absmiami Posted January 27 Posted January 27 This might be fun …. Wandering through a local car show i came upon this terrific looking Cobra - in a neat line with 6 others - the other Cobras were clearly replicas - the woods are thick with repros - but this Cobra looked to be the real deal - had a long conversation with the proud owner - spoiler alert - i know the answer to the following question - is this a real Shelby Cobra ? Or just a great repro ? Have a look at these pix and test your Shelby IQ …
37 caddy Posted January 27 Posted January 27 I cant tell what it is,but if i had a real one i wouldnt be hanging out with a bunch of fakes.😎 1
Daddyfink Posted January 27 Posted January 27 It has the CSX number, unless the guy is doing a deep fake, it looks real to me. 1
kensar Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Definitely looks like a repro to me, with some bits from a real one.
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 27 Posted January 27 (edited) Fake. Underside of the hood is an immediate giveaway. Real hoods have aluminum skins built on tubular frames. The hood on this car is obviously a fiberglass molding. There are other things I see wrong that could possibly be due to inaccurate restoration, and I'm not a Cobra expert. But the hood is dead wrong. Edited January 27 by Ace-Garageguy CLARITY 1
Brudda Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Looks real to me. But need to ask a lot of questions. The Shelby American Club by Rick Kopec will have the info if it’s real or not. The thing that throws me off is the csx number on the dash. Some of the totaled cars are being recreated. By serial number alone. I worked on these cars and it looks real from the pics. I remember high performance motors in LA. La Brea. CA. And Shelby himself had all of the parts needed to make your mustang into a GT 350. He advertised the store because he was partnered with another. It was hard to tell some mustangs from GT 350’s. The serial number was the only thing that was different on good copies. ERA had a good copy of the 427 cobra a while back. Now there are kirkhams and even Shelby American has aluminum bodied cars. But the patina and what looks like aluminum’s doors , dual low riser manifold, open lettered valve covers. Seems like an original from the pics.
Brudda Posted January 27 Posted January 27 9 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Fake. Underside of the hood is an immediate giveaway. Real hoods have aluminum skins built on tubular frames. The hood on this car is obviously a fiberglass molding. Good catch. I did not see that. It’s glass. The real ones are tubes with an aluminum skin. Good catch ace 1
Mike 1017 Posted January 27 Posted January 27 I would question why are the inner aluminum fenders and firewall painted black? Mike
Brudda Posted January 27 Posted January 27 28 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Fake. Underside of the hood is an immediate giveaway. Real hoods have aluminum skins built on tubular frames. The hood on this car is obviously a fiberglass molding. There are other things I see wrong that could possibly be due to inaccurate restoration, and I'm not a Cobra expert. But the hood is dead wrong. Ahhh yes I looked at the cowl area were the body to the firewall and it looks like glass. Boy this one you have to look at closely. Great eye ACE. I must be losing it working on these things lately. New race Ferraris. 1
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 27 Posted January 27 1 minute ago, Brudda said: Ahhh yes I looked at the cowl area were the body to the firewall and it looks like glass. Boy this one you have to look at closely. Great eye ACE. I must be losing it working on these things lately. New race Ferraris. Cool cool cool. Looks like you have the same frame bench we do, too.
The Junkman Posted January 27 Posted January 27 This subject intrigued me so I found a discussion on the Shelby Forums regarding CSX 3060. It kinda/sorta is oldish/newish. Back in the early 1990's Shelby "found" some original chassis tags from the 1960s for unbuilt 427 Cobras to built the "continuation" series and this is one of those. Here's a link to the discussion-note it is from 2007. http://www.shelbyforums.com/threads/csx3060.7267/ 1
absmiami Posted January 27 Author Posted January 27 Ace nailed it - more wh i have a free moment x 2 …
vamach1 Posted January 27 Posted January 27 I saw the car at some shows in Miami also. None of the original Cobras were fiberglass. The owner has gone to some lengths to make a nice replica though. I have also seen aluminum body replicas which fill the void for those that cannot afford a seven figure original.
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 27 Posted January 27 (edited) 1 hour ago, vamach1 said: I have also seen aluminum body replicas which fill the void for those that cannot afford a seven figure original. The Kirkham cars are alloy-bodied, and are actually more symmetrical and better made than real factory Cobras, as one side of the car was digitally modeled and flopped to mirror-image the other side. Then, production body-panel press dies were made in Eastern Europe, and panels were welded together on precise steel jigs. But real Cobra bodies were hand-hammered over wooden bucks, and no two are absolutely identical. Shelby used Kirkhams for the alloy-bodied continuation cars. Years ago I subcontracted to Chuck Gutke / Cobra Restorers making repops of factory fiberglass Cobra parts (brake cooling scoops, hinge covers, etc.) and saw a Kirkham car being built. They are wondrous things, and you REALLY have to know your stuff to tell one from a factory original. https://www.fordfe.com/the-kirkham-cobra-story-the-real-story-long-but-in-t56166.html Edited January 27 by Ace-Garageguy 2
absmiami Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 So - it is a “fake” - a rather nice one - the owner went through it with me in great detail - because he evidentally did most of the assembly and finishing - he pointed out that he used a fiberglass body - he used original parts - like the knockoffs - where he could - he chose a chassis number that’s recognized to be one of the “missing” ones - and he went to great lengths on the finish and presentation - the one question that I forgot to ask is whether he was a model builder …. This is in fact a great 1 / 1 Shelby Cobra model - and its a runner - so all credit to him … 1
JollySipper Posted January 28 Posted January 28 30 minutes ago, absmiami said: I've seen stuff LOOK like that before! LoL.............. What program did you alter these in? 1
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 28 Posted January 28 (edited) 2 minutes ago, JollySipper said: ...What program did you alter these in? Windowpane, man. Edited January 28 by Ace-Garageguy 1
absmiami Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 Oh - THAT’s what Windowpane is … i don’t get out much … 1
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