Equipped almost identically to CSX2522, the second example had aluminum valve covers, a tuned air cleaner, a Smiths heater, seat belts, front and rear brake cooling ducts, a hood scoop, brake cooling scoops, side exhausts and a painted roll bar (2522's roll bar was chromed). Production has continued with the CSX6000 serial numbers, featuring "coil over" suspension. His heart was in sports cars, and so a health issue brought his motor-racing career to an unexpected end (a health issue that required him to slip a nitro-glycerin capsule under his tongue when he went racing) he decided to dare to take the gamble and try his hand at sports car building. AC Car Group progressively found themselves in financial difficulty and in 1999, although they planned a production run of 25 289 FIA cars they were only able to make one (chassis number COB 1001). Unfortunately this turned out to not be a happy marriage. Shelby American sold it to S and C Motors in San Francisco, who then sold it to their customer, Tony Maxey. These cars are numbered COB/COX 6001-6062, indicating that 61 were produced. To date most continuations are produced in fiberglass, with some ordering cars with aluminium or carbon-fibre bodywork. Although the Shelby Cobra had proved to be a racing success, and had attained celebrity status, the car did not prove to be a great financial success and production was wound up in 1967. (4.7 liter) version of the Windsor V8. Tony Maxey. Believe it or not, the 427-equipped roadster could hit 60 mph in just over 4.0 seconds, just about as fast as a new Audi S4. Instead it had either the AC inline-6 or the ex-BMW pre-war Bristol inline-6 cylinder engine, the latter of which sounded quite sporty in a conservative British style but which simply could not bring out the full potential of the car. V8 engine. Nov 21, 2006. The last remaining Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake. 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This was meant to continue where the last 427 S/C production left off, at approximately serial number CSX3360 in the 1960s. The trunk lid had to be shortened to accommodate this change. It was powered by the "side oiler" Ford 7.0L (427cuin) FE engine equipped with a single 4-barrel 780 CFM Holley carburetor rated at 317kW (425hp; 431PS) at 6000 rpm and 651Nm (480lbft) at 3700 rpm of torque,[12] which provided a top speed of 264km/h (164mph) in the standard model. No matter what you call it, CSX 3015 has been one of the legends of the Shelby world since Carroll had his crew bolt on those Paxtons, and its reputation was clearly helped by everybody who listened to 200 M.P.H. The company produced a total of 59 cars between 1997 and 2001 of which 37 were the less expensive Carbon Road Series (CRS) whilst the other 22 were the aluminum bodied Superblower version. Shelby turned down the offer, but supplied the drawings to Willment. The American Electric Car Company used an even further modified chassis for their vehicles. Cobra Mark III production began on 1 January 1965; two prototypes had been sent to the United States in October 1964. On 8 July 2002, a new company was formed in Malta named AC Motor Holdings and was responsible for the branding of the company. 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. All these cars were built on the Mark II Cobra chassis with its lateral leaf spring independent suspension and 289 cu. There were a small number of one-off cars built on the Cobra chassis by Ford whilst they toyed with the idea of creating a head to head competitor to the Chevrolet Corvette. : Autos: Questions have been raised over Carroll Shelby's claim he's building 43 of his classic Cobras using original chassis. AC Motor Holdings was formed in Malta in 2002 and they undertook to obtain the Frimley factory of AC Cars. The ad pictures the car and lists it as a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Supersnake. In 2009, AC licensed Gullwing GmbH in Germany, dba AC-Automotive, to produce the AC MK VI, with an aluminium coated composite body and powered by a 6.2-litre (380cuin) 328-kilowatt (440hp; 446PS) LS3 Chevrolet engine, or a 410kW (550hp; 558PS) supercharged version. In 2012, the AC Mrk II Classic was released. 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]. . $274.95. The original AC Ace, and thus all the Mark I and Mark II production cars, were fitted with fully independent suspension systems but using transverse leaf springs rather than individual coil springs. Shelby admitted that the chassis had been manufactured in 1991 and 1992 by McCluskey Ltd, an engineering firm in Torrance, California, and were not original AC chassis, however Shelby denied having misled anyone and said he was a victim of a campaign by Brian Angliss, a British competitor, who owned AC at the time and was also building Cobras from the original tooling and wished to enhance his sales by smearing Shelby's car. Shelby paid that way for two years and then finally [Kirkhams] got a great big order and Shelby's truck driver said he forgot to bring the check. But some things were not modified, including the racing rear end, brakes and headers. In late 2003, the Frimley factory was under the control of AC Motor Holdings. CSX 3303 was given to comedian Bill Cosby, his close friend. Shelby then fit a 289 V8 into his vehicular vision, followed by a 427 V8. Since the late 1980s onwards, various companies have built what are known in the hobby as "Continuation Cars". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Shelby Cobra GT500 Crash - Full Version 561,595 views Dec 5, 2015 625 Dislike Share Save Julian Groves 2.88K subscribers This version contains the 1st run with traction control on and 2nd run. Based in Torrance, Calif., McCluskey had been Shelbys personal mechanic since the 1960s and was a well-established restorer and fabricator. The 289 FIA "leaf spring" race version of the car is reproduced as CSX7000, and the original "slab side" leaf spring street car is the CSX8000 series. 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. After thorough inspection when CSX 3015 arrived home, which included comparing it to other competition Cobras, it was determined CSX 3015 is a full Competition Roadster, still retaining its original body with its 1967 aluminum Super Snake hood. 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. The Ghia Cobra was a styling exercise done by Italian design house Ghia. S&C Ford sold it to Tony Maxey. The 3 inch tubing main chassis frame was upgraded to 4 inch diameter tubing. To supply cars to the European market, AC began to market and sell the Cobra in Europe. The other was driven over a cliff by its owner, Tony Maxey, tragically killing him and destroying the vehicle. in. In 2001, the company relocated its factory to Frimley, Surrey. The US operations were granted to AC AutoKraft, Llc, of Michigan. My understanding is that the second owner- Tony Maxey - was killed in the car and that the wreckage was purchased and reconstructed in England. They called me and asked if they should do it and I said, "As long as you get the money up front, but if you let a car out the door, youll lose money." engine cars. Maxey destroyed himself and CSX 3303 by driving off of a cliff and into the Pacific . Your email address will not be published. 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. AC Cars in Britain were the ones who developed this version of the Shelby Cobra in cooperation with Pietro Frua in Italy. The mavens at AC got busy on this exciting new project. As Bill Cosby tells the story the car was terrifying in the driveway, before hed even put it in reverse to back out. We dont know how far Bill Cosby drove the car, perhaps around the block, but he gave the keys back to Carroll Shelby and politely suggested that hed just keep on driving his tame Ferrari. in. For those still interested in the twin Paxton 427 Cobras, of which Shelby American built two, I looked it up in the old edition of the Shelby Registry, published by SAAC and it says there that the owner in 1969 of the twin Paxton 427 Cobra built for Cosby was named Tony Maxey and he was killed in the car on Pacific Coast Highway. in. Buckle in for its crazy history. In all 126 Mark I Cobras were made, the first 75 with the 260 cu. Fords sporty luxury car was the Thunderbird, with the Shelby Cobra filling what was seen as a niche market for an outright sports car. AC accomplished this by creating a Mark III Cobra version fitted with a small block Ford 289 cu. The body design work was entrusted to Pete Brock whilst the chassis re-design work was given to Bob Negstad. Tony Maxey - who drove it off a cliff. The first 75 Cobra Mk1 models (including the prototype) were fitted with the 4.3L (260cuin). Not that the twin-Paxton car, as it was originally known, was fooling around. It was the same unit used on the Jaguar E-Type. Unfortunately Maxey was critically injured, and later died, after driving the Cobra off of a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean. Youre probably less familiar with the less-formal Shelby versus Ferrari competition that played out on the U.S. highways surrounding Lake Tahoestarring not a GT40 and a P3, but a 427 Cobra and a 275 GTB. It was speculated that Maxey's accident may have been suicide. Two further chassis were ordered number CSX 3054 and CSX 3055. This did not prove to be popular despite auto-cross being a common type of competition in car clubs. Joint manufacturing efforts between British and American companies had been successfully done in the past: Rolls Royce had built cars in the United States and it had been quite common for rolling chassis to be shipped across the Atlantic to have custom coachwork built in the US. Only six 289 Dragon Snake Cobras were produced by the factory: "2019", "2357" as factory team cars, and "2248", "2416", "2427", "2472" as private team cars. In 1963 to keep production focused on producing cars for Shelby American Inc., the Ruddspeed Ace was discontinued. This left Carroll Shelby with competition specification cars that he could not sell, so these were modified by the fitting of windshields and de-tuning the engines to make them suitable for use as road cars. As a result, Maxey could not slow the car and drove it off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. Cobra skyrocketing, Shelby had requested the California Department of Motor Vehicles (the government agency responsible for titling vehicles and issuing operator permits) to issue 43 duplicate titles for vehicles that did not officially exist in company records. (The final numbers were $5.5 million in 07 and $5.1M in 15.) History and development AC Shelby CobraLike 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. 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 car had originally been built for Bill Cosby, who drove the car exactly one time before returning it to Shelby. An article about the car was written up in the Winter 65/66 edition of "Style Quarterly" magazine. Both cars were numbered following where the original ledger entries left off during the 1960s. The steel body was designed and built by Pietro Frua until 1973. Shelby says he's the victim of a business feud. Autokraft manufactured an AC 289 continuation car called the Autokraft Mk IV, basically a Mk III with a 4.95-litre (302cuin) Ford V8 and Borg Warner T5 Transmission. Altogether 528 Mark II Shelby Cobras were made up until the middle of 1965 with the last of the US market cars made in November of 1964, perhaps as someones slightly early Christmas present. The AC Cobra was a financial failure that led Ford and Carroll Shelby to discontinue importing cars from England in 1967. On 4 December 2003, Shelby and AC announced a co-production of the CSX1000 and CSX 7500 series. Underneath the car sat twoelectric fuel pumps to supplement the standard mechanical unit. Carroll Shelby retained it for a time, but in late 1968 he put it up for sale. Maxey destroyed himself and CSX3303 by driving off of a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean. It was at this time that AC decided to stop making the AC Ace and to rationalize their production line to just making V8 Cobras not only for the US market, but for Europe and the rest of the world also. However, Cosby took the car for a drive and decided it was too much for him. The chassis was remodeled to optimize it for the aerodynamic closed coup bodywork and the car was created to be a Le Mans GT class winner. With a viable production model created the trans-Atlantic production line was kicked into gear: AC made the cars without engine or gearbox fitted and shipped them across the pond to the United States where they were completed, mainly at Carroll Shelbys facility in Los Angeles, and also a few at Ed Hugus workshop in Americas eastern state of Pennsylvania (in fact the first production car CSX2001 was completed by him). Its an uncommon car whose history and cultural significance are as eye-popping as its performance, and this twin-Paxton Cobra certainly qualifies as such. 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