Flip Top Wheelbase?

[Jac Mac]

Originally Posted by Tom Kirkham

The Daytona coupes had a 90 inch wheelbase. The 427 Super Coupe did not run until much later. The original design of the 427 cars had a lengthend chassis, but AC Cars had already bought the main rail tubes cut to length so they were stuck with a 90 inch wheelbase.

Where did you find the reference to 3 inches?

Tom, In the Daytona Cobra Coupes book, Page 190. Bill Eaton was the guy who was told to add 3" to the chassis & fabricate engine mounts to suit both the Alloy 390& SOHC Cammer. This as all done in the USA before the chassis were shipped to Italy for bodywork.

Tinmansunbeam- The car with three vent holes in the front was not the Flip Top, take a close look,it has a conventional hood as per ordinary Cobra. Flip Top did not have that!! I think this was the Sebring 'Teddy Treebagger', first 427 leaf spring car. However the Flip Top did go thru several different vent experiments during its development, look at the two seperate radiator exits of car when first tested versus single louvered panel & opening of car at Nassau.

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Jac Mac

Tom, In the Daytona Cobra Coupes book, Page 190. The car with three vent holes in the front was not the Flip Top, take a close look,it has a conventional hood as per ordinary Cobra. Flip Top did not have that!! I think this was the Sebring 'Teddy Treebagger', first 427 leaf spring car.

I believe the thought that there was more than one 427 leaf spring proto has been disproved.

The Sebring car with the 3 cooling holes was the chassis that was converted into the fliptop bodied car.

[lamaluv]

Although I didn't measure, the flip top seemed to have the same wheel base as Rich's draggon snake that was parked next to it.



Dick

[Jac Mac]

From that photo that would appear to be the case, but if computerworks is correct in stating that the Sebring 'iron 427' chassis & that of the Flip Top are one & the same then the 'original' Flip Top chassis was longer---- CS's Racing Cobra by Freidman & Christy, page's 158 thru 175, and on page 163--- A Cobra chassis was stripped of body, lengthened,tweaked here and there,equipped with mounts to take the 427 engine-----------

The 58mm Webers were leftovers from the 255ci Indy Project.