Shelby Cobra: The Evolution Of An Automotive Icon

In 1949, a poultry farmer surveyed a disaster. His face was tanned from hard work in the sun, rugged and creased. Carroll Shelby had the appearance of a man unafraid to get his hands dirty doing honest work or applying his mind to a problem. Scratching a living out of the Texas dirt by raising chickens was tough but honest, and it had started well enough. His first batch of chickens netted him a profit of $5,000 — about $65,000 adjusted for inflation. But now, disease had decimated his flock. Chickens died in droves, and so did Shelby's future as a professional poultry farmer.

Shelby was good with his hands. His father had instilled a passion for cars in him, taking him to races around Leesburg, Texas, where Carroll was born in 1923. His passions took him to the Georgia School of Technology's Aeronautical Engineering program before he dropped out to join the Army Air Forces during World War II. He never left the United States. Instead, he served as a flight instructor and test pilot on the home front. Upon his separation from service in 1945, he started a dump truck business before pivoting to chicken farming, which was not going well.

As Shelby explored his options in the face of this disaster, it seemed unlikely that his name would one day ring in the annals of automotive history. Yet, in the face of catastrophe, the possibility of returning to his first love –cars — bloomed.

Competitive and colorful, Shelby was comfortable at the controls of powerful machines. He had proven as much in the B-25 and B-29 bombers he had flown during the war. Entrepreneurial in spirit, his chicken disaster left him undaunted. Maybe it was the universe telling him that racing was where he belonged.

Unlike today, when top racing drivers are practically fitted for helmets in the womb, Shelby arrived at the track late. In January 1952, the same month as his 29th birthday, Shelby drove a Ford V8 to a victory in a drag race. He could not have known it then, but it was apropos that his first victory came in a Ford, considering his close association with the company later in life.

Shelby turned to road racing, scoring his first victory in an MG-TC. Eleven more victories followed over two years from behind the wheel of Ferraris and Maseratis. In 1954, British automaker Aston Martin offered Shelby the opportunity of a lifetime by adding him to its factory team.

The failed chicken farmer rewarded Aston Martin for its belief in him when he won the 24 Hours of Lemans from behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DBR1 in 1959. For most, that would be the pinnacle of a career, but fate had other plans. Things began to change for Shelby when a heart condition forced him to retire from racing just a year after his greatest triumph.

During his time in Europe, Shelby learned how successful lightweight British sports cars could be on the track despite their often complex engines. His central idea revolved around combining British handling and American brute force into one package. He cast around for the proper donor car and fell upon one of the oldest auto builders in England – AC Cars.

AC, a small operation that relied on external engine builders, had lost its suppliers. Shelby reached out to owner Charles Hurlock. He proposed using an AC chassis for his car, provided he could find a suitable American V8 engine. Hurlock agreed. Shelby then visited Detroit, where he sold Lee Iaccocca an idea for a car that could face the Corvette. He only needed $25,000 and two of Ford's new 221 cubic inch (ci) V8 engines. Intrigued, Iaccoca gave him the green light.

An AC Ace arrived at Dean Moon's southern California auto shop in early 1962. Within eight hours, Shelby, who had no facility of his own, oversaw the installation of a Ford V8, but it wasn't the 221. Ford had developed a 260 ci motor dubbed the Fairlane. It was the larger motor Shelby paired with a Borg-Warner four-speed transmission and lowered into the Ace's engine bay.

The AC Shelby Cobra lived.

[Featured image by Jaydec via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0]

There was no boom of thunder or flash of lightning when the prototype Cobra first sparked into life. Shelby's team now had a complete car, but the work was only beginning. Test drives ensued, and the peppy roadster with the small-block Ford showed great promise.

Shelby and his team decided on some minor changes, one of which was to relocate the brakes from inboard to outboard for improved cooling. Another saw the fuel filler move to the vehicle's center, resulting in a shortening of the rear deck. AC began producing chassis in earnest for shipment to the United States.

Carroll Shelby established Shelby American in 1962 to put the Cobra into production. Between 1962 and 1963, the company built 75 Cobras with the 260 Windsor engine. After the initial run, Shelby and company furnished the next 51 Cobras with the larger 289 ci V8. 125 Mark I Cobras hit the streets and tracks of America between 1962 and 1963.

The Cobra officially deployed at the 1962 New York Auto Show and immediately grabbed the attention of journalists and racers. Gorgeous and timeless, it looked as fast as it proved to be on the racetrack. The 289 versions proved more than a match for the Corvettes and Ferraris of the world. Enough so that Shelby American developed a Mark II Cobra that would enter production in 1963.

[Featured image by Christoph Wagener via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 3.0]

With over a hundred Cobras running around the racetracks of America, Shelby and AC sought to build an even better version. The AC Ace 3.6, as the prototype chassis came to be known, utilized old worm and roller steering technology. AC's chief of engineering, Alan Turner, reworked the entire front end to accommodate rack-and-pinion steering lifted from the MGB. Cars with this new steering arrangement were earmarked as Mark IIs.

There was no question of continuing with the 260 engine. The 289 was so successful that even decades later, Cobra enthusiasts hail it as the best version of the Cobra to drive. The unmodified 289 put out about 271 hp at 312 lb-ft of torque. With a gross weight of 2,205 pounds, the Mark II was 295 pounds heavier than the Mark I, but it still didn't take much power to accelerate the featherweight Cobra.

With Shelby American and Ford signing a contract for more Cobras, AC Cars discontinued the Ace and focused entirely on building chassis for V8s. Between 1963 and the middle of 1965, 526 Mark II Cobras rolled out of the shop, all equipped with the 289. Still, Shelby was American to the core, and he wanted to know what a Cobra could do with more displacement.

[Featured image by Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 3.0]

Shelby dropped a 390 ci Ford V8 into the Mark II and turned it over to Ken Miles, a legendary driver and architect of one of motorsport's greatest triumphs, for a turn at Sebring.

Miles deplored the 390 Cobra and declared it undriveable after it failed to finish at Sebring. Shelby tried an aluminum version, hoping the lighter engine would ameliorate poor handling, but it was not enough. The Mark I and Mark II Cobras got by with outdated suspension technology from the AC Ace. To accommodate a big-block V8, the Shelby would need to take a new tack. Out went the transverse leaf springs, and in went coil springs. The new chassis would be stiffer to support the extra weight of the pièce de résistance — Ford's vaunted 427 ci engine.

Putting out between 425 hp and 485 hp, the Mark III was the most fire-breathing, outrageous version of the Cobra yet. It would also be the most rare. Shelby American only built 56 Mark II Cobras, 44 shy of the 100 required for homologation. Today, the original 427 Cobras go for big bucks. The average cost of a used original is a sky-high $1.8 million.

Today, buying, selling, and building Cobras is big business, but not so much in the 1960s. Despite enormous track success and an outsized impact on car culture, Cobra production didn't net enough money to keep it going.

[Featured image by Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0]

Aside from the three engine choices and chassis and suspension upgrades of the Marks I, II, and III Cobra, Shelby and AC built some wild limited edition Cobras.

The King Cobra goes by the moniker Super Snake. Built from 1966 Competition Mark IIIs, Shelby added mufflers, chrome bumpers, a windshield, and a pair of Paxton superchargers. Only two ever existed. One served as Carroll Shelby's personal Cobra, and another went to Shelby's friend Bill Cosby, who rejected the 800 hp beast because it was too dangerous. He might have been right. After being sold, the car and new owner, Tony Maxey, met the end, flying off a Californian cliff and into the Pacific Ocean after the throttle jammed.

Shelby American also built a handful of Dragon Snake Cobras mocked up for drag racing. Two went to the Shelby Factory team, and the others went to private owners. One, chassis number CSX20193, won multiple National Hot Rod Association races. Even rarer are the Slalom Special and Slalom Snake packages intended for auto-cross. Only two were ever built, receiving upgrades to brake cooling and exhaust systems, but they did not see much success despite the pedigree.

[Featured image by Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0]

Sometimes, greatness takes unexpected turns. The Beatles were together for less than a decade, but it didn't stop them from changing the world. So goes the story of the Shelby Cobra. Despite an outsized influence on the car world, Shelby's simple but ingenious combination of British refinement and American power didn't last long. The last original Cobra appeared in 1968, just six years after the original CSX2000 with the 260 engine. Fewer than a thousand were ever made in total.

While purchasing one of the original thousand is reserved for the wealthy, an ultra-robust aftermarket in kit and replica Cobras makes them accessible to the everyday man. Gearheads and hobbyists with enough time and some cash can build their own Shelby Cobra with a kit like this tribute from Factory Five Racing.

Beyond its initial impact on the market, the Cobra continues to be a big seller as one of the most popularly counterfeited and replicated vehicles in the world. In the end, Shelby's street legal racer's lasting popularity is a testament to the timelessness of his vision.

Production of the Cobra might have ended in 1968, but Shelby's career had a long way to go. His name is attached to some of the most enduring, popular, and best-performing cars of the 20th century.

His relationship with Ford lasted for decades. Amongst the cars that define Carroll Shelby's legacy are the legendary GT40, inspired by the British Lola Mk 6, Shelby GT350 and GT500 Mustang, and even the fan-favorite Dodge Viper that emerged as a modern Cobra during the 1990s. Carroll Shelby's fingerprints are all over modern racing.

Shelby died in 2012, but his legacy lives on in garages, racetracks, and the halls of modern car design. The mechanically inclined pilot, farmer, driver, and builder reinvented himself many times over the years. When the universe blocked one route, he took another. Leagues of car fans revel in the beautiful and powerful vehicles he left behind.

Not bad for a failed chicken farmer.