Or does the 'other' hardtop still have 2142 underneath it.....?? Oh dear, did I think that out loud?

Hahahahahahaha......:p Naughty naughty!

I know that 2130 'borrowed' the hardtop from 2131,(click on the pic for the benefit of the myopic!)
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...3rd_GT_car.jpg
but when 2130 went to South Africa with Bob Otlhoff, the top sat in the corner of Willment`s workshop until my Dad got hold of it.
Of course, if you want a nice, shiny new ali hardtop, it can be arranged: (again, clicky on the piccy!)
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...70Dscf0214.jpg
Courtesy of the Brooklands Bashers!

Oh my god , thats an ugly pair of tail pipes on a beautiful aluminium top.

I think the idea is that if anyone gets close enough to slipstream, you drop to 3rd & blow `em back 3 car lengths! :LOL:

Those peashooters just might do it!:eek: :LOL:

The top, no-top issue may be related to whether the car has a roll bar and if it does, how high it is. At VIR until a couple of years ago I could run CSX 2401 with the roll bar it currently has. Then they changed the rules, which I suspect was not a VIR specific rule change, so that my rollbar is now too short to run the car, UNLESS I install the flimsy fiberglass hardtop, held in place by a couple of small brackets that would withstand a hard blow for a microsecond, BUT that makes the car track eligible again, so.... that may be why you see hardtops at Goodwood. Then again, maybe not.

Going back to the hardtop and fliptop discussion
 

The two hardtops at LeMans had a hole in the top for the gas cap.
So if someone is saying that their hardtop is the real top from '63 LeMans it would have that hole or a sign the hole was once there.
Actually there were three roadsters with hardtops built for LeMans but I don't know if the top ever got readied for the third car which apparently didn't make it or wasn't entered.

The reason vintage racers fitting the fastback hardtop don't like the top gas cap system installed is because if the car were to be in an accident and the top shifted with the impact , and it had gas in the filler tube at the time of impact, you would be looking at a gasoline shower for the driver.

Question about the fliptop: I have seen the famous picture if it at speed, front 3/4 view of dark version with two white stripes, but was it raced that way by Shelby American? I thought it was only a mule prototype and never received the full cosmetic treatment of the team race cars. I vaguely remember the shot of it being driven though the streets of Nassau, maybe that time it was dark blue with white stripes.

Regarding 390 aluminum block, would an experimental block even have a casting number?

John Veermersch,(sp?) of Mt. Clemens, MI used to be the expert on rare Ford racing engine parts, don't know if he's still in business but if he is he might know the answer. I remember him telling me about Canadians coming over from Canada by boat to buy parts (like selling hooch, right John?)

You can clearly see in this pic of my Dad from 1968, where the fuel filler is located on one of the original Le Mans hardtops(click on pic):
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...670docu006.jpg
May be why the scrutineers made my Dad remove the top here:
Although 3 roadsters(CS2130, CS2131 & CSX2142) were earmarked for Le Mans, I believe only 2 actually had hardtops, and the "Shelby American Inc." entry, car no.9 was not granted entry by the A.C.O, and was listed as a "Did Not Arrive" in the Le Mans `63 entry list.
It is frequently written that Shelby American prepared 2 cars for Le Mans, but they (and CS2130) were completed 'in house' by AC, and to my knowledge, 2131 has never set a wheel in America to this day.