Thanks to those who have shared their Cobra 427 collections and their knowledge of them..
I would like to share a few pixs of my personal collection that i took a few years ago.Since then, i have added and sold a few but 98% of the cars you will see are still in my collection.
The 1st several pixs , you will see my SPF086 pictured with the Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary Road Trip crew , last year as we traveled across the US in celebration of their 40th year.Mattel had heard about me selling my HW collection back in 1999 to fund the purchase of 086 and honored me with an invitation to ride along with them.
I was the only Non-mattel employee to do so.The Grey bearded gentelman you will see is Larry Woods,the (Now retired) the Head Hot Wheels designer.In one pix , you will see a guy putting a Hot Wheels logo on the back of my cobra , he is the President of Mattel/Hot Wheels line.
I traveled from Tenn to El Segundo Ca , to meet up with the Mattel crew , from there , we headed to the bonneville salt flats where we spent a day , and during this time , i got to run 086 on the flats... WOW , that was definetly cool.
After there , we headed to a small town in Kansas called "Speed" where , every year , mattel throws a HUGE HW day for a town of 500 , and on that day , 10,000 showed up.This is the place where i celebrated my 44th Bday , and had the honor of having everyone sing Happy Bday to me.. Now that was a moment i will never forget.
From there , we headed to Indiannapolis to the Indy500 track , where we were the guests of honor and took a ride on the track , and when we were done , they let us kiss the famous bricks...From Indy , we headed to Dearborn and had yet another HW day where thousands showed up.We held this day at Fords Proving grounds.
After there , we headed to Watkins Glen Ny , to be the Honored guests of the 60th Anniversary of the running of the Glen..I believe , we may have been around over 100k people.. after that , we all headed back home...I with a straight 16 hr drive thru a Hurricane that was traveling up the eastern coast.
When i got home , i was contacted by Mattel ,that they were going to replicate my exact cobra in 1:64th scale , and not only that , they were going to make 3 special versions for my children , cars of which would never be sold in the public arena.This is the 2nd time , a Toy company replicated my SPF.
The 1st time , was back in 2005 , when Johnny Lightning held a car show at their Corporate headquarters in Indianna , and i won.They asked if i minded coming to their offices for a Photo shoot , with the possabilty of being put into a line that year...Well , they did.I was a pert of the 2005 american Beauties line , #5 in the 8 car series.
Now , as for the collection pixs go , this is what you may see...
Red Cobras from Johnny Lightning , that are the Test Shots of my car.They had never done a "Top Up" version of the Shelby Cobra , so you will see them with Clear tops.You will also see my Blue and white striped cobra , and those are Production/Engineering Prototypes , as well as the 1st carded version of my car , that was heading for production soon after that.
In some of the pixs , you will see a Matchbox set honoring Elvis , one of the boxes pictured , is a Prototype box.Also you will see , some unpainted "raw" cobras alongside some White Cobras , those are all Prototypes.
I have since then , sold 6 cobras and added probably 300 more.The 1st cobra you will see ,is a Hot Wheel cobra with Yellow stripes , this was a Mexican issued only cobra , back in the mid 80's , 3 of the 6 cars i sold , were cared versions of that particular car.
Oh , in one pix , you will see an older couple standing in front of my cobra at a car show , they are Corky Cokers (Of the Coker Tire fame) Mom and Dad.In another pix , you will see some people hanging out of a White SUV , they are Mattels marketing crew , making a video of us on the Tour.In several other pixs , you will see people signing my dash , they the Designers of Hot Wheels , and the President of Mattel , and the President of Hot Wheels.
Thanks for the long read , and adding all of your personal collections to this post.Its fun to see what people have , and to see what i still dont...like the BANG line of Cobra from Italy , of which i just aquired 2 of the BANG versions...Now to find the other dozen or so....
Frank--- a mild mannerd Cobra Fanatic
Please excuse the various pixs of my Ugly mug.and the Family...
http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...view=slideshow
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