Just saw this spectacular machine out in the parking lot of the office complex at work. I’ve seen a number of replica Cobras, licensed and otherwise, on the street. But this one looks real to me. Is it an actual Shelby AC Cobra 427? Have I just found one of these legendary machines at the Curbside? I’d hate to waste a full CC on an impostor, so I leave it to you. Are we looking at the genuine item?
Read on for more evidence.
427 cubic inches of Ford power and torque on a ninety inch wheelbase. Four wheels, a mighty engine and a place to hang on. I’ve seen many styles of pipes on Cobras, is this original?
A proper sixties British interior, with a full set of Smiths gauges. That’s a Cobra logo on the steering wheel, and on the carpets. Correct shifter? Handbrake? Upholstery?
How much is one of these “427 Ford Cobra” badges on the reproduction market?
Sorry about my crummy phone camera technique here, but that’s weathered red paint on the nose badge. Real, or ‘pre-distressed’? (Obviously the body’s been painted recently.)
Proper racing gas cap too. (I think.)
Are these original hood latch handles? I’ll be a rivet-counter: is 29 correct?
If it’s not the real thing, this is a most excellent reproduction. Either Carroll Shelby built this car in the late 1960s and it has some real stories to tell, or today’s finest craftsmen and technology have created an excellent duplicate. Could you tell from behind the wheel? How much would the difference matter to you? Either way, there is nothing like a Cobra.
Did you look underneath for one of those tiny gold “Made in China” stickers?
I have no idea if it is real or not but I know I like it. Some of the current builders and/or kits (such as Factory5 or Superformance) are incredible. I’ve looked into it a couple of times and it still intrigues me. (one day, one day…). I think I would actually prefer to build my own Factory5 replica and then really be able to enjoy it rather than worry about some idiot in a parking lot running into something truly irreplaceable.
I don’t know if it’s the real McCoy or not but it’s an impressive beast.427 V8 come on and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!
It’s a build your own Cobra unless you’re a lottery winner or rock star
I could be wrong, but the fact that the originals are rare and massive $$$$$. I doubt that someone would leave an original unattended in a parking lot. If it is an original, there would probably be stipulations from the insurance company, about when and where it could be driven. This is why we have clones. You can enjoy it, without panicking over a scratch.
You would be surprised about what people drive. The retired owner of one of our Ford dealers has an honest to God all original 289 Cobra that he takes on grocery runs to Safeway, if you can believe it! He saw me admiring it once and showed me the VIN plate, and it was the real McCoy. Next time I see him I’ll grab a picture; I had one once but got tired of everyone calling it a kit car and deleted it.
The VIN on a real US Shelby-built Cobra will start with COB…, the VIN on a UK AC-built Cobra will start with CSX…
The Willment Ghia 427 Cobra was listed in the British classic cars mags for sale for a very, very long time in the 80s/90s (IIRC), an unwanted orphan until people started to catch on. As per Syke, never really coveted a Cobra, but the Willment would be nice.
My father works for a charity that holds a large car show every year. He told me he was admiring a cobra at the show and remarked to the owner that it was a very good replica (the owner had driven it to the show) The owner said he gets that alot but no it’s an original and his uncle was the original owner , said he still drives it about 2000 mile a year. You never know.
That’s the problem with having a Cobra…..why spend $800,000 grand on a car that everyone thinks is a Pinto kit.
I’m going to go with good reproduction kit.
Here’s a good way of checking-if the “Cobra” is parked out in the open such that the drooling masses can touch it, or horrors, run into it, it’s a replica. Shelby Cobras, be they 289s or the 427s, are all worth on the high side of one million, so finding one the street would be exceedingly rare.
However, if you are lucky enough to look underneath and the label says “Made in Poland”, you’re in luck. The finest Cobra replicas are made by Kirkham Motorsports in Provo, Utah. The aluminum bodies are fabricated in a former MIG factory in Poland. The craftsmanship is so fine that one of the more popular options is either a brushed or a polished finish. Only a $10,000 option.
Larry Ellison, America’s Cup winner and owner of Oracle database systems, had Kirkam build a Cobra for him with an all-aluminum billet chassis. Said to have set back Ellison well over a million big ones. You can see the build process at http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com.
At the track guys event at Sebring last month they had a gaggle of cobra replicas on display… One of which had a coyote engine. I think this would be very fun to build and drive instead of a “real” classic car.
The likelihood of leaving a million dollars out in a sunny suburban parking lot is very small, I agree.
I did find a gullwing 300SL parked on a downtown Portland street one Sunday about 20 years ago, so there you go.
I went to a cruise in once about 7 years ago, the usual stuff, Novas, Mustangs, 57 Chevys, and a Duesenberg…..
Toyota 2000GT, parked at the curb in Tiburon (North of San Francisco), late 80s.
There was a girl in the town I grew up in that used to drive a 71 hemi cuda to work at the local hamburger joint. She came from a mopar family, and used it as her daily summer driver despite that fact at the time (1999) these were getting close to 100k at auction.
Need to see the paperwork to know and really, today that could be generated pretty easily too.
Am I just looking at it wrong, or is the shifter bent forward so far it’s parallel with the tranny hump? Is this normal for Cobras?
Original Cobras do have a shift lever that bends forward. I’m no expert on them, and wouldn’t want to be the source for authenticating this one, but you can be certain a significant number of reproductions are just that because they have straight shifters. I’m sure some reproductions have the bent shift lever too, but as far as I know, a straight shift lever is a dead giveaway that what you’re looking at is a reproduction.
Yes it is normal, that is how far back the rear of the gearbox is.
With only something like 50 427SC Cobras built out of about 300 427s total, it is a near certainty it is a replica. Non-SC 427s don’t have side pipes or the quick-lift bumper brackets for starters.
A few other things that I noticed
– the locking hood latches wouldn’t be original, although it is entirely feasible they could be fitted to original cars.
– the gauge layout doesn’t look right to me, I think the speedo normally lives behind the steering wheel and they had 6 aux gauges arranged in 3-2-1 rows in a triangular shape.
– the wheels look like modern repros, not 1960s originals
And speaking of 427s — well, a different 427, that is — I shot a really sharp ’69 427 Caprice notchback coupe today. Will post pix on Cohort sometime soon…
OK, I’m ornery. I’ve never had the desire to own a Cobra, original or replicar.
However . . . . . . if I could get my hands on a real, six cylinder, AC Ace . . . . . . . . Now that would be wonderful. Assuming all the survivors haven’t had 289 Fords dropped into them.
Part of my dislike of Cobra replicas is that 99% of them are 427’s. Yet the ones that really made the reputation on the track were the small block 289’s. Cobra’s are like Corvettes. Add big block, subtract ability to go around corners.
+1 – I’ll also add that the 289s were better looking to boot.
the street 289s like you could buy out of a Ford dealer’s showroom in 1963 are by far the best looking and probably the rarest as most that existed were modified for A-Production racing
A guy in Auckland had a replica 289 built all hand formed alloy and an exact copy of the race Cobra yeah the big block was only a dragway wank the fastest Cobras were the 289s because they steer, fast in a straight line is NOT fast in my book if you have to brake to turn.
Real or replica? who cares. There’s more of these at car shows than 1969 Camaros these days. I just cannot get excited about them, and I really don’t know what all the fuss is about with the 427s frankly, the replicas are so accessible and so easily matched if you follow the instructions that it just baffles my mind that the real ones still manage to bring the 6-7-8 figures. For what? A car that every local franchise owner with a midlife crisis brings to the local cruise night?
Last car show I was at I got way more exited about the Escort EXP someone brought and I bet there’s less of those than REAL Cobras.
I’m going to go with nicely done replica. As others have said, the odds hat you stumbled upon a real 427 Cobra in a parking lot are extremely rare.
I was at a classic car auction this spring. There was a Cobra replica there powered by a Chevy smallblock! I’m sure that would get some people upset.
Wilwood Engineering was founded in 1977, so they weren’t a supplier to AC or Shelby American in the mid ’60s. This replica has nice attention to detail, although I think the proportions are off a bit and the body looks fiberglass. If I’m wrong about the proportions, then this could be one of the continuation cars built by Shelby himself in the not-too-distant past.
Seeing the comments following mine, I guess I should have specified that the Wilwood brake calipers visible through the wheels indicate this car was built more than a decade after authentic Shelby 427 Cobra production ended.
Shelby started making factory re-issues with “found stock” until recently. These were a continuation series licensed and made by Shelby. (they are expensive but no where near as expensive as an original documented Cobra).
However, I think that there are several quality replicas that (re: Factory Five et al) that probably out handle the original by a mile. The ability for some replica manufacturers (FFR for example) to use CAD designed chassis and the ability of the owner to spec out any engine to fit easily make this route (IMO) the better way to go. I also prefer the 289 bodystyle.
IIRC, Shelby tried to circumvent EPA/safety regs by titling these as new 1966 or 67 cars, claiming that because they came from “found parts” manufactured back then, the cars only needed to comply with regs in effect at that time. I don’t think the Government agreed, and it was my recollection that this ended the Shelby continuation series.
The way the paint is “crazed” in the photo with the wiper and hood latch strongly suggests fiberglass to me, but I could be wrong. More than likely it is a clone.
BTW, some of the original Cobra 427s were delivered with the 428. But I doubt any still exist. That would be a rare snake.
Another tell-tale: I don’t think aluminum-bodied Cobras have chrome rings where the roll bar exits the body.
I know it’s not what you were thinking of, but there was the AC428 by Frua. Mebbe some of those engines found their way into some curvy bodies.
Do we have an answer? Someone in the know about Cobras might see a detail not obvious to most-e.g., how the side exhausts exit, hood scoop attachment, etc. I recently read that those were only on S/C models. The license plate might also provide an indication.
Saw a “continuation” model at a local car show last weekend. It was signed by Shelby in several places, suggesting some authenticity. (Wouldn’t think he would sign replicas, unless he couldn’t tell the difference either!) The gearshift did slant very far forward, although perhaps as far as the pictured car. Seems like a feature that must function better than it looks.
As a historical footnote, my Dad took me to see a new 66 Cobra at Portland Motor Sales. It was green with a $7500 sticker price. There was nothing like it in Maine at the time, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to my teenage brain. My father–perhaps mindful of details like a mortgage, five children, and impending tuition–didn’t quite see the light.
surely you gave it a wee tap…… the best reproductions are aluminum but the dull fiberglass thud would be the end of the discussion
I did that to one at a show recently the owner said yeah its Tupperware but I cant afford a real one, fair enough reading the sign he had attached to it described it as a replica anyway I just wanted to see what it was built from./
I always go with repro, and as far as I know I’m always right.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/special-reports/cross-country-cobra
Peter Egan wrote a great tale of bringing a 289 home with Tom Cotter. At one point R&T also ran a piece titled “No Fangs” which pointed out that 427 Cobras were banger race cars patched together with sweat and mens lives, which is a point lost on the continuation cars and repros.
+1. If anything, this one looks to be too well-finished to be genuine.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/vacation-cc-classic-roadsters-sebring-mx/
Shoulda built a Sebring MX!!!
Probably a reproduction but it does look like a good one. One of the surgeons at the veterinary college where I used to work had a reproduction that looked of similar quality, aluminum body (forget who made it) with a legit 427 under the hood. I’m sure that wasn’t cheap! Of course he also had a ’79 308 GTB, a ’62 Corvette ragtop, and a ’67 ‘Vette, so he was used to spending a little money on cars here and there!
(You ask what someone with such an automotive selection drives daily? A MINI Cooper S. Though the Cobra or the 308 would show up once or twice a week so they weren’t garage queens. Never saw him actually drive the Vettes, but I think the ’62 was undergoing a restoration)
“Obviously the body has been repainted recently”
If so then it has acquired a decade or two worth of deep swirl marks in record time.
If that’s the real thing it sure needs a new paint job. But it’s most likely a kit that was painted by someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing.