To me, one of the trickiest vintage cars to value is the continuation model Shelby Cobra. I will admit that this is a part of the collector automobile world that is squishy to me; there’s a strong sentiment out there that this is very part a “real” Cobra owing to the fact it was built by Shelby American. And given the market for these limited-production models is quite strong, there is little doubt that collectors agree this is the next best thing to owning a model manufactured in the 1960s. The seller’s car is one of fifty 50th Anniversary models and shows 13 miles on the clock. It is listed here on eBay with bids to just over $70,000 and the reserve unmet.
It’s not surprising to see the bidding has reached the seller’s must-have price; one of the last ones to sell with 42 miles hit $238,000 last summer. That car, however, had the optional aluminum body, and I’m assuming this one is fiberglass since the seller doesn’t specifically mention whether it had the $50,000 upgrade to aluminum panels. Even if it doesn’t, it’s hardly a drawback (aside from long-term value projection) as some would argue the fiberglass cars are easier to live with given you won’t live in perpetual fear of a door ding. That’s assuming, of course, you actually drive it, as it doesn’t seem like anyone uses these continuation cars as Shelby intended.
Power comes from the venerable 289 V8, which actually looks like it came from a 1965 Cobra. You have to give Shelby credit, as they really pulled out all the stops – all the little details – to make this Cobra look like it was built 50 years earlier. The color scheme on this example is quite classic as well, along with details like the LeMans-style fuel filler, wing windows, fender vents, rear bumperettes, and more. And really, even if this ends up being a $200,000 car, it’s still cheaper than buying a car that actually competed at LeMans.
The value trajectory suggests these cars have steadily risen in value without too much of a struggle. In terms of being a continuation model versus the real thing, it makes one wonder that if no one can tell the difference, should we even distinguish between the two? That’s a question I would imagine invites plenty of debate in the proper setting, and I bet most CSX owners would argue quite fervently that the only thing separating the two eras of Cobras is the passage of time. If you’re spending six figures on a Cobra, would you save a few bucks and buy a continuation model or hold out for the first-generation car?
I’m still not sure how you can register this as a ’65,when it
was built in 2014.Even more so with the replicas.
For that kind of money,the seller sure doesn’t offer much
information on it.And 13 miles? Sounds like the original owner
never really got to enjoy it.
He got to enjoy bragging that he owned it. A lot of that happening these days, not much driving. It’s a rich man’s world. Not really sure how they are allowed to produce a brand new car and not meet standard air quality requirements. A brand new engine would do that plus give better performance.
Or safety requirements, like airbags and impact protection….
Because they sell them without the motor or transmission. The buyer has to complete the car.
As for a new motor you must have never been in a 289 Cobra it will hands down out run most new cars. Hard to beat a well built small block Ford
The chassis are stamped with a csx vin that denotes then as 1965
If I recall correctly, Shelby claimed that the continuation cars were built on genuine 1965 Shelby chassis that had been discovered in a warehouse somewhere. I believe he got into a bit of hot water when it was revealed that the chassis were new, and deliberately aged to look like original, 1965 chassis. That’s the way I remember it, but I can’t find any references to back it up.
CCFisher: you are thinking of the different 4 inch tubular chassis used on the big block Cobras. The small-block cars such as this one used the 3 inch AC Ace tubular chassis with leaf springs. You are right that Ol’ Shell got into trouble over those supposedly “original” chassis he claimed to have. AC Cars Ltd. denied ever having built them, when interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Further investigation by The Times vindicated AC in England, when it was proven that those “original” chassis were counterfeits made by a Cobra restorer in the U.S. who went to the trouble of trying to duplicate AC’s style of weld marks. Ol’ Shell and the counterfeiter also left the chassis out in a field to become “weathered” so as to appear “real”. It all blew up in Shelby’s face when Kit Car Magazine corroborated the L.A. Times’ findings by saying that Shelby had been “caught with his hand in the Cobra cookie jar”. Ol’ Shell had wanted original chassis so as to put together Cobras that could be sold for a fortune, as they would be “real” 1965s, be exempt from modern safety and emissions regulations and could be street driven. Before making his ill-fated deal with the counterfeiter, Ol’ Shel had gone to AC Cars Ltd. and asked them to build him some chassis and then record that they had been built in 1965. As this was clearly illegal in the full sense of the word, AC’s boss at the time, Brian Angliss, turned Ol’ Shell down.. With his reputation battered, Ol’ Shel was left with no other option than to build continuation Cobras which at the time could not be street driven, but only be driven on private land.
The easy way to distinguish a real cobra and a “not real” cobra: “not real” cobras and continuation series can be seen at neighborhood car shows and driving on roads. Real cobras aren’t going within a hundred yards of a neighborhood car show or a road..
Not entirely true, there was a One Owner 1965 289 Cobra that was driven around and parked on the streets in Berkeley since it was new. It looked well driven too. Not sure where it is now because the last time I saw it @2011? Saw it quite often up until then. The last time parked at the Claremont ave. Peetes lot. This car is well known around here. Anyone seen it lately? The Original owner was getting up in years.Think he worked at Cal.
We have a couple original cars that show up from time to time here in San Diego.
Back in the eighties, there was a small block Cobra roadster around Sarasota owned by a chiropractor
,I believe. Weathered, his every day ride. I remember it for sale for $30K. Still couldn’t afford it. Opportunities lost…
50th Anniversary Cobras were black with red interiors. The dash is also not correct. I don’t believe this is one of the 50 for that year.
If you can’t emotionally afford to get a scratch on it, then you can’t afford it, period….
The real problem with Cobras is that there are so many replicas running around, they have diluted the appeal. True originals are now relegated to private collections of billionaires, and these “continuation” models fit somewhere in between. Where do you go with one? Pebble Beach folks will turn their noses up, and at cars and coffee you will just downgrade yourself to the kit car crowd.
“safety requirements, like airbags and impact protection”, are for those folks who don’t look where they, and others, are going. It;’s called defensive driving, and should be practiced by all. A lot of drivers who didn’t follow that rule are not with us today.
As far as “downgrade yourself to the kit car crowd”, a really good one will cost a fair chunk of change, and a lot of effort. I’ve never looked down at any car, as some of the builder’s personal touches are really to be admired. I’ve always considered the ownership of anything was for the sharing, and the personal enjoyment, not to one-up (or is that one-down) other owners.
Kit car or not, it’s better that the crap sitting in my driveway. I’d drive the wheels off of it.
If your going to actually drive one, the continuation cars are the best choice. Modern metallurgy, modern materials, better welding, better fasteners, etc make for a better car. The only problem with them is they are really fair weather only and would become terribly tiresome on longer drives. They can’t be securely locked obviously. This all helps keeps the mileage on these collector cars very low. But owning one would be great.
Because they sell them without the motor or transmission. The buyer has to complete the car.
As for a new motor you must have never been in a 289 Cobra it will hands down out run most new cars. Hard to beat a well built small block Ford
Strange things do happen occasionally. Several years ago I attended a local strip mall Auto Show on a Sunday morning, maybe 50 cars at the most. I was following a real Cobra when I drove in. I looked around and The “AMBR” car from the previous year was parked in the lot. It was the car that was featured on Mothers Car Wax bottles. I was driving an all steel black 32 Roadster, that was built after WWII and was a historical Hot Rod featured in lots of publications such as Rodder’s Journal. The event was sponsored by the liquor store in the little mall. I don’t know if awards were given, I probably didn’t stay that long. It was fun watching the spectators , I don’t think there were a dozen people there who knew, the providence of those 3 random cars.
Aside from the argument as to whether or not it’s a clone or re-creation, and owing to the fact that it was indeed made by Shelby American, it’s a great car, However, it sure doesn’t look like it was pampered by the owner, or even sat in a controlled environment. Look at the scale on the valve covers, the dirt / dust / scal on the air cleaner. The rubber shifter boot has oxidized, so it’s never had any type of rubber treatment applied to it. The reason I point this out, is it appears the owner bought it to save and flip at a later time. Don’t you think if you owned it, you’d keep it in pristine storage condition?
Back in 86/87 I worked for a Los Angeles Ford Dealership (Galpin Ford) that sold these and the early Saleen Mustangs. The Cobras arrived wrapped in plastic inside sealed 40′ trailers, and even then, we were wondering if they were REALLY Cobras or just some facelifted star of years past like dear old Mae in “Myra Breckinridge”.
It looks like it’s leaking oil in the tenth picture.
It’s not leaking oil….. it’s marking it’s spot.
My cat does that.
I remember reading articles on these continuation cars. The pics of the frames/chassis from circa 1965 makes them plausible, ie, cannon in Shelby circles. I can’t afford it so doesnt matter as a non-buyer. Most of us here, I’ll presume, are drivers of cars, not hoarding collectors. To me, if your heart is set on a Cobra, get an FFR, or Factory Five Racing version. You build it and there used to be FROGS, or owners in your general area, that could/would come out and help you on build days, and in turn, you’d agree to help others with their builds in the future. FFR is or was, a pretty solid community. I’m not paid or affiliated with FFR, just a car guy who likes ’em.
I own a speed shop in S. Chicago and also own a Cobra replica coupe. The one reason the Cobra body style jumps away from the rest of any and all sports cars is it’s simplistic design. It is eternal and nothing, besides a couple classic European designs, comes close to the sophisticated simplicity and timeless design. Mine is also fiberglass, which means nothing, when people congregate around any Cobra at a car show, ignoring the rest of the classics there.
Went to $109,100 and reserve not met, and now relisted.
relisted at:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266110143296
I was renting an old run-down house in the mid 70’s. The hardwood was curling up in one of the rooms. I noticed old newspaper was used as an underlayment insulation. On closer inspection, it included the want ads for cars. I pulled it up and listed for sale was a 1965 Cobra. Stated as running and driving, in good condition. The asking price in the listing was an “outrageous” $4,750. At the time I was into Austin Healy’s and could find them all day long for $800 to $1000 so my thought was the asking price on the Cobra would have been way out of line for that time. Who knew??
That darned Hindsight. I need to invent a Foresight Pill, even if not 20/20, it would reduce the “Coulda, Shoulda, Wished I’d” regretted not buying actualities… lol
lol, I am hoping I dream of how to make a time machine, then I can go back and get ALL the cars I never could……[insert evil genius laugh here]
Back in 1974 I would stop and look at a 65 Cobra with a 289 for sale for $5000. It was parked in a lot on my way home from work. Drooled over it for 5 days straight and next week it was gone. $5 grand was a years wages for me in those days.
I was 12 in 1974,,,never saw a Cobra in my little town, but I do remember a small car lot by the I64 on ramp about 8 miles from my area of town…..yellow Pantera sitting on that lot, i was hooked on the mid engine cars from then on……
I will always say I was born just a bit too late to experience all the good cars before the money took over
I hear you Tom. We were visiting our friend in Inglewood in 1965. We went for a walk and not far from our friend’s house was a used car lot on the corner, just a tiny lot. On the front row were three Cobras. I remember the salesman who hopped off the step of his “office” that looked like a garden shed. He was wearing a yellow and black checkered suit jacket. “Fellas” he said, “That one on the end is a 427, the other two are 289’s….you can have any one of them for $8000.oo”. They were used and probably just one to two years old but Crikey you could’ve bought a house back then for about $12000.oo…..Exactly Tom, who knew!
what’s up with the shifter? I thought the real [continuations too] used a reversed toploader shifter, giving the shifter that crazy forward cobra style…..
The red interior was an option and the dash is correct. Only the big blocks had the reversed shifter.
Went to a car event that had two, 289 Cobras. One was spotless blue, and surrounded by admirers. The other, black, a good amount of miles and no roll bar with some minor dings and a clean, but not spotless engine. Most people passed by the older gentleman owner on their way to the shiny one. And yes, one was aluminum, Real and black!
I saw a real one at a concourse de elegance in Colorado, but it was behind velvet ropes and you couldn’t get within ten feet of it.
Some fascinating comments here about a fascinating car. I have never ridden in one, will never own one and only became aware of, a long time ago courtesy of the Ripcords.
The 289 continuation Cobras (‘slab side’) were all painted black, but they did re-make a 289 Competition model that had the ‘bulged’ rear wheel wells like the later 1966 289’s built for the track. They had the shifter like shown here.
I test drove a beautiful 1965 red 289 in early 1966 that the owner wanted $3500 for. Unfortunately, I was unable sell the car I had at the time (’57 Gullwing). Stuff like this was not an easy sell back in those days.
“:I was unable sell the car I had at the time (’57 Gullwing). Stuff like this was not an easy sell back in those days.” Around that time I looked at a Gullwing for which they were asking $4800.
Saw a real early Cobra at a concourse last summer in Greenfield, CT. Several years ago saw a real AC Bristol at a show in Turners Falls, MA. The overflow tank has always looked like they came from the local Chevy dealer, or were they specific to the Cobra? I was there the first time a Cobra beat a Corvette and took this movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m3OVcuefs4&t=10s
Well……. I have wanted a Cobra 🐍 since I first saw one ! Bought a partial kit I was the 3rd owner! Orange with silver pearls ghost flames 1971 351 boss motor five speed tremic, police interceptor Crown Vic 8.8 rear! People ask is it a real Cobra? I tell them it is a real Cobra kit car!
It is a blast to drive!! Only 1950 lbs!