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Reader Bryan M recently spotted something incredible in a local parking garage! From Bryan – For those who believe that cars aren’t still out there to be found, I found this today in a parking garage, the owner casually hopped out and went to racquetball. He was in a rush but he said he bought it original in 1964. The only thing he has replaced are the headlights which broke. Talk about a fun car to drive to play racquetball! This really is a rare sighting, but I’m glad the owner actually uses this AC Cobra rather than keeping it hidden in a warehouse or barn! You can see more of Bryan’s pictures below. I want to thank him for sharing this incredible sighting with us! Have you ever seen a real Cobra out in the wild?
Great sighting. This is how it should be…keep it running and use it….none of this store it and let it rot stuff.
Shouldn’t that plate be black?Maybe he wasn’t originally from CA?
Personal plates weren’t available until the blue and yellow plate was made.
He may have waited until the plates went to blue and gold before getting a personalized plate.
Wow, the world needs more eccentrics. Good health to you!!
I would love to have it, but I bet he gets hit up about 300 times daily with offers to buy it. Awesome to see one in this condition
I wouldnt put the name of the parking gRage out in the public realm. One day it will dissapear and the owner wont be too happy that his cars location was publicized
I appreciate patina, but, pushing out a couple dents couldn’t hurt.
I’m I the only one who thinks it looks like it has a fiberglass body?
But nobody made an accurate slabside in glass, at least until ERA’s fairly recent effort.
And you’d have to go way out of your way to make one of those look this weathered.
Plus there’s a dent in the trunk lid. Glass won’t dent like that.
It must be the real deal, and with that, kudos to the owner.
It’s a car. Use it the way you’re supposed to!
…Hey Pete W. I had csx2506 way back…Cobra was damaged early in it’s “life”, and the alum. body was replaced with fiberglass body… (1970’s) don’t know who made ‘glass body, but this was WAY before anyone attempted to build copies of the great Cobra!!
Back in ’75 I was a Shelby nut and had a few months earlier picked up a ’68 GT-350 on the cheap while in college in Southern Illinois. Always wanted a 289 Cobra though and saw an ad for one in a newspaper that had the body replaced with fiberglass. Prices had just started to rise and the seller wanted $13,500 if I can remember right. Just too much for college kid, but I knew it would was a bargain and someday would be worth a lot more. Talk about hindsight being 20/20!
All right! Someone that actually uses one of these. Now that’s honest patina. Wonder if he has a second one at home when this one wears out:)
It’s an original 289 Cobra, chassis no. CSX2483.
Not 100% certain, but believe I saw this car a couple of times when I lived in California. If so, it’s in fine mechanical shape, but the owner simply digs “original,” and isn’t at all interested in spiffing it up. It’s definitely the Real Deal.
For Dan Farrell: I don’t believe “personalized” black/yellow plates were available. Seems to me the blue/yellow plates were CA’s first to allow owners to pick their own number/letter combinations.
Personalized plates weren’t available in California until the seven character blue-with-yellow letters plates came out in very late 1979 or 1980. My now-ex-wife and I got personalized seven-character plates (with our last name) in 1980, when they were made available, then moved them onto our Alpina BMW 323i as soon as we got its California title and registration in late 1982. The plates are still on the car, my son now owns it, was his high school graduation present in 1997.
Personalized plates came out with six letter combos in the early 1970’s, went to seven letter combos when the regular plate run went to seven letter sequences about 1980. All blue and gold, no black and gold.
Yes that is my recollection too, Black and gold were available to Ham radio operators (I see them once in a while on a new car) but the “Vanity plates didn’t become an option until after 1969 i think.
Reminds me of how, back in the early ’90s, there was a guy who drove his original ’69 Shelby Cobra to work at the local hobby shop every day. It was in a bit rougher shape than this with cancerous rust and he had a blanket on the seat to protect from springs but mechanically it was in nice shape. I wonder if he ever was able to save up for a top notch restoration only to get to now where the crappy original appearance would be more appreciated than the spotless perfect restoration? >_<
Cancerous rust in an aluminum car? I think not.
As the sign say’s ………
The Legend of the Cal profs cobra-
It’s been around since I was knee high to a cricket.
Wow, what a story – fantastic. Good for him.
Thats pretty cool indeed!
A quick google search turned up pics of it at Monterrey in 2012. And yes, owned by a college prof.
With a multitude of car shows and meets in PA and NJ all summer I do see Cobras on the road almost every weekend – which are real Cobras is virtually impossible for me to determine and I am sure many are replicas but these folks are out there driving their car and that is what is most important, right.
I am SSOO jealous !!!!!!!
My good friend here locally has CSX2100 and drives it all the time. People you will hear comment this that or the other, as people do with Cobra’s. But it is a real as it gets. It is the car Steve McQueen did all his media stuff with before taking delivery or CSX2147 I believe. That green car above is great my uncle owned CSX2173 and raced it for many years. The car is now in France. He traded a VW Bug and $2,000 to his friend who needed better gas mileage…. Funny how that works…
Back when people read actual printed books, it was Henry Gregor Felsen I believe who wrote “Hot Rod” and other hot rod books set in So Cal. In one of them he had the heroes running their cars with dents and dirt until it became a kind of badge of honor.
I wonder if the owner of this car read that book back in the 1960s and is still living that scenario.
Sweet driver. Love the knockoff wires
Posting finds like this one sparks us to remember similar experiences. I remember an early green Mustang fastback with ’66 Shelby ten spokes on it being parked outside a local liquor store in Monrovia, California when I was a teen. The owner worked at the liquor store. The car was definitely a daily driver and wore it’s stone chipped miles well, circa 1980. I would love to know what that car looks like today.
See photo
ditto
I always wanted a 289 over the 427 strictly for the daily driver experience. The front end weight was far better, the car would actually steer into a turn. Whereas the big block would just plow into them. Don’t get me wrong,I’m all about horsepower and torque ,that 427 had massive amount’s. I just think the 289 was overlooked too much. I like the fact it’s a driver, and Mr.Shelby’s scribble isn’t on the dash. His signature was around as much as Babe Ruth’s. All in all it’s awesome. Still on my top 10 to own. BTW I’ll take mine in black with red oxblood interior,with the sweetest looking brunette sitting next to me………..Dude,wake up. Your going to miss auto shop! Que the music to “Hey Little Cobra” and fade to black,roll the credit’s. American life is just dandy.
An old neighbor of mine in SoCal has one in his garage. Can’t remember the year, He bought it back in the sixties, maybe new. then sold it and THEN bought it back! So there it sits….what are they worth? A half mil? Nicest gear head you’d ever want to meet
I met that Cobra more than 25 years ago–I had just finished a game of squash at the UC Berkeley courts, and it was sitting (top up) in the parking garage, looking much as it does now. I of course left a note under the windshield, inquiring whether he might be interested in selling it. A fool’s exercise, of course–I’m sure he fills bins of trash with such notes on a regular basis.
Dan
After reading all of the stories of the Cobra and other experiences people have had with Cobras it got me interested in finding out what may have happened to a Cobra I was offered in 1972 at my import repair shop in Tacoma Wash. My wifes cousin at the time had recently purchased a 1967 Alfa Duetto fro me and he ask me if I was interested in a damaged 1963 AC Cobra for 2200 dollars. The left front fender was damaged and needed replaced so I was not interested in it as a project so I passed. Up on my inquiry I found out it was the 33rd Cobra made, the car was located north of Seattle, do not know or remember exactly where. If any body had information on this Cobra I would be interested if it found a home.
Knowing how hard it is to get a original and the replacement cost of the CSX cars and looking at how a man would treat these machines ,, I guess some people should take a bus
This man has owned this machine since new, he can treat it however he wishes. Personally I am happy to see a Cobra being used instead of just sitting in a museum.
I second that, Gotta Drive Them To Enjoy Them !!!
At University of Oregon, in a frosh dorm 1964-65. One of my dorm mates from California took delivery of one of the first 427 Cobra’s that spring. We knew it was to be delivered and all went out to greet the truck and trailer. What a sight to behold, when a bright blue car was rolled out. The owner was a modest young man we called “Peach” and I would bet dimes to dollars that he still owns the car.
wow, wish it had original black plates.
Can’t have that *and* the AC 289 plates.