How Much will this Fetch?

K

Keith

Moderator
RM Auctions Scottsdale in a couple of weeks...

A one off rare beast indeed, actually, unlike many "classic" cars this IS unique!

Built by Ken Miles for old Chicken Shit himself and the first Cobra with a 427 SO and the only Cobra with flip clips!

I say exepensive, but it might lay down a marker for classic car investment in 2010.

Any clues?

AC-Shelby-Cobra-427--Flip-Top-_4.jpg
 
M

Jack

A couple of years ago, my buddy and I were at VIR racing his car. Old Chicken Shit was grand marshal for the event. As we were driving up the hill to the clubhouse, we passed him driving a golf cart. My friend passed him on the inside and shouted out the window "I passed Carrol Shelby at Virginia International Raceway". He waved his ever present hat at us as he made go faster rowing motions in the golf cart.

I thought he would sue, but he neglected to get the license plate number...
 
J

Jac Mac

It 'should' top all previous best prices, but like all this stuff now its in an arena where most of us mere mortals would fear to tread & can only guess at the rational behind the price structure of stuff like this, I just wish I could have been around at 'Fire Sale' time with the limited amount of wisdom & hindsight I now have:):)

I could have sworn that the Daytona Cobras along with the Super Coupe & Willment versions etc etc all had flip front clips as well... but hey.... what would I know???
 
K

Keith

Moderator
I have only ever seen the Willment version here in the UK and a sorry sight that was too... (back in the '80's) It was out in the rain in the Brands Hatch paddock.

Here is the very photo wot I took at the time. Looks buggered doesn't it poor thing? AS you can see though, it clearly has those Hartwell type latches for a flip front clip, so yes Jac, right again mate...


Anyway, strictly speaking it ain't a Cobra is it? :)

DC02.jpg
 
mtrusty

Mike Trusty

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Jack is right about the Willment having a flip front clip. Here is a poor scanned picture of the car when I was completing the restoration of it in the late '80's. Yes that is a real R model GT350 behind it. There were three of them in the shop at that time as well as a couple GT40's.
 

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K

Keith

Moderator
mtrusty said:
Jack is right about the Willment having a flip front clip. Here is a poor scanned picture of the car when I was completing the restoration of it in the late '80's. Yes that is a real R model GT350 behind it. There were three of them in the shop at that time as well as a couple GT40's.
Click to expand...

Well Mike, there appears to be a lot of difference in the condition between our 2 photos. Mine was taken in 1985. Was it in this sorry state when you received it?

Here's another shot...

DC022.jpg
 
mtrusty

Mike Trusty

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Keith:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Yes it looked exactly like that complete with the god awful ugly blue wheels. It was in really sad condition.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Something that most might not know is that Dennis Olthoff’s father was responsible for driving most of the races that this car participated in and probably has a greater racing history, except for the FIA world championship of course, than all of the other coupes combined.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I drove it on the street to lunch many times just to keep the fluids moving. LOUD and uncomfortable but pleasingly fast.<o:p></o:p>
 
J

Jac Mac

Mike, Have you ever had any involvement with the other Willment coupe JWC 427-1 that Larry Miller owns, if so do you know if it had its chassis had the same 3" stretch that 2286 had in its initial 390 form?
 
J

Jac Mac

jimbo said:
The Cobra with flip up front and rear; is that the one that Miles referred to as the "Turd"?
Click to expand...

From what I can gather it was referred to as the ' Turd ' @ Sebring & hitting the lonesome tree,when it was in its early non 'Flip Top' form, it was after that the body was widened etc & converted to the current easy to work on layout ( though I am not totally convinced that they are both the same car -depends on which book you read!).... bet there are a few Cobra guys that wished they were all built like that when it comes time to work on them.
 
J

Jac Mac

There are a lot of 'gaps' in the Alloy 390 story especially as to how many were actually built at the time... the one that went into 2286 in italy, this one in 2196, & I read somewhere that one might have been in one of the early J Car's, heck they might all have been the same motor...all had the 58mm webers in common.

I suppose it would be good to have the car & motor linked again from a Nostalgia point of view, but sometimes with old stuff you gotta draw a line in the sand & say enough is enough, reminds me of a 427 SO a client brought in one day & wanted it brought back to life, it already had a couple of pounds of bronze that had been very carefully added to the block to replace missing cast iron, a quick pressure test convinced him it was going to make a better feature under a glass top coffee table....
 
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