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1969. I graduated high school (at age 16) and moved to Wichita Falls, TX one month later. I'm young and naive, but a gear head through and through. I read every page of every hot rod mag I could get my hands on since 1960 (when I was 8). I go past a used car lot and see a '63 or '64 Cobra. I circled the block and stop to look at it. It belonged to the owner (a guy about 30) of the car lot, it wasn't for sale. I'll always remember the 2X4 289, the valve covers and the cast alum oil pan. I knew what it was but I'd never seen one in person. He fired it up, and I thought that was the baddest cam I'd ever heard. After it warmed up, he asked me if I wanted to go for a ride? Duh!! He took me on a 10 minute ride, I thought it was the best ever. That's when I got hooked. It was bright orange with black interior. I would go by occasionally just to look at it. Found out later that his dad owned a bank, and that the dad owned a P-51 Mustang. I tried to get a ride in that, but never did. However, in the 70's, I got to briefly fly a Cobra gunship from the co-pilots seat, so that was cool too! (US Army & Army Reserve for 8 yrs)
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My first Cobra exposure was in about 1969 at Riverside Raceway in CA. I think it was called SCCA or something like that. I was a junior or senior in high school. All the Cobras were frequent track cars. Not one had a decent paint job. I remember them being impressive, and blowing away all the 'vettes except one which won that race in a last second come from behind. sharris778
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Springtime 1965. Playing in a HS Baseball tournament in Fresno Ca. Went to get some lunch and saw an Auto X going on at what was Triple J Drugs parking lot (Cedar & Ashlan) on a Sunday (all stores closed then). Sam Cardwell was racing his Black 289. Jaw dropping performance compared to what else was on the street at the time.
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The exact year is a bit hazy, but I think it was around 1967. Pro golfer Ken Venturi lived a block away from where I grew up in Menlo Park and owned a 427 Cobra.
Vijay Mallya's Car Collection Another neighbor owned a red 289 Cobra. My dad had a Jaguar MkII, a 1969 Pontiac GTO, and an MGTC, so I enjoyed growing up around cars. :) |
1973--I had a paper route and I was delivering when a man opened his garage--there sat a green 289 Cobra. We talked every week when I delivered our local paper, he said he paid $7500 for it and was thinking about selling it, I could not talk my dad into buying it.
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When I was I guess about 12 maybe 13 yrs old. My dad first had a 69 fastback with a blown 302. He then sold that car and bought a 66 fastback with the same blown 302(v671 Dyers supercharger) Every year they had Shelby show in dallas. Mustangs, Cobras and just about anything Ford powered. We made the trek up there every year for about 4 or 5 years. Our first year up there a man showed up with 2 original Cobras. They were the most awesome thing I had ever seen to tell you the truth. One of them had the glove compartment door signed by Carrol and supposedly the fingernail clippings on the passenger floorboard were Carrol Shelbys as he once owned and drove that particular car. I beleived it back then but have my doubts now...lol. Either way it was a neat story and the cars were just...awesome. That was roughly 25yrs ago....damn I'm gettin old.
Gene |
My younger brother and I were true 60’s gear heads. I was in the market for a car to replace my three year old Mustang 289, quad and four speed. We
heard all the Cobra talk for a few years by now, and Jack Loftus Ford , Hinsdale IL. had two on the showroom floor. I was excited to get a look, but I also was disappointed because I could not see driving this beast to work, or the winter or the rain. ( Never once thought about storing or the future at twenty years old in 1967) A year later I purchased a more “PRACTICAL” car, (that’s what I told my Dad anyway)…1968 ½ 428 Cobra Jet Mustang. Ah………….youth……… Somewhere in the mid seventies, I was a young, married mechanic for Ford, someone brought in a ten year old Cobra for a brake job and I got it. It was beat up, the interior was missing, paint was all scratched and faded. We had to send to England for parts and brake fluid and it was a real PITA. job. I just could not believe anyone would invest money in this tramp, (again a real foreword thinking individual) but I still remember the road test after the job was done!!!! It was a 289, dual quads and four speed. **) |
I used to see a Cobra parked on PCH in Pacific Palisades, or maybe Malibu (beach community) back in 1978-1979. I assume it was thd real thing. Saw it several times just parked on the street! Anybody have any idea which Cobra this was? I think it was a 427 but didn't know that much detail at the time. Just know I was hooked!
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Was 1967 and one of my friends had a 427 vette with the side pipes and all the other goodies and one of his friends had a 427 Cobra, a gift from his dad upon getting his masters degree. That summer they both raised all kinds of he-- around the area and in the fall both stored them and went to the service. Both returned and went their separate ways, Joe (vette) is retired and still a car nut but no hot rods any more.
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