I'm pretty familiar with the Shelby history, but I was wondering if anyone here knows what was the actual first car that Mr. Shelby built? Did he build anything before the Cobra or did he just drive and tinker with cars up until that point? If the very first car was the Cobra, does anyone know of or own the very first one? Thanks! Jon
He did tinker around with other cars in the 50's. I've heard the stories but forgotten the details. Maybe someone else could elaborate? RS
Thanks for the info. I thought I remember seeing an interview with Carroll and he said that he didn't keep any of the early stuff and if he had only known how the values were going to skyrocket that he would have stashed a bunch of them away. Does anyone know whether he kept that cobra from the get-go, or did he purchase it later on in the cars life - and at what premium? Also, what kind of performance was he able to get out of that 260? I had one of those in my 64 1/2 mustang and my buddies mustangs w/289s (one had a 65 and the other had a 67) would walk all over me. Granted, that cobra must have been a heck of a lot lighter than a mustang, but I still can't imagine that little 260 being all that powerfull. Pretty neat to see that the car that propelled the man from race car driver to race car builder is still alive!
I remember that the original Cobra prototype had a small block Chevy engine. Production Cobras went to the Ford powerplant because Chevrolet had no desire to supply engines for a car designed to defeat their showpiece Corvette. The Petersen Auto Museum website shows a car developed by Shelby, Jim Hall, and Gary Laughlin that predates the Cobra. See Exhibit
Wow...that's cool. I actually think I remember hearing about the chevy story and them turning him down because of the corvette. Nice link and pic of the car. Anyone else know anything about this car? DeLa1Rob - is that a red glhs in your avatar? Looks sweet!
I remember seeing on TV that he had started trying to slim down a corvette, but the general didn't want anyone messing with their flagship, and plus they felt an improved corvette would just make regular corvettes look less . . . cool. At least thats what I remember.
his first win was in a 1/4 mile he told Ruby the details about it one day at his home in Pittsburg he was very good to us at his home that day Ruby's 68 Shelby 350 was overheating as it never was in a parade, and was not used to going much over 1/4 mile all out
BLASPHEMY!!!! The deal went like this, Shelby worked on three prototype Corvettes. when the Corvette God "Zora" got wind of the invasion, the plan got yanked quickly. Ford was the next stop on his journey. Thank goodness they had a Nice little small block in development at the same time Ac lost it's engine supplier, "Bristol" or the venture may never have launched at all.
jonnyb, I seem to recall that the first cars got 260's because the 289 wasn't available at the time - although it came on line shortly after the first prototypes. Remember, Chevy was making do with a 283 during the same time period the first Cobra's rolled into the public eye. The 260 was a big step up for Ford; it was a "small block;" thin wall design, light weight (compared to predecessors) and generated a lot of power for the displacement.
