These snaps from the Cobra “assembly line” have been bouncing around Tumblr this week and I couldn’t be more pleased to add them to our gallery of sports and racing factories, workshops, raceshops, and garages.
via T-Top Coupe
Bonus, Steve McQueen picking his Windsor block Cobra from the man himself.
The sale on most people’s lips from last weekend’s RM|Sotheby’s auction at the Petersen Museum was (justifiably) the $22Million sale of a 1956 Ferrari 290MM by Scaglietti. The weekend was a success with almost 90% of the lots selling but, amazingly, that single Ferrari made up more than half the dollar value the auction’s total sales. By comparison there were some bargains to be had, and besides it’s always worth pointing out some of the amazing lots that didn’t make headlines.
That $30,000 sale has to be the highest price I’ve seen seen a Vespa command—even for one as rare as the Calessino.
The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering always draws out many of the best vintage racing cars on the planet—so it only makes sense that Bonham’s auction at the event will follow suit. From Duesenbergs to McLarens, there are too many amazing sports and racing cars coming across that magnificent auction block to list them all. I do want to point out a few personal favorites. Some of these may not be the cars that command the high-end bids. They are just some that made me smile as I perused the auction catalog.
This image of all 6 Cobra Daytona Coupes that Goodwood tweeted today is indescribable. So instead of reading anything I would write about how amazing it is, just scroll up and look at it some more.
Rudi Markl wrote in with this wonderful film compiling his old 8mm film cans chronicling visits to venerable races across the Eastern half of the country between 1957 and 1967. Spectacular stuff.
Represented among this film is footage from a variety of East Coast races, including:
1957 & 1958 Kentucky State Fairgrounds (Louisville)
1964 Watkins Glen U.S. Grand Prix
1964 Vineland, NJ
1964 Lime Rock, CT
1965 Bridgehampton, NY
1966 Lime Rock
1967 Bridgehampton
Plus bonus footage from the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix!
Cobra fans be sure to check out the segment of the 1964 Vineland race. Fantastic moments in the pits with those smart looking Cobra team jackets.
Like all great collection of racing footage, this one also comes with a mystery. Rudi asks: “I’d love to know about the quick dark blue car in the Vineland, NJ races at 10:00, 10:36 and 11:52 (ed: I believe he’s referring to car #44 with those trumpets sticking out the bonnet). No hood, stubby rear and wide front fenders that slope inward (unlike any car I know of). Last year I spent a couple hours online trying to find it on old films. I did find some history and old racing footage from the Vineland track (which I only went to that one time), but none of that car. It must be a ‘special.’ Someone out there must know who built and drove it. I’m 79, but if I knew where it is now I’d be interested in buying it.”
Anyone know anything about this car, who built her, or where she might be today? Let’s hear about it in the comments!
The first Ford Shelby Cobra 260 print ad – 1963.
via Griftomatic.
Yipe. This photo by Trevor Legate that he captured at Brands Hatch in October 1967 shows that roll bars aren’t just for rolling. As I understand it, no injuries—not for lack of trying.
via Nigel Smuckatelli’s Flickr.
At least I didn’t have as bad a day as these guys did a few years ago.
Props to Rick Ostman for posting this image to the Vintage Road Racing Archive Facebook group.
In the hours leading up to the start of the 1965 running of the Sebring 12 hours race, it seemed like a perfect day for racing. A bit hot maybe at 94° but that wasn’t unusual for a Florida afternoon—even in March. There were rumors of hard weather on the way, but radio jamming between the US and Cuba meant that there was no solid local weather report available trackside.
After 6 hours of racing the sky began to threaten rain. An hour later, at 5:25 pm the sky opened up. By the time the race was over, prototype drivers were saying that their cars were filling up to their elbows with rainwater. It sounds like hyperbole until you see the photos. Rain delay? What’s a rain delay?
There’s endurance racing, and then there’s endurance racing.
More on the race and the spectacular conditions it was run in at Sportscars.tv. Some photos from BARC Boys, Via Retro and The Inside Line.
Music to Charm a Cobra!
The incredible roar of a Ford “289 High Performance” V-8 being tested at peak R.P.M. on the Shelby American engine dyno! A powerful, thundering, bellow that has shaken the ground and reverberated in a million thrilled road racing fans from LeMans to Riverside. A sound as smooth as it is brutal; the culmination of thousands of hours of research, testing, and development, to field the most fantastic production sports car the world has ever known, the Cobra! It’s the sound of precision engineering… of victory!
Cobra powered by Ford
Shelby American, Inc. 1042 Princeton Drive, Venice, California