One of the biggest names in motorsports and sports cars in the 1960s was Carroll Shelby. Shelby is legendary for helping Ford beat Ferrari at LeMans. He was perhaps even better known for producing the Shelby Cobra. A unique Shelby 427 Cobra is going up for auction with Mecum.
The 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra in question is chassis CSX 3178 and belonged to Shelby himself. This car has had an interesting life. It was repainted early on and specifically fitted with an automatic transmission for regular use by Shelby. It also had a more powerful 428 added at some point.
It was restored for the third time in 2019, bringing it back to the same specifications it had before Shelby modified it. The history of this particular car is fascinating, with it being billed to Horn-Williams Ford in Texas. However, Carroll Shelby is the only known owner of the car, and he kept it his entire life.
The car now has a 427 ci side-oiler engine under the hood with dual four-barrel carburetors. It rolls on Sunburst knock-off wheels and has an extensively detailed history in the Shelby registry. This car has worn three colors during its life, one of only five originally produced in Charcoal Gray. It was later painted Guardsmen Blue with a gold nose and then painted again in red.
This vehicle is viewed as one of the most significant Cobras produced. It has certainly been driven by a legend, and plenty of legends have ridden shotgun. There’s no indication of what the car might sell for when it rolls across the auction block, but it did sell for over $1.3 million in the past.
