Auto sellers should keep a dictionary handy. Perhaps this Shelby Cobra kit was intended for flower car duty, since it comes with “petals.” And the engine evidently needs somewhere to stay, because it “could be boarded out” to a 427. OK, now that’s off my chest, what we have here is the skeleton of an unnamed Cobra replica with no apparent interior, trim, top, suspension, instrumentation, glass, wheels, or many of the other things that make a car a car. On the positive side, it’s $8,000 (cryptocurrency ok), and on Craigslist near Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Thanks to Mitchell G. for this tip. There’s a transmission, but do you really want an automatic in a Cobra? What’s included are a hood, trunk, unibody chassis, trunk lid, bare dashboard, taillight lenses and the aforementioned pedals.
The body looks decent enough, if a bit weather-beaten, and the owner says it’s ready for paint.” The 400-cubic-inch engine, provenance and operational state unknown will cost the buyer another $2,000.
The owner says the car will be sold “with bill of sale. You would have to apply for a specialty title.” It might be complicated to get this registered if there’s no VIN number. Personally, because you see fake Cobras every day, I’d rather have a clone of, say, the BMW 507 roadster. But Shelby American doesn’t go after companies that build replicas, and BMW and other OEMs definitely would.
Let’s make it clear that you need to be a multi-millionaire or someone who was smart 50 years ago to have a title to an original Cobra. Only 998 were made between 1961 and 1968 (655 289s and 343 427s), and even derelict they’re well into six- and seven-figure valuations.
Some of the more reputable replicas come from Shelby American itself, Factory Five, Kirkham Motorsports, Superformance, Backdraft Racing, and ERA. The problem here is we don’t know if this is one of those, or something far more problematic. The owner says it’s a “CSX-9000” body, which kind of suggests a Shelby American connection. But that’s a number given to the continuation series of the Shelby Daytona Coupe. One of those, completed, would be worth $174,200, says Classic.com. But this is the body of a Cobra roadster.
The vendor suggests that his offering is worth far more than what’s being asked, and maybe that’s correct, but any buyer should clarify exactly what this is before proceeding.
Some assembly required batteries not included
A guy came to the Pawn Shop guys with a situation just like this. Get this, talk about right time and place, a guy that runs a towing outfit got a call to remove an abandoned car in Vegas. The owner lost a bet and is wearing cement overshoes, or so the story went. You can imagine the tow guys surprise, when it was an unfinished Cobra like this, real deal with serial # and everything. He got the car for nothing, and was a good day. The Pawn guys weren’t interested, but what a find. Cobras, even replicas are awesome cars.
Sorry to disagree with you Howard – but the pawn guys did buy the body for $30,000, as the expert from Shelby told them is was worth $60,000. They apparently had the car finished and not sure where it ended up. See attached:
https://onscreencars.com/cars/1965-shelby-cobra/pawn-stars-1965-shelby-cobra-sharks-and-cobras/
What I see is a body, not a kit. You’re right …toss the trans.A well finished one of these can be had for 30-40k. Sometimes free isn’t a very good deal. No apparent shortage of kits out there either. If it costs more to build than it’s worth, it’s not a very good investment. JMHO
It’s such a great deal that it’s been listed for over 3 weeks. These are cool when done correctly but, no nothing but a shell with a floor section that’s been hacked in two. I have never seen a Cobra of any vintage with a Chevy drive train. Me thinks he’ll be adjusting his price before this one goes away.
Two real quick comments: if you have never seen a Cobra replica with a Chevrolet motor. (Yes, I called it a “motor”, just as 90% of the gear heads I know do) then I would hazard a guess that that you haven’t seen too many replicas because I have seen more with a big block Chevvy than a big block Ford. Also, I am pretty darn fond of the 427 replicas, but I’m afraid that the seller is either way more proud of what he has than he should be, or hasn’t bothered to check the market.
oldrodder – no shame in calling an ICE a “motor”. From the Oxford dictionary;noun
noun: motor; plural noun: motors
a machine, especially one powered by electricity or internal combustion, that supplies motive power for a vehicle or for some other device with moving parts.
Just saying. 😀
I can’t be sure from the photo, and seller doesn’t say that it’s a Chevy. But either way, if it’s a 400 Ford OR Chevy, I’m pretty sure taking it to 427-ci would require boring AND stroking it if you want any cylinder walls left. So would require more money…for what, more power in a featherweight car, or just to be able to call it a “427” Cobra?
Based upon the relative size relationship between the palletized body and the house next door in the lead photo, I would estimate that this Cobra is about 75’ long and 10’ tall…you’re going to need a REALLY big block for this one!
The title of the listing says $8, still going to pass.
Dragging someone down for their lack of writing skills or spelling is just rude. Make you feel like a big man now Motavalli? I suggest an apology.
Some car guys have weak writing skills, but can get an entire car in boxes and completely restore it in less than 9 months, I’ve seen it done.
I’ll take the guy that can’t spell very well but has skills.
Not to mention the reviewer’s quote about a “ unibody chassis”. Really, Jim?
Motavalli called it the way he saw it. The writer (rider?) of the ad needed to be told he put his ignorance on display. I was glad to see the errors publicized.
I couldn’t help myself, responded to an ad for a Rambler Rouge, saying I didn’t see any makeup on his car, but thought his Rogue was pretty sharp! Guy gave me all kinds of hell.
While we are discussing ” keeping a dictionary handy”; how many times have we seen the description of a vehicle’s “motor”. If it burns fuel, it’s an engine, not a motor.
Calling out a writer for expressing concern about minimal spelling and grammer standards (in a mildly humorous manner) seems unfortunate. Do we think the same way about poor photos or lack of key information in ads? Everybody makes errors or forgets details, but so many ads we see just show a lack of care. If one is advertising something asking potential buyers to pay them money for something and not taking a little bit of time to construct a decent ad and proof read it (or have someone else do so) is actually disrespectful, and there are potential customers who will think “what else are they being sloppy about.” Perfection is not needed, and we all know writing skills are not a sign of other talents, but making a little effort to communicate well can actually demonstrate deference and even humility towards your potential audience.
Does the steel pallet come with the body; if yes, then maybe this fake Cobra body has some value!
Bigcat; Thanks for support One thing I learned from 50 years in dealing with the public is it takes all kinds to make the world go around After building and sanitizing some of these kits it is not an easy task that has no instruction book it is all trial and error, you learn by doing which if doing yourself can be timing consuming but if paying some one to learn can be very costly which why there are so many if these kits are not completed. I have seen thick wallets get very thin doing these cars. cheaper in long run to buy completed than build
The seller hasn’t really checked the market. You can buy a Factory Five Mk 4 with frame for just over 20K the MK 5 will set you back over 24K. But resale on AVERAGE is 30-60 K.
Seller is definitely not in touch with reality, what they’re offering is maybe worth $1,000 to the right buyer. As far as what a Cobra kit costs vs what it’s worth completed, you’re definitely going to come up short when it’s time to sell. I’m nineteen years in on my build, running and driving but not painted yet and I’m conservatively $15k more in it than it would sell for after it’s completed. You just have to understand that going in. I’m having fun with it but I’m never going to make any money on it.
automatic transmission in a cobra ?
what a stink bomb .
A fiberglass body that’s been cut (badly), and little else, of unknown origin, without a chassis. Good luck getting a title without a Certificate of Origin. Pass.
That’s not actually a steel pallet, it’s an old truck body.
I believe it was Rex Kahrs that correctly called out the U.S. education system a while back, in reference to another ad from someone who didn’t pass any English classes.
This actually wasn’t too bad compared to others. I see a lot of writing with literally no grammar, so there are no separated sentences. A pile of words. I once spent like two minutes trying to figure out what the word “mears” meant in a car ad. Mirrors. It’s unfortunate, the written language is dying, along with many other things in this country. Thanks for calling out the errors, but as you can see, you’ll be met with backlash, defending ignorance. Which many are now proud of and take great offense to being told as such.
We’re on a speeding train with an unfinished bridge up ahead and there’s no way to get off.
We can guess who they voted for!
Chrisfl might take exception to this.
I actually spent two years as the instructor for an auto mechanics class in a consolidated High School. I had a student refer to a Jezebel wrench. With my passing Biblical knowledge I thought this was a spot on description of an adjustable wrench.
Would this be a crescent wrench?
not worth the money, maybe $500, to someone who has all the parts already, or has access to a cheap junk yard ,where you can get the Ford parts cheap.
Wife tired of looking at it
For the right price. mount this body on a cut-down fully driving??? the windshield would have to be properly purchased but the rest could be scavenged from the rolling, drivable chassy in question. Yes, my spelling sucks but I could build this in …. I like looking at Barn Finds every once & in a while….
you can use a toyote crown chassi and the wheels are same patern as ford
Seats would probably be more comfortable than a Crown too. We test drove one and they are awful.
I can solve the mystery of who made the body. It is from Unique Cobra, in Gladsen (I think that’s the spelling, but correct me if I am wrong), Alabama, owned by the Weaver family. The giveaway is the very incorrect, DROOPING rear of the car…which deviates quite noticeably from the original AC design. It droops down so much as to rival an MGA! When making the moulds, that part of the car was attached to the rest of the mould while unwittingly allowing it to hang downwards…causing the incorrect droop. While the 427 body, as well as the 289 FIA one put out by the same company, were not very accurate, they were/are known for being medium-to-good quality.
Well I thought I purchased a kit that was close to all parts needed had a rebuild roller cam 302 and 5 speed well only building 1 sold motor & tranny upgraded to rare 1971 Boss 351 $$$ had to have headers fabed at race shop new tremic tko 500 $$$$ gauges $$$$ axels cut on 8.8 crown Vic rear + driveshaft $$$ seats coilovers oh windshield $1k custom paint
I used every tool in my shop! Lots of sweat labor !!!! Blast to drive a 🚀
Actually Shelby America DID try a lawsuit against multiple times over kit car manufacturers. Factory Five was the main one but they won and continued to build cars. He sold the buisness and actually started building those “ute” kits to transform vw cars into little trucks and later did the same with subaru and dodge chargers. A few have been on this site actually but most people wouldn’t know the connection.
If i built this car it would be blue with white stripes with a twin turbo LS with the turbos mounted hanging out the side with factory side pipes intact. ;-)
Luke, that would be too cool!
Luke: when Shelby went after Factory 5 and other Cobra kit manufacturers and lost, it’s because the judge found that Shelby in no clear way OWNED the rights to the Cobra. While the Cobra 427 had a lot of Carroll Shelby input, both technical and racing-related, he had never purchased the manufacturing rights to the AC Ace design from AC Cars Ltd. of Thames-Ditton, Surrey, south of London. Some of the confusion over all these little-known facts in the United States, is that from early on in the Cobra’s history, Shelby did everything in his power to downplay the role of AC Cars. He would refer to AC as a “subcontractor” who had built “his” cars, whereas AC was legally/contractually very much his partner in the venture. ‘Ol Shell had his good sides, but not wanting to share credit with his manufacturing partner was not one of them.
Luke: when Shelby went after Factory 5 and other Cobra kit manufacturers and lost, it’s because the judge found that Shelby in no clear way OWNED the rights to the Cobra. While the Cobra 427 had a lot of Carroll Shelby input, both technical and racing-related, he had never purchased the manufacturing rights to the AC Ace design from AC Cars Ltd. of Thames-Ditton, Surrey, south of London. Some of the confusion over all these little-known facts in the United States, is that from early on in the Cobra’s history, Shelby did everything in his power to downplay the role of AC Cars. He would refer to AC as a “subcontractor” who had built “his” cars, whereas AC was legally/contractually very much his partner in the venture. ‘Ol Shell had his good sides, but not wanting to share credit with his manufacturing partner was not one of them.
Please erase the second copy of my comment above. It came out double by itself. Has happened more than once.
Next time you should know that you can delete a duplicate post after after it appears. When the prompt comes up giving you 4 minutes to edit it, simply select “delete”.
Next time you should know that you can delete a duplicate post after after it appears. When the prompt comes up giving you 4 minutes to edit it, simply select “delete”.
Well, so much for my sage advice.
Oldrodder: thanks for trying to help, but like you found out, I did try to delete and to no avail. What has happened to me several times is that when I press “send”…nothing at all happens! So I will press again and then I am told I have already posted the entry…yet nothing happened! I thus keep repeating the procedure–usually four or five times–until suddenly the posting, by magic, actually makes it onto the screen! Once in a while, though, the posting is in DUPLICATE and no erasing within the editing time does anything! Agh!
Actually on my bucket list would be a Chevy powered Cobra with an AUTOMATIC. Fast, easy to work on, dependable etc. but I’m realistic, only so many years left to live, not going to spend them building a car from nothing.
I just wanna know why in the world would they cut that floor like that ????
For Flintstone power.
seems legit …..
Laurence: I can definitely relate. I have had precisely the same thing happen to me. It’s ultra frustrating.