5 Cobras Crossing the Block at Kissimmee 2025
The Shelby/AC Cobra story is a famous one, and the car itself is one that millions of gearheads dream about owning. Since there aren’t millions of Cobras to go around (less than 1000 built in period, according to most sources), there’s an entire industry of replicas and continuation cars making those dreams a reality for those who can’t quite swing the real deal.
Only at Mecum Kissimmee, however, would buyers of both replica and real thing be spoiled for choice. Kissimmee is the first major collector car auction of the year as well as the world’s largest, and 2025’s edition has a whopping 14 Cobra replicas or continuation cars consigned. More impressive than that, though, are these five real ones that rolled out of Shelby American in the ’60s, and will roll across the auction block in 2025.
1964 Shelby Cobra 289
An original 289 with a healthy $1.4M-$1.5M estimate for Kissimmee, CSX2242 was ordered new in Princess Blue over red and with “Class A” accessories that included AC-stamped wire wheels, whitewall tires, aluminum valve covers, dual four-barrel carburetors on an aluminum manifold, and a high-capacity oil pan. The MSRP for all this Anglo-American goodness was $5728.55, and the car sold to its first private owner in Texas.
A later owner added a roll bar and hood scoop, repainted the body in red, and retrimmed the interior in black. He listed it for sale in the late 1990s for $190,000. Fortunately, the next owner restored the car to its original, and current appearance.
1967 Shelby Cobra 427
Represented as one of the best preserved big-block Cobras in existence, this car is original down to the warning sticker on its speedometer, its original weather stripping, and its original Sunburst wheels wrapped in the same set of Goodyear Blue Dot tires that came on it in 1967.
In 2018, the long-dormant Cobra made a splash when Tom Cotter unearthed it from nearly 30 years in storage for his Barn Find Hunter series. It was then a highlight of that year’s Amelia Island auctions, where it sold for $1,045,000. Since its last sale, the barn find dust has been detailed away but its originality is still just as impressive.
1963 Shelby Cobra 289
The first few dozen Shelby Cobras used Ford’s 260-cid, 260-horse V-8. Then, the last 51 of the early “Mark I” Cobras got the more potent and more famous 289-cid/271-hp unit. These early cars also used an adequate but antiquated worm and sector (“W&S”) steering system, which was rectified in 1963 with the Mark II 289 Cobra and its modern rack-and-pinion (“R&P”) steering. CSX2105 is one of those cars in the middle built with 289 engine and W&S steering, though it has been retrofitted with a rack and pinion setup (the original worm gear steering bracket is included with the sale). Feeding its Ford V-8 are a quartet of Weber carburetors.
It is a very early production 289 Cobra, and according to the World Registry of Cobras & GT40s, it was offered for sale in 1997 for $150,000, but also seized by the IRS the same year over the owner’s non-payment of taxes. After a handful of ownership changes, it received a full restoration finished in September of last year and has a $1.25M-$1.5M estimate for Kissimmee.
1965 Shelby Cobra 289 Dragonsnake
The Cobra legend was written on the twisty road courses of sports car racing in America and Europe, but Shelby’s little car + big engine formula amounted to some success in drag racing, too. Shelby called its official drag racing setup for the Cobra “Dragonsnake,” and although some private owners converted their Cobras into drag racers in period, just five or six genuine Dragonsnakes rolled out of Shelby American in period. CSX2427 is one of them, and it sold new to an affluent Pennsylvania teenager who had it painted a special shade of yellow to match his Thunderbird tow car, raced it briefly through the summer of ’65, and parked it. According to the Cobra Registry, his father soon put it up for sale in the December issue of Car and Driver: “Reason for selling, son returned to college.”
The next owner modified the Dragonsnake for road racing and ran some SCCA events in 1966. Then it was crashed and repaired in 1967. It was reportedly restored in the late 2000s using only original and new-old-stock parts.
It has had a string of auction appearances, including a $209K sale at RM Phoenix in 2001, a $1.4M no-sale at Mecum Indy 2019, a $1.375M reported sale at Kissimmee 2022, a $1.4M no-sale at Mecum Monterey 2022, a $1.05M no-sale at Kissimmee 2023, and a $1.15M no-sale at Mecum Indy 2024. It doesn’t have a presale estimate for Kissimmee ’24, and Mecum’s listing for the car also notes that it is “available now for direct purchase,” so it may be gone before it’s scheduled to cross the block on Sunday, January 19, the auction’s final day.
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 Competition
Billed as “arguably the winningest Cobra of all time,” CSX3009 started life finished in Wimbledon White and equipped with an FE-block 427 side-oiler engine with single four-barrel carburetor, side exhaust, remote engine and rear-end oil coolers, Toploader four-speed transmission, and Salisbury limited-slip differential. The original invoice for it was $9700. Ford Motor Company was Essex Wire’s biggest customer, so Essex sponsored the Cobra for the 1965 race season and the team finished fourth overall in that year’s United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC). Backup driver Dick Thompson said of the Cobra: “Every time you let off on the throttle, a belch of fire about three feet long would shoot out the hood scoop.” The team nicknamed it “Ollie the Dragon.”
The next season the car sold to racer Ed Lowther, who ran it in the SCCA A-Production class with sponsorship from Eger Ford in Pennsylvania. It quickly became the car to beat, won the national championship that year, and barely lost out on the title again in 1967.
Racer Sam Feinstein, also of PA, bought the car in 1967 and finished third in the 1968 Northeast Division of SCCA A-Production. Sadly, while on a transporter, the car was damaged in a 37-car pileup on the New Jersey Turnpike and missed the 1969 season undergoing repairs. It came back with a vengeance in 1970, though, finishing second in Northeast Division A-Production. After mixed success in the next few seasons, in 1973 funny car tuner Al Joniec was able to get 670 horsepower out of the original 427 engine, so Feinstein and the Cobra were back on top. They took the national championship that year, and were regional champions in ’74 and ’75, taking sixth at the runoffs in ’74 and fourth in ’75. Eventually, it was restored to its original Essex Wire appearance and specs in the 2010s by specialist Mike McCluskey, and Carroll Shelby himself advised the restoration in person on several occasions. With a $4.5M-$6M estimate for Kissimmee, it is one of the most valuable cars of the entire auction.
I had a 1967 427 Cobra with 1200 miles. Also had the original blue dot good years on it. I changed them out for radial Trans am low profile tires which helped traction & handling. It had a single 4 barrel carb which leads me to think it was a 428 instead of the more powerful & desirable 427
A friend had a 66 that had 2 4 barrel carbs & seemed considerably faster than my cobra.
l read “somewhere” that the 427’s were the single carb ones and the 2 carb ones were the 428’s. They needed the 2 carbs for better performance in the 428’s??????
No .Thats incorrect .
I didn’t know about the “Dragonsnake” term for the drag cars. Lots of money here.
Jim- Even the most die hard Shelby folk have trouble keeping track of what was original. Shelby American would change things midstream depending. Not to mention that clients could order their Cobra with different factory installed options. These same parts could also be purchased from them. So most likely the term ‘most commonly used’ is what you’re going to hear from people in the know. Shelby had no qualms about switching to the 428 when the 427 was in short supply, saying that the 427 was actually too much engine for the street version. So they saw no pressing need to hop up the 428. So while clients might choose to order the dual quad setup it wasn’t deemed necessary. The 427 competition (and semi-comp ) used a single Holley 780 on a medium riser magnesium intake for instance. There was also a rare ‘sidewinder’ intake available for short track use that could be fitted. If you then look at the 67 GT 500s they did come with a dual 4 barrels on the 428 PI but went back to a single when the Cobra Jet version replaced them in mid 68 in the KRs which is a hotter version. Sometimes just more doesn’t mean better.
Paul, i purchased one of the last ’67 GT 500 new in Englewood, Co. Ford dealer. It was one on the few 428, 2-4 barrels equiped with auto and A/C. With the 3 spd C-6 auto you had to keep the rpm’s high to keep it breathing… it was a beast in its time. Sold it with 137k miles for $2100. Still have the owners manual.
We have a couple of interesting Cobras at the California Auto Museum, Tony Hogg’s (Road and Track editor and author) 1966 427 (first owned by Richard Raskin who became the Renee Richards the tennis star)
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/956fe0_e0915ad91edc4c47a5af6aaf96710090~mv2.jpg
as well as the replica Cobra from Ford Vs Ferrari movie.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/956fe0_510fd629c53546d9a9f6dfbf485f0221~mv2.jpg
Over priced junk
Why, Ron? Just why? Did a Cobra pee in your Cheerios when you were a kid?
Ron, why would anyone, especially an American, say that. Anyone with the teensie-est understanding of very basic economics knows that the last price paid for anything is its fair market value (FMV) at the instant of the sale. And, yes, that item’s FMV can move up or down within seconds after the original sale because that’s how a market economy works. The FMV of anything depends on the bullish or bearish beliefs of all potential or real buyers or sellers for that item.
And your weapon of choice is?….
Wow! I wish I had one of those junkers in my garage. They are beautiful.
David, I understand that the Tony Hogg 427 belonged to Jim Boffo of New Brighton, PA back when it was a $5000 used car.
Possibly. The story is Richard Raskin received it from his father and he drove it to New York to attended Yale and received an ophthalmology degree. He was also in the Navy. In 1975 at the age of 41 years old he “transitioned” to Renee. Somewhere in there he sold the Cobra. By the way, the family still pwns the Cobra and family members take the Cobra out occasionally to maintain and drive it.
Reading Tony’s article about, owning the 427/day in the life of the 427, was what turned me on to them in the first place. Reading that made you feel like you owned it yourself. I fell in love and have loved Cobras ever since.
`64 289 restored to original appearance – except, no whitewalls in picture .
An interesting read is Life at Shelby American by John Morton. Lots. Of great Shelby stories
A roommate I had at the University of Illinois in the mid-1970s, Erik Andersen, had a 427 Cobra that shared a garage we rented with my Triumph TR-4A. On the Cobra was a 4-barrel carburetor but he had the manifold for a 6-Weber setup that he never installed. It was blue and his mother, he said, had dinged all four corners when it was parked in their driveway in Chicago. The damage was not bad but it was not a show car. The body was aluminum and it wore Hallibrands. Erik said he paid $6000 for it. I did not enjoy driving the Cobra on the cracked concrete streets of Champaign but it sure was fast. Erik told me that it was the second-to-last Cobra made but I never got the CSX number and there is some dispute about what even the last number was. If anyone knows please tell me.
That would be 4 Webbers not 6 as it was a V8
Not a Ford guy by any stretch, but I am an American. Where else on this blue orb could a guy do something like this???? Russia? Germany?,Italy?,Canada? Eh??. Certainly not Central or South America. Africa??
Long live the Shelby
Yep, any of those places, in fact, they’re doin’ it right now in South Africa. Where do you think the new ones come from?
There’s a REASON the Cobra et. al. is THE most copied vehicle ever, this side of go-carts. While my FacFive Mk II w/EFI 302 isn’t a “real one”, it pleases me that humble fellows, such as I, can indulge in such splendor… while not sacrificing food for fuel. Thanks Carroll… damed good for a chicken farmer (I started out that way m’self)
Bob Nagel, my husband, co-drove the Cobra with Ed Lowther at Watkins Glenn. Can’t remember the year, but I think they came in first, beating Don Yenko in his Corvette.
Judy Nagel, is your husband Bob, from Wis Dells ? If so, I need to get in touch. OLD friend as where our parents. Thanks, Wayne Wesse
No, my husband Bob Nagel, was from Iowa, and raced in SCCA, and several others. Sorry,
but it’s always nice to find old friends and relatives.
More trailer queens dragging in seven-figure sales. What’s the point of owning them (or any other cars) if you don’t drive them?
Investment, is the answer, but I do get your point. Answer me this one as an analogy – how many people have hundreds of thousands in the bank but don’t spend it?
Watch the Goodwood channel on Youtube for the various races they conduct every year where, at around a million USD each a large nest of Cobras run, 25+ million USD Ferraris including a couple of GTO’s run and lots of fantastic other vintage art. All of them running their wheels off without care of bashing a fender or worse.
I watched the barn find.Cobra be loving and carefully cleaned and detailed in the shop I worked at. The number of hours that were involved in that car are incredible. I am sure the price at Mecum will show that it was worth it. That car is the most original 1967 you will ever find. We documented everything including the well preserved mouse we found. Loved working there – I was able to drive every car I desired during my teen age years. Learned the tough lesson about staying away from side pipes on 427 Cobras the hard way. Still have the scars on the back of my legs to prove it. I hope it does well.
good to know there’s mice in cobras too, and ot just in my own beloved
herd of low priced old clunkers.
I like reading these car articles on Saturday mornings. Please tell us the who, what, where, when and how in a story. This article about an auction in Kissimmee did not tell me when exactly this event will happen. If it did then I missed it and never mind. 🙂
Click on the lot # and you’ll get “the rest of the story”.
Back in 1969 I was shopping for a sports car and came across a silver 289 Cobra in beautiful condition in the San Fernando Valley. The price was $4500. I bought a Lotus Elan.
In 1969, I was active army at Fort Lenard Wood. I remembndser inquiring about what looked like a Cobra under a tarp at the gas station where I fueled my 850 Mini for a break from AIT on weekeds. I wanted either a 289 Cobra or a Lotus Elan. I’ve often wondered what happened w/ that Misouri Cobra, but I too bought a Lotus Elan in 1974 that I still own.