CSX3016 - Which car is really "it"...?

[moore_rb]

WOW - Old thread.

This one probably needs a capstone post to wrap it up, so that future visitors (or new spectators into the now-legendary saga that is CSX3016) can start off on more solid footing than I did when I started this thread ten thousand years ago:

1) CSX3016 was wrecked/mangled/destroyed during a race at Watkins Glen in 1966- This is historical FACT. Much of the mangled car was parted out and the remains of the original chassis disappeared (yet have been rumored to remain somewhere in the eastern United States) after a brief second-life in racing with an antique Ford body; and although there are claims that the 3016 chassis (and a fully documented trail of ownership back to Bob Grossman) are still in private ownership, the chassis, and these corraborating documents, have yet to surface publicly.

2) The car that is the subject of this thread is the same car (painted Blue and white) featured in the popular youtube video (at the time it was owned by Anthony Bousalis) - This car has had a sketchy trip through the Shelby registry- At one time, this car was prominently believed not to be CSX3016, but CSX3106. when the actual 3106 surfaced (with all it's legal paperwork) this car's front shock tower (either magically, or mysteriously) and its California title both suddenly began displaying CSX3016. in about 2010-ish, the car was painted Silver (to match CSX3016's Sebring race livery)


That's where the story stands today- the complete, silver livery car featured all over the Internet, and traced back through Anthony Bousalis via the youtube video is widely believed NOT to be the same CSX3016 that was wrecked by Bob Grossman at Watkins Glen. Someday, the chassis of the actual car wrecked by Grossman might see the light of day again, but it has been a LONG wait up until now.

Is the Silver/Anthony video car a forgery? That is a legal question that will only be determined (or never determined) by a judge. Was there fraud committed in the re-badging and re-papering of this car? Again: That's a legal question. Only case-history will answer it.

Is it a very fascinating story? Yes, it sure is... But there are a large number of "totally and completely destroyed" Original CSX2xxx and CSX3xxx Cobras out there that somehow look pretty amazing today, as they run around racetracks in Europe, or swapping hands in premium auctions in the United States. A lot of people refer to these cars as "restored" , while some of us think more of them as sunk-cost exercises in the automotive equivalent of taxidermy- There's nothing "real or original" there except the 3-dimensional image of a Shelby Cobra.... Like the plastic Marlin hanging on your wall- It never swam in the open sea, and it isn't the fish that took you 2 hours to land off the coast of Cabo.... That fish is gone....

Bob Grossman wrapped it around a tree in 1966.



**Postscript**

To anyone motivated to respond to this thread due to the "energetic" exchange between 2bjshelbys and myself- you should all be advised that this thread was opened by me when my experience with Shelby Cobras (and their history) was very young and undeveloped.... and true, 2bjshelby's responses were not exactly "warming" to the new guy on the forum, but you will all be pleased to hear that Tony and I kissed and made up a long time ago.. metaphorically speaking, of course.

He's no more of an arrogant jerk than I am, so what this thread memorializes is really nothing more than a classic "pot versus kettle" situation...

Enjoy the read, enjoy the banter, and be fully aware that no actual animals were harmed during the filming of this motion picture....