Hi guys, my name is Barry Edwards and am new to the forum. I am seeking information on the fate of CSX3303, Bill Cosby's twin Paxton 427. I've read it was wrecked in England and for me the trail goes cold. Any help would be most appreciated. I notice that CSX3015 is being listed for auction at Scottsdale in January!
Wasn't this the car that was also obtained by English collector Rod Leach in the 1980's, and retrofitted with twin-turbos ad a custom hood? I have a poster of it in my office, and remember it being featured in one issue of "The Shelby American" about 20 years ago. It had the personalized plate reading "COB-1".
I believe this is correct. I also understand that the car was subsequently near totalled, but am not sure of the circumstances.
many stories have been written on this car. do a search on www.clubcobra.com great COBRA site and should have what you need. also try Ned Scudder the Cobra Registrar for SAAC he knows probably the most on that topic of anyone.
Check out this site too. Very interesting but mainly about CSX3015, "the only original twin paxton cobra left." http://www.wurthitdesigns.com/twinpaxton.htm
According to Barrett Jackson CSX3015 will be for sale at Scottsdale in January:- http://www.barrett-jackson.com/carlist/cardetails.asp?In_AuctionID=221&In_LotNumber=1301 I also notice in this picture of CSX3015 some 'pipework' entering at the rear end of the inlet manifold on each bank. Any ideas ? Nitrous ?
I was thinking whether the Paxton's alone would be responsible for 800hp. As far as I know they are a low pressure blower (about 7psi I've heard). Hence the curiousity regarding those 'mystery' lines.
The Cosby Cobra CSX3033 was rebuilt without the Paxtons and was listed on a British dealer website for sale a few years ago. I believe that it was October of 2002. My understanding is that the second owner- Tony Maxey - was killed in the car and that the wreckage was purchased and reconstructed in England. The wreck occured in the US. The twin Paxton cars were rated (by Shelby) at 800 HP at 6 pounds of boost. The Shelby car (CSX3015) is in a private collection in Pittsburgh PA. I am working on my own replica version and have had private showings of CSX3015 on two occasions. The location is at a high-end car dealership called Auto Palace on Baum Blvd. The Shelby car is slightly modified over the years but it does not carry nitrous. I just checked the auction listing. The images show it in it's original blue color again. CSX3015 was painted black for many years. I will be uploading images of the Shelby and Cosby(after reconstruction) cars in the members photo galley. Email: sarno@paonline.com -Aggressor
Thank you very much for your reply. There certainly is great deal of mystery surrounded these cars. You can understand my curiousity rergarding those lines. Two lines going to each side, straight into the manifold ! I hear that after Tony Maxey's tragedy CSX3303 was parted out, the engine ending up in a Hot Rod. Has anyone ever heard this too ?
Here is the latest on CSX3303. http://www.russoandsteele.com/collector_car/1966_shelby_cobra_427_supersnake/6809.html Jay
Many thanks for the posting Jay. It certainly is a fascinating story and one to which I feel, we do not have all the answers !
Because the Rosso and Steele Auction people (RSA) finally realized from some of the SAAC UK based insiders that the UK located "3303 air car cobra" has a lot of problems with the "true" representation of the ownership chain of the vehicle, and RSA could in fact be creating a "huge" liability issue for themselves if they did sell the vehicle (3303 aircar cobra) at one of their many 2007 annual auctions. And as for the ________ over at ClubCobra.com...they don't know anything about what they are talking about when it comes to "true" original cobra histories! The ClubCobra.com "little townspeople" need to stick with their 25 year old "cobra reproduction histories" and stay away from 1962-1967 original AC Shelby cobra histories! That is SAAC's job (Ned Scudder)! Best Regards, FIACOBRAS PS Happy New Year!
Wow. Never realised there was so much mystery and 'misrepresentation' over these cars. It's been a steep learning curve !
No "Death Records" on a "Tony Maxey" (CSX3303) in California that I can find ? Web address/link for Info on CSX3015 : http://www.wurthitdesigns.com/cobrastory.htm
The headline in this morning's (1-14-07) Dallas Morning News : Going, going ... Auction expects $1 million-plus for supercharged Cobra 12:00 AM CST on Sunday, January 14, 2007 TERRY BOX Few of us will ever need more heart-stopping speed than lurks beneath the hood of a tail-wagging, fire-breathing 427 Cobra. In the mid- and late 1960s, when the evil, muscled-up Cobra ruled road and track, one magazine claimed the car could rip from 0 to 100 mph and back to a complete stop in less than 14 seconds. Few modern cars could match that today. But in the wild-child '60s, not even 425 horsepower in a tiny 2,400-pound sports car was enough for Carroll Shelby, the legendary, large-living Texas racer who created the Cobra and the GT 350 and GT 500 Mustangs. "With the 427 Cobra, I was always thinking of something I could do different," Mr. Shelby said recently in a telephone interview from California. "I thought, 'Maybe I'll supercharge one.' " Mr. Shelby, who is still active in the auto world at 84, actually built two supercharged Cobras. One crashed, killing the driver, he said. The other, which Mr. Shelby drove for five or six years, will be sold at this year's Barrett-Jackson Auction. If you think that muscle car values have skyrocketed at recent auctions, this could be a real moon shot. The event in Scottsdale, Ariz., began Saturday and runs through next Sunday, with more than 1,100 vehicles on the block. The cable TV channel Speed will run 40 hours of live coverage. Mr. Shelby's Cobra, which he no longer owns, will be joined at Barrett-Jackson this year by two other hot-rod heavyweights: a sinister red 1971 Plymouth Barracuda, billed as the fastest street-legal Hemi 'Cuda in the world, and the last Corvette Sting Ray built in 1967, a silver 427 coupe with sidepipes, a four-speed and 3:55 positraction (Chevrolet's name for limited slip differential). All three cars are likely to be million-dollar-plus vehicles at a premier auction that generated $135 million in sales last year. "I look for this to be a record-setter for a number of reasons," said Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson. "We've got those three incredible cars. But we also have a huge diversity of vehicles, everything from a stagecoach to a Russian boat used to retrieve cosmonauts. It will be basic Capitalism 101 playing out live in front of you." The 'Cuda, by the way, is a zillion-dollar, scratch-built car powered by a 572-cubic-inch Hemi with 870 horsepower and another 300 horses available from a two-stage nitrous-oxide system. It has a carbon-fiber front end and a six-speed transaxle and has supposedly topped 200 mph. It may also be one of the few cars this year at Barrett-Jackson faster than Mr. Shelby's Cobra, which he estimates to have 850 to 900 horsepower. Mr. Shelby said he had already begun work on the supercharged Cobra when actor-comedian Bill Cosby called, looking for a "really special" Cobra. "We decided to build it for him and delivered it to his house in Beverly Hills," he said. "He wanted to take his wife for a ride. He drove down the street, turned left and stood on it. We heard a lot of noise and saw a lot of smoke, and he spun it, of course. A few seconds later, Cosby's wife comes walking back, and Bill told me he was going to have to sell the car." That was the supercharged Cobra that was later destroyed after it was sold. For his personal car, Mr. Shelby plucked CSX3015 from a line of 19 production Cobras and bolted on twin Paxton superchargers – as well as a more pronounced hood bubble, various other modifications and a three-speed automatic transmission, of all things. "Except for my very first Cobra, all of my Cobras, all of my Mustangs that I drove on the street had automatics," Mr. Shelby said. "I don't want to row a boat. I don't want to constantly be shifting gears in traffic." Besides, he noted wryly, how much effect could it have in a car with more than 800 horsepower? "I used to drive it to Las Vegas," Mr. Shelby said. "We'd go up there to party, and there were no speed limits in the desert in Nevada. A cop clocked me once at 190 mph in that car. I wanted it to be the fastest, meanest car on the road." After five or six years, he said, he sold the car to songwriter Jimmy Webb – remember him from the '60s? The blue Cobra, now beautifully restored, eventually landed in the hands of Harley E. Cluxton III, who is selling it at Barrett-Jackson. Mr. Shelby said he has no idea what the car is worth, though he realizes that the money this one nasty Cobra is likely to command would have kept his entire organization flush with cash for several months in the '60s. "They got $20 million for a [Cobra] Daytona coupe," he said. "Harley hopes to get $10 million for it." Mr. Davis of Barrett-Jackson did nothing to diminish those expectations. "Carroll's hands actually gripped the steering wheel as he drove this monster across Nevada," Mr. Davis said. "This is the ultimate in-your-face statement, and now it will become the cornerstone of some great collection." E-mail tbox@dallasnews.com
One thing that people seem to be overlooking is how exactly this car was crashed. It was totaled when the owner either lost control or commited suicide by driving it over a ledge of the pacific highway with the car coming to rest in the ocean. Sounds like a rumor but it is true. The car is obviously not at all origional in any sense of the word.
Q: Is there a "period newspaper or magazine article" (proof/evidence), or a 1969-75 "on site" period crashed cobra picture (etc.) "floating around" out there ?
