had a dollar ( or quid' ) for everytime someone said; ""the old winos (under the bridge) were so sozzled they stamped the plates with the 'X'. ""

[Trevor Legate]

I think you owe me a quid for repeating my (intentionally irreverent) comment seven months later! I'll take in dollars.....

[MRD]

For the Willment coupe, any idea what they used for a glass windshield ?

[oldboy001]

Cut down Coupe or maybe XKE ? Looks like it is not a very good fit … so they must have adapted something to fit