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5 Cobras Crossing the Block at Kissimmee 2025
The Shelby/AC Cobra story is a famous one, and the car itself is one that millions of gearheads dream about owning. Since there aren’t millions of Cobras to go around (less than 1000 built in period, according to most sources), there’s an entire industry of replicas and continuation cars making those dreams a reality for those who can’t quite swing the real deal.
Only at Mecum Kissimmee, however, would buyers of both replica and real thing be spoiled for choice. Kissimmee is the first major collector car auction of the year as well as the world’s largest, and 2025’s edition has a whopping 14 Cobra replicas or continuation cars consigned. More impressive than that, though, are these five real ones that rolled out of Shelby American in the ’60s, and will roll across the auction block in 2025.
1964 Shelby Cobra 289
An original 289 with a healthy $1.4M-$1.5M estimate for Kissimmee, CSX2242 was ordered new in Princess Blue over red and with “Class A” accessories that included AC-stamped wire wheels, whitewall tires, aluminum valve covers, dual four-barrel carburetors on an aluminum manifold, and a high-capacity oil pan. The MSRP for all this Anglo-American goodness was $5728.55, and the car sold to its first private owner in Texas.
A later owner added a roll bar and hood scoop, repainted the body in red, and retrimmed the interior in black. He listed it for sale in the late 1990s for $190,000. Fortunately, the next owner restored the car to its original, and current appearance.
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1967 Shelby Cobra 427
Represented as one of the best preserved big-block Cobras in existence, this car is original down to the warning sticker on its speedometer, its original weather stripping, and its original Sunburst wheels wrapped in the same set of Goodyear Blue Dot tires that came on it in 1967.
In 2018, the long-dormant Cobra made a splash when Tom Cotter unearthed it from nearly 30 years in storage for his Barn Find Hunter series. It was then a highlight of that year’s Amelia Island auctions, where it sold for $1,045,000. Since its last sale, the barn find dust has been detailed away but its originality is still just as impressive.
1963 Shelby Cobra 289
The first few dozen Shelby Cobras used Ford’s 260-cid, 260-horse V-8. Then, the last 51 of the early “Mark I” Cobras got the more potent and more famous 289-cid/271-hp unit. These early cars also used an adequate but antiquated worm and sector (“W&S”) steering system, which was rectified in 1963 with the Mark II 289 Cobra and its modern rack-and-pinion (“R&P”) steering. CSX2105 is one of those cars in the middle built with 289 engine and W&S steering, though it has been retrofitted with a rack and pinion setup (the original worm gear steering bracket is included with the sale). Feeding its Ford V-8 are a quartet of Weber carburetors.
It is a very early production 289 Cobra, and according to the World Registry of Cobras & GT40s, it was offered for sale in 1997 for $150,000, but also seized by the IRS the same year over the owner’s non-payment of taxes. After a handful of ownership changes, it received a full restoration finished in September of last year and has a $1.25M-$1.5M estimate for Kissimmee.
1965 Shelby Cobra 289 Dragonsnake
The Cobra legend was written on the twisty road courses of sports car racing in America and Europe, but Shelby’s little car + big engine formula amounted to some success in drag racing, too. Shelby called its official drag racing setup for the Cobra “Dragonsnake,” and although some private owners converted their Cobras into drag racers in period, just five or six genuine Dragonsnakes rolled out of Shelby American in period. CSX2427 is one of them, and it sold new to an affluent Pennsylvania teenager who had it painted a special shade of yellow to match his Thunderbird tow car, raced it briefly through the summer of ’65, and parked it. According to the Cobra Registry, his father soon put it up for sale in the December issue of Car and Driver: “Reason for selling, son returned to college.”
The next owner modified the Dragonsnake for road racing and ran some SCCA events in 1966. Then it was crashed and repaired in 1967. It was reportedly restored in the late 2000s using only original and new-old-stock parts.
It has had a string of auction appearances, including a $209K sale at RM Phoenix in 2001, a $1.4M no-sale at Mecum Indy 2019, a $1.375M reported sale at Kissimmee 2022, a $1.4M no-sale at Mecum Monterey 2022, a $1.05M no-sale at Kissimmee 2023, and a $1.15M no-sale at Mecum Indy 2024. It doesn’t have a presale estimate for Kissimmee ’24, and Mecum’s listing for the car also notes that it is “available now for direct purchase,” so it may be gone before it’s scheduled to cross the block on Sunday, January 19, the auction’s final day.
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 Competition
Billed as “arguably the winningest Cobra of all time,” CSX3009 started life finished in Wimbledon White and equipped with an FE-block 427 side-oiler engine with single four-barrel carburetor, side exhaust, remote engine and rear-end oil coolers, Toploader four-speed transmission, and Salisbury limited-slip differential. The original invoice for it was $9700. Ford Motor Company was Essex Wire’s biggest customer, so Essex sponsored the Cobra for the 1965 race season and the team finished fourth overall in that year’s United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC). Backup driver Dick Thompson said of the Cobra: “Every time you let off on the throttle, a belch of fire about three feet long would shoot out the hood scoop.” The team nicknamed it “Ollie the Dragon.”
The next season the car sold to racer Ed Lowther, who ran it in the SCCA A-Production class with sponsorship from Eger Ford in Pennsylvania. It quickly became the car to beat, won the national championship that year, and barely lost out on the title again in 1967.
Racer Sam Feinstein, also of PA, bought the car in 1967 and finished third in the 1968 Northeast Division of SCCA A-Production. Sadly, while on a transporter, the car was damaged in a 37-car pileup on the New Jersey Turnpike and missed the 1969 season undergoing repairs. It came back with a vengeance in 1970, though, finishing second in Northeast Division A-Production. After mixed success in the next few seasons, in 1973 funny car tuner Al Joniec was able to get 670 horsepower out of the original 427 engine, so Feinstein and the Cobra were back on top. They took the national championship that year, and were regional champions in ’74 and ’75, taking sixth at the runoffs in ’74 and fourth in ’75. Eventually, it was restored to its original Essex Wire appearance and specs in the 2010s by specialist Mike McCluskey, and Carroll Shelby himself advised the restoration in person on several occasions. With a $4.5M-$6M estimate for Kissimmee, it is one of the most valuable cars of the entire auction.
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I think this ’67 427 Cobra is still around although it’s been a few years since I spoke to the owner. Google “Penn Brothers 427 cobra.”
In 2006, I purchased a new Superformance replica of the 1965 427 Cobra. Not the real deal but It was awesome in detail and not a “kit”. Loads of fun and checked off on my bucket list..
My daughter and I just returned last night from a day at the Mecum Auction in Kissimmee. This is our sixth trip. We live in St Augustine so it’s 2 hours away. It was spectacular with about 4400 cars. For a Friday it was very well attended by like minded and incredibly friendly and informed people. We saw all the available Cobras both real and quality replicas. For car guys and girls this is a trip to Mecca. Highly recommend. And in my humble opinion, there are numerous deals to be had.
It’s a good thing I don’t have the $ to play in this arena because there would soon be one less of these around. If I could afford it, I would absolutely buy one and drive the shit out of it…just like I do with my ’06 Solstice “Mallet” LS2V8. Always a driver, never a collector.
Ok ???
Archer- Sounds like a honey of street car. The C6 428 combo work well together with the right amount of go pedal pressure. While Shelby values fluctuate ( why GT 350 H s now seem to fetch more than a dealer model in like condition for instance ) I’d probably go with a 67 rather than any other 500. The first and last modified by them so from a historical standpoint. The 69 Mustang is probably my favorite but the 69/70 Shelby the least. Too junked up just to be different and nothing performance wise you couldn’t order by checking the right box. Just one question. What color was yours?
The winged badges on the first 260 Cobra’s said it all, “Shelby AC Cobra!” Carroll often said his favorite Cobra’s were the last of the 289s, not slabside, no such thing back then! When it came time for his final Cobra, he got a leaf-sprung continuation, with an automatic. As Rinsey Mills said in his book on the AC Ace & Cobra, comparing the small block cars to the big block cars, “in the eyes of many people, including the author, these cars display an understated elegance that was lost in the vulgar excess of the coil-sprung cars!” I agree!
In 1969, I was active army at Fort Lenard Wood. I remembndser inquiring about what looked like a Cobra under a tarp at the gas station where I fueled my 850 Mini for a break from AIT on weekeds. I wanted either a 289 Cobra or a Lotus Elan. I’ve often wondered what happened w/ that Misouri Cobra, but I too bought a Lotus Elan in 1974 that I still own.
Dennis – Also, I seem to remember Shelby talking about building a new Cobra for himself. It was slatted to be a fiberglass, small block 427, C-6 automatic. He gave no other details that I recall. Think he passed before it was completed or possibly even begun. Anybody know?
That would be one of the continuation CSX8000 cars made by Superformance of South Africa, which just like the originals from AC Cars Ltd, came to the states finished, except for the engine and transmission. Interesting, he chose the 427 small block, with an old fashion C6. Then again, he liked the C6 Cobra’s, be it 289, 428 or the Super Snakes. To bad he didn’t get to drive it, then again, he was born the same year as my Dad, but out live him by a full decade. My Dad was also in the Army Air Forces, 9th Troop Carrier Command, England and France.
I’m thinkin’ the Essex Wire Cobra is pictured at corner 2 Mosport… anyone else? It also looks like Klute Jr. driving.
In 1964 I ordered a British Racing Green 289 Cobra from a New York City dealer and put $25 down. I told the dealer I was inheriting some money on my 21’st birthday (in August) and would be back soon after that day. LSS I didn’t get the dreamed for cash and when the car arrived at the dealership I asked my step-father for a loan to pay for it. He demurred saying it wasn’t worth it and I had to tell the dealer it was a no go. He had another customer waiting and was glad to get the $6641 price from them. I bought a 1959 MGA soon afterwards for $225. It became my first SCCA race car. I will always wonder who was the lucky buyer.
Hello all fellow Canadian here love the Cobra article, not fortunate enough to have an original but I have a Factory five Mk3 that I do lapping at Mosport Raceway in Bowmanville On, I thoroughly enjoy the car rebuilt it myself, it’s as close to original as the 427 they raced back in the day, anyone who thinks this car is junk is just a fool one of the most iconic cars of the century. Thx for the great car and memories Carroll .
During the winter of ’70 I 19 yrs old and was working as a gopher at Toms’ Pit Stop on Rt 22 in Scotch Plains N.J. N.Js only Lotus dealer. We had a 289 Cobra, ’65 black .I believe, for sale on consignment. I would show up early every morning (imagine a 19 yr. old showing up early for work) to be able to back it out of the bay it was stored in. As I pumped the gas and turned the key the engine would explode to life, the rumble as I backed out and parked it in front of the garage gave me a little more than goose bumps. Some things in life you never forget.
Dennis – As an older gentleman who received both a heart and then later kidney transplant who would criticize the choice of an automatic ?
You would be surprised at how many who have criticized his liking C6 cars. I always say the same thing as you back to them, but some just can’t ever understand his decision. Incidentally, as far as I can tell, all the C6 289, 427 and 428s assembled between 1963 and 1967 were assembled at Shelby’s LA facility, and not at Ed Hugus Pittsburg or TASCA Providence facility’s! Although, Herbie Handcock’s CSX2006, the longest original owner car and the only 2bl Cobra, was assembled at Hugus’s facility.
I have a comment on the #91 Esses Wire Cobra that Dr. Dick Thompson drove. I would assume you have many photographs of this car racing, but if you would like to see one more please contact me. I was a professional photographer, in the day, and have only one shot of him at Riverside Raceway.