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Willment Fiat bodied 427 coupe--latest word on location?

Discussion in 'Shelby History and Miscellaneous Topics' started by bitzman, Dec 3, 2007.

  1. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

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    For those who don't recall this bit of Cobra obscura, this was a CSX-3000 series 427 roadster
    rebodied with a body from a junkyard for Sir John Willment who had a racing team running Ford cars in the UK.
    The body was probably selected because it was aluminum but it happened to be a very rare body of a Supersonic body style
    designed by Savonuzzi for Ghia, usually featured on the Fiat 8V (which they spelled 8V because they thought Americans owned the name "V8")
    I say "rebodied" but recently read the chassis never had a Cobra body on it. I also heard earlier the Cobra body had been wrecked. Anyway this car also has some connection with Sir Malcolm Campbell, maybe it was his wife's car. I think he was killed in a speed attempt in a speedboat so I don't know if he ever drove it with the Fiat body or ever drove it with any previous body. Anyway, I digress. Several British magazines reported trying to drive the car but they succeeded in only scaring the beejeesus out of themselves because iit wasn't very well sorted, and I wonder what was the last used car lot/auction house (or are they the same thing) that had it for sale and what it sold for or is it still kicking around?

    This is not to be confused with the somewhat Daytona-styled Willment coupe
    which I saw at a racetrack in Georgia some years back, that car built on a 289 chassis and since it was built from photos of the Brock design, differs in a few details.

    http://www.secondstrike.com/Coupe/OtherCoupes.htm


    British members might be able to trace it by its license registration but then again it might be the plate used when it was still Willments

    There were several of these bodies built, one on an Alfa the rest on Fiats
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 8, 2008
  2. kermit

    kermit New Member

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  3. A-Snake

    A-Snake Well-Known Member

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    Wallace,
    Branda has the 1997 Registry on sale for $109 right now. It would be a great investment for you. That way you could read about this car, CSX3055 :dance:
    By the way, Sir Malcolm Campbell died in 1948 so I don't think he had any connection to Cobras :eek: Maybe you meant his son Donald.
     
  4. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

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    Whichever Campbell it was, it was his widow. She could be quite a bit younger than him, i.e. "trophy wife." I can't believe a documented 427 Comp chassis still goes around with this body when it could be rebodied as a 427 Comp car for not that much considering its resale. On the other hand I like the Supersonic body style too...
     

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