The car was a one-off and was nearly destroyed after a high-speed tire blow-out at the 1964 Le Mans race. The motto of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment is Who Dares Wins. Shelby says he's the victim of a business feud. 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake Specifications Model: 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake Horsepower: 800 Torque: 462 @ 2800 Transmission: 4-Speed Manual Pros Cons Shelby Cobra 427 Super. Both cars were numbered following where the original ledger entries left off during the 1960s. Cars were sent to the US as unpainted rolling chassis, and they were finished in Shelby's workshop. This car features a composite body coated with aluminum and is powered by 6.2-litre LS3 Chevrolet engine. This became Carroll Shelbys personal car which he also occasionally used for competitions such as the Turismos Visitadores Cannonball-Run race in Nevada. ACs engineers were going to be able to make a lighter car with just as much power, and it was going to make the gorgeous V8 exhaust noise that we all just love. . The Super Snake became the subject of his 200 MPH sketch although the way he recounts the tale in his interview with Jay Leno is perhaps even funnier. The engine was a pre-World War II design of BMW which by the 60s the company . The first 75 Cobra Mk1 models (including the prototype) were fitted with the 4.3L (260cuin). The following owner, a gentleman. Shelby collaborated with Ford to develop the new chassis - internally designated Mark III - using 101.6 mm (4 in) main chassis tubes, up from 76.2 mm (3 in), and coil spring suspension all. A feat it accomplished gaining first place in the GT class, and finishing in fourth place overall. Taken from this cobrastory: The auction: However, Cosby took the car for a drive and decided it was too much for him. : Autos: Questions have been raised over Carroll Shelby's claim he's building 43 of his classic Cobras using original chassis. D. The inboard brakes were moved outboard to reduce cost. The Daytona Coupe is reproduced as the CSX 9000 series. Cobra Mark III production began on 1 January 1965; two prototypes had been sent to the United States in October 1964. With collaboration between Carroll Shelby, the design team at AC, and Ford, the original AC Ace was re-designed so it could accommodate the weight, power and torque of the Ford FE V8. The Shelby car (CSX3015) is in a private collection in Pittsburgh PA. Called S/C for semi-competition, an original example can currently sell for US$1.5 million, making it one of the most valuable Cobra variants.[13]. This was meant to continue where the last 427 S/C production left off, at approximately serial number CSX3360 in the 1960s. engine cars. Their new version of the car was called the AC Mark IV Cobra, this new version being fitted with a larger 4,942 cc Ford V8 engine producing 250 hp at 4,200 rpm giving the car a top speed of 134 mph (215 km/hr). Like this article? So the idea of helping Carroll Shelby create a challenger to the Corvette based on a British chassis with a V8 engine was just not something that GM was going to support. Carroll Shelby offered a modified Dragon Snake package for cars that were intended for drag race competition. And despite the fact that it is not likely to be a production car that makes enormous sums of money in company profit, it continues to have passionate people taking the commercial risk to continue making them. The ad pictures the car and lists it as a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Supersnake. (4.95 liter) Ford V8 mated to a Borg Warner T5 Transmission. Advertisements from the time state that the Cobra was designed to meet the requirements of Shelby American Inc. Shelby experimented with a larger Ford FE engine, of 6.4L (390cuin) in chassis number CSX2196. AC accomplished this by creating a Mark III Cobra version fitted with a small block Ford 289 cu. in. Cosby reportedly drove the car only once and then it was sold to a Mr Tony Maxey who ended up driving off a cliff into the Pacific ocean thus destroying the car. Lot #7119. . AC Car Group introduced two new models for 1997; the Carbon Road Series, a carbon fiber bodied car powered by a 225 bhp Ford V8 engine, and the Superblower which featured a more expensive aluminum body and was powered by a supercharged 4,942cc Ford V8 developing a robust 320 bhp. The 3 inch tubing main chassis frame was upgraded to 4 inch diameter tubing. AC Cars in Britain were the ones who developed this version of the Shelby Cobra in cooperation with Pietro Frua in Italy. Just one other Cobra Super Snake was built by Shelby American, but the car and its owner, Tony Maxey, perished decades ago when it was driven off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. Tony Maxey - who drove it off a cliff. A new chassis was built using 101.6mm (4in) main chassis tubes, up from 76.2mm (3in), and coil spring suspension all around (an especially significant change up front, where the previously-used transverse leaf spring had done double duty as the top link). One day, when Maxey was driving his Super Snake, the throttle jammed open. in. About 528 Mark II Cobras were produced from 1963 to the summer of 1965 (the last US-bound Mark II was produced in November 1964).[11]. AC Motor Holdings was formed in Malta in 2002 and they undertook to obtain the Frimley factory of AC Cars. Bill Cosbys briefly owned Shelby Cobra killed its last owner. History and development Like many British specialist manufacturers, AC Cars had been using the smooth, refined Bristol straight-6 engine in its small-volume production, including its AC Ace 2-seater roadster. Firearm Discussion and Resources from AR-15, AK-47, Handguns and more! "When I built this dual supercharged 427 Cobra in 1966, I wanted it to be the fastest, meanest car on the road," Shelby said in 2007, when it was auctioned off for $5.5 million. He returned it to Shelby, and eventually the vehicle found its way to another customer named Tony Maxey. Not that the twin-Paxton car, as it was originally known, was fooling around. The AC Cobra, also known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in North America, is an Anglo-American sports car that was produced during the 1960s. Maxey destruy el CSX 3303 al conducir por un acantilado y hacia el Ocano . With a 485-hp 7.0-liter Ford V8 under its hood, the 2529-pound roadster goes 0-60 mph in 4.3 seconds, Car and Driver reports. The only other change was moving the fuel filler to the center of the car, a modification that required shortening of the trunk/boot lid. The company also created a different version called the 212 S/C powered by a twin turbocharged Lotus 3,506 cc V8 producing 350 hp in 2000, but only two of these cars were made. For the NASCAR race that ran with this name in 2009, see, This article is about the sports car. The car has roughly 200 miles on it and has been kept in like-new condition. S&C Ford then sold it to customer Tony Maxey. This had a hand-built body with a steel tube frame, and aluminium body panels that were made using English wheeling machines. The new car entered production in early 1963 and was designated Mark II. By August 2002, the company was in a financial low and briefly acquired by Private Corp, who closed operations in October 2003. Carroll Shelbys idea was to have AC Cars in Britain to build a version of the AC Ace that he could fit an American V8 engine into with a four speed Borg-Warner manual transmission. Shelby offered a drag package, known as the Dragon Snake, which won several NHRA National events with Bruce Larson or Ed Hedrick at the wheel of CSX2093.[14]. unit. Produced in Las Vegas, Nevada, these cars retain the general style and appearance of their original 1960s ancestors, but are fitted with modern amenities. The fuel tank filler was relocated from the fender to the center of the trunk. Six were constructed, each being subtly different from the rest. His first effort was to install a 390 cu. CSX 3015 was a rare beast even before its modification and subsequent orphaning. Shelby didnt fulfill the 100-car homologation quota, but it didnt stop him from promoting his cars off-track. It eventually ended up in the hands of Tony Maxey, who managed to launch it and himself off the Pacific Coast Highway and . (4.3 liter) engine and the remaining 51 with the 289 cu. Styling was done by Italian design house Vignale and the car featured gull-wing doors. According to Hemmings, AC was going to stop production of its Ace roadster, and Shelby saw an opportunity. The AC Cobra, also known as the Shelby Cobra, is a British built and designed sports car that was produced during the 1960s. This allowed the Cobras to run with a prototype Ford GT40, GM Grand Sport Corvettes and a Lola Mk6. Lot #1301 1966 SHELBY COBRA 427 "SUPER SNAKE" Previous Lot Next Lot . To remedy the situation, Shelby had the twin-supercharged specialty roadster delivered to Cosby. The 1966 Shelby Cobra Super Snake is one of the most important American vehicles ever made. More recently Acedes Holdings have arranged production of an AC Mark II Classic (in 2012), the AC Mark1 260 Legacy Edition (in 2017), and the AC 378. The AC 428 Frua was made as a luxury GT competitive with the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Britains own Aston Martin. An article about the car was written up in the Winter 65/66 edition of "Style Quarterly" magazine. There's little between the Shelby Cobra 289 and Mazda MX-5 Miata SkyActiv-G 2.0 in terms of curb weight, but there's also a significant difference in terms of suck-squeeze-bang-blow. Cobra Make, Engine: . Carroll Shelby set about building a Super Snake for Bill Cosby that would make his Ferrari seem tame: and to make the car easy to drive he fitted it with an automatic transmission. The Shelby Cobra Super Snake sold again in January 2015 for $5.1 million. The AC 428 however boasted a fully independent suspension, which the Aston Martin did not have. Underneath the car sat twoelectric fuel pumps to supplement the standard mechanical unit. Previously, the car has. AC were being given the opportunity to create a car that could rival the E-Type, and in their design work ACs engineers installed the same Salisbury 4HU differential and in-board rear disc brake system as used on the Jaguar. As half of the competition vehicle, the Cobra has one Windshield, a Exhaust system with silencers and Bumpers. Even after Shelbys personal 427 Cobra brought $5.94M in 2021, CSX 3015s 2015 result remains the third-highest in Cobra auction history. 31 of the 53 competition cars made in 1965 were altered in this way. Maxey, suffering the same issues as Cosby did with the car, had his throttle stick while leaving a traffic stop, lost control and drove it off a cliff, landing in the Pacific Ocean waters . It was the same unit used on the Jaguar E-Type. CSX 3303 was given to comedian Bill Cosby, his close friend. 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