Shelby Cobra

Shelby Cobra



The story of the Shelby Cobra began in 1959 when American ex racing driver Carroll-Shelby raced in an Aston Martin and won the 24Hours of Le-Mans endurance raced in France. It was at this event where he took notice of the AC-Ace which was performing well in the race.
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He later made the Ace the foundation for his future venture. He quitted racing and returned to America with a desire of building a sports car.
He first approached Chevrolet to source the engine. However they turned down the offer as they didn't want any competition to the Chevrolet Corvette.



Ford who envied the Corvette agreed to support him and supplied their 2 hundred and 21 cubic inch engine V8.
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As the competition increased he tuned the engine to its maximum and upon reaching the limit started searching for a new engine. At the beginning, they designed a chassis for the 3 hundred and 90 cubic inch V8-engine made of aluminum that would provide it the much needed racing lightness.
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However under pressure from the NASCAR fraction inside Ford, Mr.Shelby was forced to use a much heavier and larger 4 hundred and 27 cubic inch iron block engine which was reliable to produce up to 5 hundred HP. Shelby Cobra


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The 427 Shelby Cobra made a name for itself when its chief engineer Ken Miles decided to challenge the Aston Martin who claimed its car could accelerate from 0 to 100mph per hour in less than 30 sec. It's for this purpose along with the desire to dominate the racing arena that the 427 Shelby Cobra Semi /Competition or S/C was designed. The car was radical and featured a number of technologies that were ahead of its time. These included side mounted exhausts, oil coolers, large external fuel filler, a forty two gallon gas tank, anti roll bar and front jacking points.

The 427 Shelby Cobra was soon put into production and it were produced 1 hundred cars with the aim of racing it in the domestic and international circuit. However a quick inspection by FIA at Shelby�s plant found out that Shelby Cobra hadn't produced 1 hundred homologate version as suggested by the rules. The 427 Shelby Cobra S/C got banned from competing and this slashed Shelby�s market. The order with AC was canceleed but still had 53 completed Shelby Cobra remaining. Shelby managed to sell a few cars to various American racing teams, but still had 34 chassis left. Shelby Cobra