Most car guys/gals know what a Shelby Cobra is. Even those that are not consumed with all things automotive know one when they see it. A “Lance Reventlow” owned Cobra? Well, that one’s not ringing a bell. I researched the name extensively as, at first, I thought it might be a red herring, you know, a throwaway like the “Dash Riprock” version. Nope, hardly the case as Lance Reventlow was a car enthusiast extraordinaire – more on him to follow. And this 1962 Shelby Cobra, also known as CSX2032, belonged to Mr. Reventlow. It is located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and is available here on eBay for a BIN price of $2,000,000 (yikes!). There is a make an offer option too. Thanks to Larry D for this find!
Lance Reventlow was born in London and was heir to the Woolworth fortune. Exposed to Grand Prix racing at an early age through his step-father, Reventlow eventually emigrated to the U.S. where he pursued his racing career. Reventlow drove for Mercedes teams and then built his own Chevrolet-powered cars known as Scarabs. At Scarab, Reventlow developed a Formula One car but it was not terribly successful. He eventually gave up racing, sold his operation to Carroll Shelby, and got involved in real estate development. Sadly, Reventlow was killed in a plane crash in 1972. There is an extensive Reventlow biography included in the listing if you are interested in more.
This Shelby Cobra was purchased by Reventlow in January of 1963. The car disappeared for a number of years before surfacing again, and it is claimed that this particular Cobra played a “pivotal role” in the start-up of Shelby’s Cobra operation. Supposedly, a film documentary about Reventlow, including this car, is in the works.
For a car that disappeared for a while, it is highly documented, probably best at website CSX2032, a site dedicated to this special Cobra. And it’s actually more informative than the listing which drones on about Reventlow but says little about the actual car and its features. That, and the fact that the listing only has three measly pictures of this $2M ride as it currently sits, the website will serve as a basis of explanation. This Cobra has been restored, more than once, with the above image taken after its 1978 redo.
The website indicates that CSX2032 is one of only 73 with a Hi-Po 260 CI V8 engine. At some point in its past, the engine was swapped for a 289 CI V8. As to whether the engine that is in place now, is that swapped-in 289 or not, is not disclosed. Also, there is no mention made as to how it runs though obviously, from the website images, this Cobra saw some extensive racing action in the past so it was certainly a strong runner at one time.
The documentation on this car is extensive and the array of various owners is dizzying – it has been through many! So many in fact, one may tend to wonder about the true provenance of this car as it has had its appearance and power changed over the years. Nevertheless, the seller states, “Ownership of The Lance Reventlow COBRA by Lance has been verified by his best friend Bruce Kessler”. How it was verified and what documentation was used to perform said verification are not disclosed. Shelby Cobra values have been ascendant for some time, with some, depending on provenance, producing outsized sales results. In the scheme of things, this $2M price is not surprising, the question is whether the Lance Reventlow association will really enhance its value or not?
Hard to believe you weren’t familiar with Lance Reventlow and his Scarabs. I believe many of the early Shelby employees came over when Shelby took over the operation.
There is no 62 Cobra. They came out in the fall as all new cars did then and a lot of them do now and it was sold as a 63 model.
Author Wallace Wyss, who wrote a book on Carroll Shelby (Shelby : The Man, the Cars, the Legend), said:
“My favorite Reventlow story is when he was Shelby’s landlord and every month he would show up in the Scarab with Jill beside him and yell out ‘Billie Sol, Billie Sol, get your ass down here with that rent check!’ and Shelby would run ass-over-teakettle to get it, while Lance chuckled, enjoying Shelby’s discomfort,
Billie Sol Estes was a famous Texas con man so naturally some called Texan Shelby ‘Billie Sol’ because he danced close to being a con man at times himself…
Too bad they “restored” it. I would think this particular car would be worth a lot more in it’s original form.
Had the pleasure of doing some restoration and repaint on CSX2012. in early 2000’s. At the time it had exactly 40,000 miles of race miles and had never been registered for street use!
The rollbar had a tech inspection sticker from the last day Riverside Raceway was open!!
Reventlow built 5 Scarabs and two went to the Peter Hand Brewery in Chicago. Harry Heuer and Augie Pabst raced them for the Meister Brauser racing team .
Oh, I still remember them. I grew up in Dundee, IL just a couple miles from Meadowdale International Raceway. On Friday there were tons of race trailers going by. I would jump on my bike and try to spend the whole weekend at the track. Scarabs, Chaparels, down to guys who drove their cars to the track, taped up the headlights and had a ball.
Jajajaj i take the replica any time better than that car and if i had the dollar for it i would fast buy ir to find next fool that wants it so make some earnings profit
Spent many weekends drooling near the Scarabs dreaming of the day when….
The small block Cobras are still my favorites. I suspect I stood near this car a couple of times, too. I’ve never wanted to be rich, except when I see something like this.
Old now. But then so are the cobras and Scarabs. If you find a Scarab in a barn, please let us know (although the price will require at least another zero).
I thought that they were still AC Cobras in 1962. My copies of the Daily Express Review of the Earl’s Court Motor Show certainly depict it that way. Shelby didn’t become involved until later.
Mmmm, no. Shelby asked for an Ace modified for the 260ci Ford, and the rest, as they say… the history is well documented.
AC Cobras in the UK and Europe, Shelby sold them here with his name in front. Remember, he was a successful racing driver, here and abroad.
Back to Reventlow: a truly amazing deal was had a few years ago with his personal ’72 911E hot-rod sold for bargain money. He had several P cars including one of the R’s, but that ’72 was a steal. Current owner is drivin’ it!
While John Tojeiro, whose concept it was, hardly gets a mention!
“Shelby AC Cobra” is the name legally agreed to by Carroll Shelby and AC boss William Hurlock of AC Cars Ltd. of Thames-Ditton, Surrey, south of London, in their contract of January 5, 1962. What happened is that Ol’ Shel decided early on to downplay AC’s role…and broke his contract by removing the AC logo from the car’s badging. In the late 1980s he even went as far as to say that AC had been but a mere “subcontractor” from whom he had “bought some parts”. However, it is a well-known fact that he never bought the rights to the AC Ace design and its competition tubular chassis. So while most Cobras exported to the U.S. didn’t have the AC emblem as part of their badging (those exported to Canada, Europe, Australia and ones sold in Britain did), all Cobras are contractually a “Shelby AC Cobra”.
Errata! Above I wrote “AC boss William Hurlock”. That was a subconscious slip, as William had retired in 1957. It was his brother Charles Hurlock who was the AC Chairman in 1962, and who put his signature to the Cobra contract with Carroll Shelby. He retired in 1964, leaving his nephew Derek (son of brother William) as AC Chairman. Thus construction of the big block Cobra was overseen entirely by Derek Hurlock. I also forgot to mention that Cobras sold in Britain, Europe, Australia and Canada as “AC Cobras” by AC, didn’t carry the Shelby name in retaliation for Shelby having broken his contract early on by removing the AC logo from the Cobras built for the U.S.