Miq says:
>>Hmmm, I wouldn't expect an SOL like you to spread vicious rumors and lies,
>>Roger. James Dean died in a Porsche 550 Spyder (car 120 btw scott :^) along
>>route 7 in northern California in the late 1950's. This was a few years
>>before the Cobras came out in 1964. Cobra's got a boost because of Carrol
>>Shelby, and the fact that they are damn fast and only 350 were built.
>>(numbers like 3.8 sec for 0-60, 13.2 for 1/4 mile and 165 top speed)
>
> ~1000 I think, definitely more than 350. Damn sexy cars, too bad
>they cost more than a house (at least around here). Saw one in the company
>parking lot - not a replica. It was a 289 in need of restoration, and had 3-4"
>leather lap belts.
There are two garden varieties of Cobra, and there are some
substantial differences between the two.
Some history (it *is* me, after all :-):
In the late Fifties, Carroll Shelby won Le Mans while driving
an Aston Martin. His heart, however, wasn't up to the strain
of racing, so he decided to get into the construction end of
things.
A long-time goal of his was to make a car that combined
European (specifically British) roadholding with American
oomph (and also oomph-per-dollar). He had been aware of the
various hybrids such as the Cad-Allard and the Nash-Healey
(which, after all, finished high in the 1951[?] Le Mans
race), and was casting about for an American engine and
a British chassis.
In two interesting side trips, he approached GM (specifically
Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Corvette) and BMC (specifically
Donald Mitchell Healey) and inquired into using Chevy power-
plants (the American engine of chice since Lance Reventlow
built the very potent Scarab sports-racers in the late 50s)
and Healey chassis -- whether in the same car, I'm not sure.
Healey was all in favor of an American powerplant -- DMH
loved the States and had worked with the folks from Nash with
a lump of a powerplant, and was anxious to build something
with a real American engine. But BMC said they could sell
all the big Healeys they could build, and they backed down.
Anyway, AC Cars and Ford Motors finally got together. In
about 1963, Ford's small-block V8 had just been upsized from
221 cid to 260. This V8 was originally intended for use in
the Fairlane but was soon put into -- betcha can't guess what
car ? :-) -- as well as intended for the Mustang that was still
in the design phase.
Shelby got together with Ford engine buffs Holman & Moody and
did some tests. It was a simple matter to get about 300 bhp
out of the 260 with decent carburetion, exhaust and a solid-
lifter cam designed for high-end operation; H & M had put a
260-bhp engine (designed for low-end torque and longevity more
than for top-end -- in fact, using the factory Ford cast-iron
headers) for their March 1963 attempt at the Monte Carlo Rallye,
in a car that should probably remain nameless before I get a
bad reputation.
The first AC chassis came without paint; Shelby's people polished
the aluminum body panels and installed the hot 260 + T-10 four-
speed and had a running prototype. It scared everyone who drove
it, but they all came back grinning. This was the Shelby Cobra,
which eventually used a 289 cid version of the Ford V8 (the 289
was introduced in early 1965), and this version is known as the
289 Cobra to this day. These cars had the AC's suspension, in which
the upper link was the transverse leaf-spring: that is, the chassis
supported a transverse leaf-spring that had eye-holes in the end of
it, though which the upper end of the king-pin was mounted in front
(and to which the upper end of the rear spindle was mounted in
back). Lower A-arms (and extra trailing arms in the rear, if I
recall correctly) handled the rest of the triangulation. Tube
shocks damped out the short suspension movements, and a Salisbury
type diff handled the 90-degree powerbend.
These cars won the FIA championship in 1965, with Bob Bondurant
driving a specially built coupe version to win the 24 Hours of
Daytona. (I have since seen Bad Bob drive *that* car, and I'll
have to tell that story some time... I saw a graphic example of
the difference between driving fast and *racing* that day.)
Enzo Ferrari was so peeved that he withdrew his cars early in
the season, and Ford ended up winning the championship.
But it became clear that more power (and better handling) was
needed. So Ford provided the 427 side-oiler V8 and Shelby/AC
revised the suspension. They came up with a chassis that had
proper upper A-arms and coil-over spring-shock suspension, but
the extra power and the extra suspension required flaring out
the fenders quite a bit. So the 427 Cobra was born, with a
wider body, more volutpuous lines, and GOBS more power than
even the awe-inspiring 289.
The 289, if I recall, did 60 in about 5 seconds, the quarter in
the mid-14s, and had a 165 mph top speed. The 427 performed as
Miq says, though I think the top speed was a little (but not much
-- the drag was worse) higher.
I believe the 427 Cobra *still* holds the record for 0-100-0,
in something under 15 seconds. If you pared 1000 pounds off the
ZR-1, it might come close, and then only on braking. The 427
Cobra was a legend, and a rare one.
The production figures Miq quotes are closer to those for the
427. There were something over 1000 289 Cobras produced, and
only a few hundred 427s. The 427SC (for semi-competition) is
even rarer; this is the one commonly seen in reproduction form,
with side pipes and big fenders. Even the kits are valuable
and very, very fast.
--Scott
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