King cobra (Cooper Ford)

PDHse · #1 (**permalink**) 07-11-2002, 01:47 PM

Back again, does anyone know how many king cobras (cooper fords) are left, i know about the lang cooper and i think there is two king cobras. I have only got the 1987 registry and there is only limited imformation on these exciting cars. I nearly saw one once at the 1997 goodwood festival of speed in sussex ,G.B. but it was covered up from the horrible weather which was fair enough. I did get to see the FLIPTOP cobra and the HEIM JOINT cobra and A.C.s version of the daytona, the Le mans coupe.

Jamo · #2 (**permalink**) 07-11-2002, 08:15 PM

I saw one at the 97 Monterey Historics--being somewhat ignored by passersby. It was in pretty nice shape. I remember seeing them race in Riverside in the early days of CanAm racing.

bonyhadi · #3 (**permalink**) 07-11-2002, 10:14 PM

They have brought very low prices at auction, really shocking to me. Last year at Monterey
there were two up, one at RM and another at Bonhams that went for $125k i think.

Cal Metal · #4 (**permalink**) 07-13-2002, 09:30 AM

Bony:

The one at Bonhams brought $154,000---later on that year I saw it with a reserve of around $170K--no sale. I thought that was a pretty good price, given that the particular car in question was the one that Parnelli Jones used to win the LA Grand Prix, I think. People in the know--certainly not me--tell me that the prices of the Kings are not great because they are so out classed in the vintage racing group they are required to participate in (sorry for the prepositional ending).

bonyhadi · #5 (**permalink**) 07-22-2002, 06:57 PM

Cal,
You would think with the Cobra name and the confirmed history the car would bring more.
But then again you can buy many well maintained McLaren's in the low $200's,
Hey what is a 'prepositional ending' , and when is BRENT going to install spell check?

Cal Metal · #6 (**permalink**) 07-23-2002, 10:50 AM

My feelings exactly. When I saw the SCM gavel price at $150K+, I thought that someone had literally stolen this car. I think the history is pretty interesting and it had some significant drivers, too, sheparding this thing around. Even if it wasn't competitive, the bragging rights should be worth $100K..............

bonyhadi · #7 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 03:34 PM

That weekend there was another one at RM. It appeared in better shape. Of course buying a racing car at auction is normally a no-no. The wifey was glaring at me, hate when she does that.

Cal Metal · #8 (**permalink**) 08-08-2002, 08:59 AM

Getting back to the specifics, there were six King Cobra built with the first three doing the yeoman service. Not very successful as race cars and a curious off shoot of the Cobra project. An interesting chapter, however, in the SAI saga.