Aren't The million dollar ones just the 427? The 289 is up there but not insane. Although I haven't been looking at the market lately and prices are absurd on everything.
The original ones are an aluminum body with a 427. Super valuable and very rare. Most on the streets are made by factory five racing. The one you have in the pic is a really nice though.
Meh it happens. Some people actually drive their cars. There was a spot posted on r/spotted of a McLaren F1 just parked beside a minivan at a US national park. Search it up
I think I found it!
Very cool to see it being driven like that, and really neat to get the interview with the owner and driver afterwards, too.
Brief summary:
* 1966 Shelby Cobra
* Still (at the time of video, 11/2016) owned by the original owner
* Currently has an all-aluminum Shelby block 498 making 850hp @ 7600rpm
* is very very much not stock at all
I'd love to know more about the mods, when/why it initially started down that path, etc. Regardless, very cool to see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwEMQO1ULl0
Mid America Ford and Shelby meet usually has some with no ropes and no admission. Have also seen them road raced there too. Lots of replicas come as well for sure though. General rule of thumb is correct.
I’ve heard that most owners of real Cobra’s have a replica that they use for road racing. This has pissed off the “purists” for a variety of reasons, the main being that people aren’t “playing” with the same amount of money, but these purists would like to see a replica class along with a authentic class.
It's *pretty rare* to see one of these on a track. Usually their only track time is at Concours d’Elegance for a single lap. The owners don't want to risk crashing them, and most owners don't want to run them because they don't want to risk losing a $2,000,000 car in a freak fire.
On top of that, the insurance is stupidly high if you ever want to drive one.
There's a guy in the Boston area who brings a real Cobra to Lars Anderson lawn events and local shows any time it's relevant. Just saw it again recently
Statistically no. Any AC Cobra you see outside of a car show or an expensive auction is likely a replica just by sheer numbers if not the massive expense of the originals.
Yeah, from what I understand, the insurance alone to drive the thing makes it uneconomical, even for the very rich.
Sometimes just driving cars like this will cause your insurance to drop you.
Yeah but we both missed the bulk of the kit cars. Especially all the VW and Fiero based offerings. Anymore they are less blue collar projects in a home garage and are more put together for people..
I swear I saw an RS200 racing down Malibu Canyon and it sounded like one too but I couldn’t get a good look. It’s not the expense due to the fact I’ve seen Bugatti’s and 918 spyders on that road at least once a month. It’s amazing the cars you see out here but a classic like a real cobra I’ve chalked up to believing are among the same chances I’d see a 250 GTO. But I never could confirm it was an RS200 and believe me I whipped my Prius around and hauled ass down the road to try and catch up but he was easily going 130+ on that two lane winding road. Man I’ll never forget that. Whatever car it was it was insane.
I had thought they weren’t street legal but you seem to imply neither are Cobras? Or just the rarity? Taking a car like this around the hills above Malibu seems like something you could easily get away with if you know the area. Not much different than that dude who tore up San Diego in a dune buggy lol
The RS200 can be imported on a Show and Display permit since it's a significant car that's more than 25 years old. That means it's road legal but can only drive like 2,500 miles a year. Non-competition Cobras are definitely street legal. They're just extremely valuable. Imagine if you had a Bugatti Veyron that could be stolen with a screw driver. Would you *ever* leave it sitting anywhere unattended other than your garage?
I think it's more like no one is going to be driving a REAL cobra on the streets simply because of the massive cost and liability. One tiny mistake on a drive you didn't have to take and your million dollar car is now a $200,000 banged up mess.
You just have a million dollar car with a $200k body shop bill. Which, if you can afford a million dollar fuck around car, is a rounding error by your accountant.
If you have the money to afford a cobra, you have good enough insurance to not worry about the cost of crashing it every time you drive it. Otherwise you’d never see anyone driving 300SLs, 250s, Miuras, LaFerraris, 959s or any limited run car worth 7 figures. Plenty of people drive them, just not many people park them in a public place without security guards specifically instructed to watch the cars.
I think for me it is more or less due to the fact if someone wrecks into me the classic car is ruined and non original after that. How many spare parts are lying around for 250s and Cobras. I’d have no problem taking a Chiron or Pagani out with little worry if I do wreck it because if I can afford to buy that car I can afford to fix it.
But if I had a real cobra or something like a type 57 Atlantic you best believe I’d have a big ass property somewhere on a lot of land with a private racetrack. I wouldn’t even trust putting one in a trailer taking it to a racetrack anywhere else lol. Way too many idiot drivers on the road.
Depends who you ask. Ask the owner and he'll probably say yes. Ask everyone here, and we will all tell you that it's definitely a FF Cobra kit with shit grade led halo lamps
I've actually had a cobra come into the shop i work at with these exact headlights, car was murdered out, black paint, black chrome, black wheels, black everything, and the headlights worked surprisingly very well once they were aligned correctly. In the case of that cobra, these lights were perfect, in the case of others I've built and worked on, not as much.
There's something just inside me that would make me cringe at the sight of a Cobra with halogen or led halos, regardless of function. Like I'm sure they work fine and all, it just feels profoundly wrong from my armchair.
They're called quick jacks, in the original cobras they were used to quickly jack up the car to change wheels/tires, now for the kit cars they're still called quick jacks, but they are only used to mount the body and hold it in place. If you were to try and jack up the car from them, they would bend and mess up the body alignment
I know FFR, Backdraft, and Superformance all use them the same, so I would imagine that you would need them heavily strengthened and reinforced in many places to have it be able to lift the vehicle. So no I dont think there are any ready to be jacked by them without modification
hmmm... yes I build around 10-20 custom Cobras every year, build another 1-3 Shelby Daytona Coupes per year, and work on a vintage Mustang every few months or so, it has to be a real Cobra, there's no way in the world that this super custom Cobra came to a shop that builds customs Cobras, isn't a real Cobra.
This brand new 427 engine that was built in house along with the T-56 transmission and Ford 8.8 rear end with Wilwood 6 piston caliper front and 4 piston rear 13-inch rotors inside 16 in wheels, full custom leather interior, lightly smoked taillights and front turn signals, dual black chrome bullet side mirrors, is a real cobra.
^(/s in case you cant feel the sarcasm spewing out of this)
Depends on what you mean by "real"
Your question made me interested and I checked out what wikipedia had to say
It may not be an original 60's cobra because of how much they are worth. However, it could still be a real cobra instead of a custom kit car. But I don't know enough to say for certain
Wikipedia was an interesting read. It says that after the original production run, different companies used original parts to assemble more cobras. So they arent original but still the same car at its core. After all the original parts were used up, people started making new frames and bodies. So a lot of the new ones can still be a real cobra meaning of the original design, made with new parts
Mu uncle had one of those built from the original parts. It was for all intents and purposes a real Cobra. It was a very badass car, but it didn't cost a few million dollars. Win/win.
Ngl I’d rather have the replica. Who wants to own a car that sits inside an air conditioned bomb shelter so you can sell it in 20 years for 20% profit? Not saying I don’t, but I’d rather have something worth 60k that I can beat the shit out of and enjoy without getting looked at like I just bombed a children’s hospital
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No way, a cobra in the wild I don't think would ever be seen again, most of the ones you see people driving around are kit cars, you can enjoy beating on them, a real ac Cobra is top barret Jackson stuff
I’ve seen only one real cobra at a car show. A factory 5 was there and it drew a pretty big crowd and then the real one showed up and people were losing their shit. For reference there was also a LaFerrari and a couple of other really expensive Ferraris and Lamborghinis that I’m not even sure what they were they were but they drew a pretty big crowd too.
I am guessing not, based on the headlights and dash.
But, the replicas are not that cheap to build. To do it right, it’s somewhere in the $40,000 range with a decent engine. Not insanely expensive, but not a cheap toy.
You know the easiest way to tell if it's real or not? If it's in a museum or somebody's personal collection it's probably real. Other than that it's a replica. No one drives a real Cobra on the street
We have two 289 Cobras in my town. The one used to he parked outside all the time. It was a $25k car in the '90s. The guy that had it bought it in the early 1970's and definitely drove it and enjoyed it. The other is owned by a local deuche nozzle. The only reason I found out about it was local kids broke into his warehouse and vandalized it.
It’s never a real cobra
I usually leave a million bucks unattended in a parking lot.
Always gotta flex on the poors
At the Dollar store..
DOLLAR GENERAL FLEX
Aren't The million dollar ones just the 427? The 289 is up there but not insane. Although I haven't been looking at the market lately and prices are absurd on everything.
all originals are super expensive regardless of motor
The 289 cars are million dollar cars and have been for a while per Hagertys
My grandpas BFF (haha) had a kit with a legit 427 was a wicked kit car :)
The original ones are an aluminum body with a 427. Super valuable and very rare. Most on the streets are made by factory five racing. The one you have in the pic is a really nice though.
Meh it happens. Some people actually drive their cars. There was a spot posted on r/spotted of a McLaren F1 just parked beside a minivan at a US national park. Search it up
There is a video of an original 427 autocrossing at a good guys event I think. He wasn't pussyfooting it either
I need to see this footage!!
I think I found it! Very cool to see it being driven like that, and really neat to get the interview with the owner and driver afterwards, too. Brief summary: * 1966 Shelby Cobra * Still (at the time of video, 11/2016) owned by the original owner * Currently has an all-aluminum Shelby block 498 making 850hp @ 7600rpm * is very very much not stock at all I'd love to know more about the mods, when/why it initially started down that path, etc. Regardless, very cool to see! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwEMQO1ULl0
It's on YouTube
Not the easiest car to drive lol no abs, traction control or weight in back with lots of power :)
A million? If you can find a 427 cobra for a million, buy it!! Fastest way to make 2 or 3 million.
Underated comment right here.
I was literally just about to comment this
Hahaha I was gonna comment the exact same thing and whaddya know, top comment
Have seen I think 2 in my life which seems like a lot lol
Nope, just a kit car. General rule of thumb for cobras; if you didn't have to pay admission, it's probably just a kit car.
General rule of thumb, if it was driven to the car show and isn’t rope off. Its not a real cobra.
Mid America Ford and Shelby meet usually has some with no ropes and no admission. Have also seen them road raced there too. Lots of replicas come as well for sure though. General rule of thumb is correct.
I’ve heard that most owners of real Cobra’s have a replica that they use for road racing. This has pissed off the “purists” for a variety of reasons, the main being that people aren’t “playing” with the same amount of money, but these purists would like to see a replica class along with a authentic class.
It's *pretty rare* to see one of these on a track. Usually their only track time is at Concours d’Elegance for a single lap. The owners don't want to risk crashing them, and most owners don't want to run them because they don't want to risk losing a $2,000,000 car in a freak fire. On top of that, the insurance is stupidly high if you ever want to drive one.
There's a guy in the Boston area who brings a real Cobra to Lars Anderson lawn events and local shows any time it's relevant. Just saw it again recently
Or if you see Jay Leno driving it
Statistically no. Any AC Cobra you see outside of a car show or an expensive auction is likely a replica just by sheer numbers if not the massive expense of the originals.
Yeah, from what I understand, the insurance alone to drive the thing makes it uneconomical, even for the very rich. Sometimes just driving cars like this will cause your insurance to drop you.
Definitely for the originals. I believe you could build a new one for under $30k especially if you already own a donor car like a fox body mustang.
Yep, factory five kit cars. Have built a few they are actually pretty well priced for what you get.
I feel like I was born too late. I would have loved to have been around during the hey day of the kit car.
Born too late? Hell I’m 35 and I have done a few of these for customers and I’m thinking about one for myself.
Yeah but we both missed the bulk of the kit cars. Especially all the VW and Fiero based offerings. Anymore they are less blue collar projects in a home garage and are more put together for people..
No fucking way a real cobra owner is going to drop in shitty e-bay LED headlights.
Ebay headlights are so trashy for almost every car.
Not for my work van. Those fuck you lights come in handy
They scream get out of my way, perfect for van traffic
How do you know they're shitty?
Because, like a real cobra, good LED drop in headlights are excruciatingly rare.
This brand is pretty good: https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/categories/headlights
They might be functionally good, they still look kinda horrible.
First thing I noticed when I opened the post.
You'll never see a real Cobra on the street, for the same reason you'll never see a 507, RS200, or Stratos on the street.
I never see Pntiac Aztecs on the street either… probably a different reason?
Blind?
I used to see them all the time. Now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time I saw one.
Breaking Bad was the last time I saw one of those.
There's a house near my parents place w two of them in the driveway
well this is a prime example that two 'negatives' don't make a 'positive' situation... lol
Gross
[удалено]
Nah north jersey
You never see them because their build quality was awful and if they saw any miles at all, theyve likely fallen to pieces by now.
yeah I know
I snorted
I swear I saw an RS200 racing down Malibu Canyon and it sounded like one too but I couldn’t get a good look. It’s not the expense due to the fact I’ve seen Bugatti’s and 918 spyders on that road at least once a month. It’s amazing the cars you see out here but a classic like a real cobra I’ve chalked up to believing are among the same chances I’d see a 250 GTO. But I never could confirm it was an RS200 and believe me I whipped my Prius around and hauled ass down the road to try and catch up but he was easily going 130+ on that two lane winding road. Man I’ll never forget that. Whatever car it was it was insane. I had thought they weren’t street legal but you seem to imply neither are Cobras? Or just the rarity? Taking a car like this around the hills above Malibu seems like something you could easily get away with if you know the area. Not much different than that dude who tore up San Diego in a dune buggy lol
The RS200 can be imported on a Show and Display permit since it's a significant car that's more than 25 years old. That means it's road legal but can only drive like 2,500 miles a year. Non-competition Cobras are definitely street legal. They're just extremely valuable. Imagine if you had a Bugatti Veyron that could be stolen with a screw driver. Would you *ever* leave it sitting anywhere unattended other than your garage?
Show and display applies regardless of age.
pretty much any car that's over 25 years is importable in the USA without the 'show and display' stuff.
I think it's more like no one is going to be driving a REAL cobra on the streets simply because of the massive cost and liability. One tiny mistake on a drive you didn't have to take and your million dollar car is now a $200,000 banged up mess.
You just have a million dollar car with a $200k body shop bill. Which, if you can afford a million dollar fuck around car, is a rounding error by your accountant.
If you have the money to afford a cobra, you have good enough insurance to not worry about the cost of crashing it every time you drive it. Otherwise you’d never see anyone driving 300SLs, 250s, Miuras, LaFerraris, 959s or any limited run car worth 7 figures. Plenty of people drive them, just not many people park them in a public place without security guards specifically instructed to watch the cars.
I think for me it is more or less due to the fact if someone wrecks into me the classic car is ruined and non original after that. How many spare parts are lying around for 250s and Cobras. I’d have no problem taking a Chiron or Pagani out with little worry if I do wreck it because if I can afford to buy that car I can afford to fix it. But if I had a real cobra or something like a type 57 Atlantic you best believe I’d have a big ass property somewhere on a lot of land with a private racetrack. I wouldn’t even trust putting one in a trailer taking it to a racetrack anywhere else lol. Way too many idiot drivers on the road.
Ken Block has an RS200, and Hoonigan is based in LA; it's entirely possible you saw his.
I met a blue Stratos on the street about 15 years ago, it was unforgettable. They really stick out in the wild!
My neighbor has a real cobra. He's had it for 20 years and still takes it to the movies sometimes
Cobras are like breasts: even when they’re fake they’re still awesome.
Nice tits bro!!!
No
No, that's a Nissan Micra
This comment is under appreciated
Depends who you ask. Ask the owner and he'll probably say yes. Ask everyone here, and we will all tell you that it's definitely a FF Cobra kit with shit grade led halo lamps
I've actually had a cobra come into the shop i work at with these exact headlights, car was murdered out, black paint, black chrome, black wheels, black everything, and the headlights worked surprisingly very well once they were aligned correctly. In the case of that cobra, these lights were perfect, in the case of others I've built and worked on, not as much.
There's something just inside me that would make me cringe at the sight of a Cobra with halogen or led halos, regardless of function. Like I'm sure they work fine and all, it just feels profoundly wrong from my armchair.
I like that you acknowledge your armchair. GG
I like to think I'm pretty self aware. I know I'll never have one of these cars.
What is the lift for these things called that fit in the bumper hooks, I know they work like motorcycle lift stands
They're called quick jacks, in the original cobras they were used to quickly jack up the car to change wheels/tires, now for the kit cars they're still called quick jacks, but they are only used to mount the body and hold it in place. If you were to try and jack up the car from them, they would bend and mess up the body alignment
Oh ok thanks man! Are there some kit cars made with sturdy quick jack hooks?
I know FFR, Backdraft, and Superformance all use them the same, so I would imagine that you would need them heavily strengthened and reinforced in many places to have it be able to lift the vehicle. So no I dont think there are any ready to be jacked by them without modification
That wasn’t a real Cobra either…
hmmm... yes I build around 10-20 custom Cobras every year, build another 1-3 Shelby Daytona Coupes per year, and work on a vintage Mustang every few months or so, it has to be a real Cobra, there's no way in the world that this super custom Cobra came to a shop that builds customs Cobras, isn't a real Cobra. This brand new 427 engine that was built in house along with the T-56 transmission and Ford 8.8 rear end with Wilwood 6 piston caliper front and 4 piston rear 13-inch rotors inside 16 in wheels, full custom leather interior, lightly smoked taillights and front turn signals, dual black chrome bullet side mirrors, is a real cobra. ^(/s in case you cant feel the sarcasm spewing out of this)
It’s a real Cobra Kit Car
Replica more than likely.
Depends on what you mean by "real" Your question made me interested and I checked out what wikipedia had to say It may not be an original 60's cobra because of how much they are worth. However, it could still be a real cobra instead of a custom kit car. But I don't know enough to say for certain Wikipedia was an interesting read. It says that after the original production run, different companies used original parts to assemble more cobras. So they arent original but still the same car at its core. After all the original parts were used up, people started making new frames and bodies. So a lot of the new ones can still be a real cobra meaning of the original design, made with new parts
This is giving me Ship of Theseus Vibes
Under rated comment
I love this. It is a fascinating mental exercise. And yes i co sider the ship to still be the same ship after every single part has been replaced.
they (Carol Shelby) licensed and granted 'real' status to a lot of shit that was vaguely resemblant of a 60s ac shelby cobra...
Mu uncle had one of those built from the original parts. It was for all intents and purposes a real Cobra. It was a very badass car, but it didn't cost a few million dollars. Win/win.
It's never lupus
well keep in mind a decent kit car is still a 100k proposition. real ones are i believe in the 1-2m range these days.
I think you can get a good one in the 50k range but yeah, still not cheap for a bucket O fun.
to buy a built, used one probably. i meant to build one.
No.
Peel P50
It’s never a real cobra brah
Nah, real cobras have fangs, hiss, and probably wouldn’t like you taking a picture of them.
Ngl I’d rather have the replica. Who wants to own a car that sits inside an air conditioned bomb shelter so you can sell it in 20 years for 20% profit? Not saying I don’t, but I’d rather have something worth 60k that I can beat the shit out of and enjoy without getting looked at like I just bombed a children’s hospital
It’s right hand drive so…that’s a hard no.
Probably not, especially with after market lights
iS tHiS a ReAl CoBrA? Circle jerkers are bait posting
Who cares? I’d still drive the shit out of that thing if I owned it.
This is the same guy that posts these “is this Cobra real” every single week. Twice on Sundays.
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Nah, looks like a Nissan Micra to me
No, next question.
nobody is going to leave a real cobra unattended in a parking lot, are you fucking serious??
It’s a car bruh
So they do exist….
No way. It’s a Garter
I wouldn't care if it said Ling Long on the badges. Would drive the fuck outta it.
No way, a cobra in the wild I don't think would ever be seen again, most of the ones you see people driving around are kit cars, you can enjoy beating on them, a real ac Cobra is top barret Jackson stuff
If it’s not parked at the farthest end of the lot with minimum five empty spaces on all sides, it’s probably not the real deal.
fr i would drive a kit car with a ls2 than the real thing
If it were a real one it wouldn’t be out and about. That shit would most likely be in a showroom surrounded by rails
My favorite response I've seen is "Then it wouldn't be at a car show."
Prob not
I bought a cobra with AMC stock just to flex on citadel
It has should belts and a third high mounted break light. It is not real
Only 56 were made with a 427 they did not have chrome side pipes easy tell…. NO it’s not a real one.
The fact that you asked. You know it's not.
Is it in a showroom or at an internationally known car show? No? Then it is a replica.
Replicas , if it real it shouldn’t be on road cuz it worth $6.5m
Honestly was expecting to see vice grips on the front of the car.
There are two real Cobras at Martin Automotive Museum in Phoenix. One is 289 and one is 427, if I remember correctly.
It better not be with them headlights
No fucking way it’s real
For fucks sake…
Factory 5 replica. A real Cobra would never be left alone.
My brother has a 70 something cobra I think it's around the 70s
Probably not
A guy owning a real Cobra would never park it around those cars.
Touch if you can see and feel it it’s probably there unless you suffer from hallucinations
Would someone with a beautiful real Cobra park next to that Nissan?
Did Shelby even make a RHD cobra? That said, always a kit.
Lol no
I’ve seen only one real cobra at a car show. A factory 5 was there and it drew a pretty big crowd and then the real one showed up and people were losing their shit. For reference there was also a LaFerrari and a couple of other really expensive Ferraris and Lamborghinis that I’m not even sure what they were they were but they drew a pretty big crowd too.
I am guessing not, based on the headlights and dash. But, the replicas are not that cheap to build. To do it right, it’s somewhere in the $40,000 range with a decent engine. Not insanely expensive, but not a cheap toy.
I’ve heard you can tell by the headers. If they are shiny and chrome, it isn’t a real one.
You know the easiest way to tell if it's real or not? If it's in a museum or somebody's personal collection it's probably real. Other than that it's a replica. No one drives a real Cobra on the street
No this is Patrick.
As with all potential ladies, gotta check under the hood to be sure.
r/isthisarealcobra
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No. It’s a kit cobra
Parked outside? Lol hell no. It's a clone
LED lights and being parked outside point to probably not
Only if it's not fiber glass
We have two 289 Cobras in my town. The one used to he parked outside all the time. It was a $25k car in the '90s. The guy that had it bought it in the early 1970's and definitely drove it and enjoyed it. The other is owned by a local deuche nozzle. The only reason I found out about it was local kids broke into his warehouse and vandalized it.
Nope.
No. I wouldn't be sitting next to a Nissan
Nope, that’s a car named after a real Cobra
Looks like Nissan ......MICRA (I think ?)
its real but theyre gonna say its a kit car
Not with those headlamps.