EditReal Deal: The Shelby Cobra
The Shelby American story starts in 1962 with the legendary Cobra. No sooner had Shelby finished the first prototype to show Ford what it had been spending its money on then he started fabricating the first Cobra racing car. It was a quick-and-dirty race-prep job with a mildly modified Ford 260-inch engine, 16-inch wire wheels, a roll bar and some minor beefing-up. Sporting less than 275 hp, it didn't seem like much compared to a 375-hp fuel-injected Corvette—until the flag fell!
First blood was at Riverside in late 1962. Billy Krause flogged the new warrior around the track, easily pulling away from a group of new Sting Rays, which had expected to dominate the big-bore class. At one time Krause was over a mile ahead, but a rear suspension part failed and put him out. The Corvettes won, but everyone knew their days were numbered.
Sure enough, from then until 1965 the small-block Cobras ruled big-inch American sports car racing. Shelby also took his team of 289 roadsters (the 260 was replaced by the 289-inch engine in 1963) to Europe to do battle with the Ferrari 250 GTOs. At first the Cobras were quick but fragile, but by 1964 they had developed into formidable racers.
In 1964 Shelby introduced the Daytona Coupe, a fastback version of the Cobra roadster that was capable of 180 mph (30 mph higher than the less aerodynamic roadsters). Shelby was well on the way to victory in the GT Championship when Ferrari pulled strings to get the last race (in which Shelby was favored to win) cancelled, giving the red cars from Maranello a narrow win in the Championship.
In 1965 Shelby found himself with no opposition, as Ferrari withdrew factory support from the now outdated GTOs. The Cobras romped to victory!
Although the Cobra 427 was the fastest production car in the world when it came out in 1965, it had a relatively short racing career. The first 427 prototype was a 289 Cobra stuffed with a NASCAR 427. At Sebring in 1964, its handling was so deadly the drivers were happy when it finally broke. Cobra driver and development expert Ken Miles also built an ultra-light Cobra with an experimental aluminum 390-inch Ford engine. He ran it once at Nassau in 1964, where it pulled out an impressive lead until it broke.
It was obvious that a stronger and more sophisticated chassis was needed to cope with the heavier, more muscular 427 engine. The original Cobra leaf-spring independent suspension was replaced with coil-overs and double A-arms all around. Interestingly enough, this was the first chassis designed on a computer by Klaus Arning and Bob Negsted.
Shelby intended to build 100 racing versions of the 427 with hotter 485-hp engines, race suspension and brakes and wide racing wheels. Few were sold however, so most were remade into the now-priceless 427 S/C (street/competition) models. The Shelby team only raced one Cobra 427, and then only three times with no success. Private owners won SCCA A-Production championships from 1965 to 1969, and again in 1973.
Shelby got into the serious car business in 1965 with the introduction of the GT-350, a highly modified Mustang. In 1965 there were also 37 GT-350R race versions built, with hotter Cobra 289 engines and numerous suspension and bodywork modifications. These competed against the small-block Corvettes in amateur road racing, winning many championships. The factory even raced a couple of them with success, but the emphasis was on selling them to privateer teams.