The Very First Shelby Cobra Is Up For Auction In California This Summer

The original AC Cobra - kept for most of its life by Carroll Shelby himself - could be yours, if you're rather rich

30 Jun 2016

The Very First Shelby Cobra Is Up For Auction In California This Summer

As far as pieces of automotive history go, this is a big one. In fact, the press release goes as far as smacking down the words “the most important modern American car - period” in the first damn line. Why? Because it’s the first ever AC Cobra.

It came into being in 1962, when Carroll Shelby took a British AC Ace, and proceeded to shove some American muscle down its throat. Specifically, a 260 cubic-inch (or 4.2-litre, if you don’t live in ‘Murica) Ford V8. And since the Ace weighed sod all, this made the car the transplant resulted in - the AC Cobra (sometimes referred to as the Shelby Cobra) - absurdly fast. As in 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds with a top speed of 153mph fast. That’s quick now, let alone in 1962.

As for the significance of Shelby’s crazy decision to lob a V8 in such a light car, the very appropriately named Shelby Myers of auction house RM Sotheby’s - who’ll be auctioning this example next month - is adamant it completely changed the automotive landscape. “Had Carroll Shelby never decided to squeeze that high performance V8 into its engine bay, there would be no Cobra and certainly no Shelby American, nor GT40, nor the others that followed,” he explains.

If this particular Cobra - codenamed CSX 2000 - looks a little odd to you, and that’s probably because its AC Ace shell is virtually unmodified on the outside. Later cars grew massive wheel arch bulges to house ever wider wheel and tyre combos as power outputs ballooned to terrifying levels.

Another car being auctioned at the same time - the 1965 CSX 3178, above - looks a little more like the Cobras we’re used to seeing, and is also historically significant. It too is one of Shelby’s own cars, and is one of the few to be fitted with an automatic gearbox.

Fancy putting in a bid? No estimates are given, but you can bet it’ll be really, really expensive. We’ll find out exactly how expensive on when it goes under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Monterey, California sale, which takes place 19-20 August.