1967 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
Offered by RM Auctions | Amelia Island, Florida | March 14, 2015
Here it is. One of the greatest cars of all time. By 1965, there had already been two versions of the Cobra. First, the 260, and then the 289. But the Cobra’s competitors were getting faster and faster and the 289 didn’t have any more power to give. So Carroll Shelby went to ford to get an aluminium 390 V8 and Ford said no and gave him this old iron-block 427 V8 instead.
The thing was monstrous and heavy and the Shelby team had to redesign the chassis to handle it. This is why 427 Cobras have those wide hips compared to earlier cars. So the Mk III Cobra, the 7.0-liter 427 V-8 powered monster, was built between 1965 and 1967.
What makes this even more special is that Shelby was a racer at heart and he wanted to see these things taking checkered flags all over the world. As the FIA was screwing around with their rules and classifications for different cars, Shelby was just trying to keep up. He ordered 100 competition Cobras from AC. 53 were completed before the FIA changed things again and Shelby put a hold on the order. But the new rules pitted the Cobra and GT40, siblings, against each other. Carroll bowed the Cobra out to run the GT40 program and left these roadsters to privateers, selling 16 of his 53 competition Cobras to private teams.
But he had some leftovers. Instead of racing them, they painted them (and this blue with two white stripes is the absolute best Cobra paint scheme there is) and sold them to the public as “Semi-Competition” (or S/C) road cars. They were the fastest street cars ever produced at the time of their introduction (and for quite a few years afterward).
The engine puts out 485 horsepower in S/C form. Top speed is said to be about 185 mph, which is insane for 1967. This particular car has known ownership history from new and 18,000 original miles. It has light SCCA competition history and is one of 29 authentic factory 427 S/C Cobras built. It’s incredible. You can read more here and see more from RM in Amelia Island here.
Update: Sold $2,117,500.