$5 million car

[h2olawyer]

Anyone watch the 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake sell for $5 million on the Barrett - Jackson auction Saturday night?  Nothing like taking an already scary fast car & supercharging it.  Caroll Shelby talked about it - said he got a ticket in Nevada driving it at 190 MPH.  Two were built.  Bill Cosby bought the other one, scared himself & sold it.  The buyer destroyed himself & the car shortly thereafter.  Amazing piece of automotive history, but $5,000,000.00?!?  The buyer also had to pay a 10% buyer's fee.   :o  Must be nice to have that kind of hip salad . . ..

H₂O

[munkyfistfight]

The Cobra was a sweet car in its day. Shelby could really make a car go fast. The 427 just isn't my cup o' tea though. The scariest car I've ever been in was a late 60's Monte Carlo that my friend dropped an Olds 442 in. Jeeeeezus! I thought all of my vertabrae had liquified. It was really impractical because the tires would just spin in lower gears. The next scariest car I was in was a '74 Roadrunner 440 with a 6-pack. That was the only car I've ever seen the front tires lift off the ground. And both of them were stock minus the headers. I'd pit them against a Cobra 427 any day. $5mil price tag don't scurr me.  ::)

[h2olawyer]

Not talking Shelby Mustang, but the 2 seat Cobra sports car.  As fast as the cars you mention may be, I'll bet they couldn't do 0 - 100 - 0 in 13 seconds.  The 427 Cobra is documented to have done that feat.  Plus, with a fairly good weight distribution, it could go around corners, too.  The Olds engine was not a 442 - that was a model designation.  Early 70s 442s had the Olds 455 engine.  No slouch, though.

A good friend had a 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang.  The 428 with twin Holley 715 double pumpers & a C-6 automatic.  Dark blue with a white interior.  It would break the rear end loose dropping from 3rd into 2nd (passing gear) at 75 MPH.  It was fun blowing the doors off the Trans-Ams of the era (early 1980s).  His brother owned a 69 Camaro SS396 375HP.  The Camaro could take the Shelby off the line, as most muscle cars could, but had nowhere near the top end of the Shelby.  Had the Shelby well over 150 MPH in Wyoming once.  Cruised comfortably at 90+.  Rear end ratios make a huge difference.  Don't recall what the Shelby had but I believe it was somewhere around 3.50.  The Camaro had a 4.10.  Heck, my 1992 F250 4x4 can spin its rear tires.  It's stock, weighs over 3 tons & has over 150,000 miles on it.  That's the 4.10 gearing as well.  Top speed may be about 110 but I have no desire to find out.  It rides so rough it tries to shake itself apart at speeds over 70.

While big engines may be fun in a straight line, I'd rather have something that can take on the twisties.  The big block muscle cars were never meant for that.

H₂O

[Lead_Deficiency]

I saw a car go there for 450 thou and I couldn't believe that price!
Never saw the supercharged version, yikes!

[h2olawyer]

A new '06 Mustang Shelby GT500 - serial #001 went for an even half million.  Bet that one never hits the streets & will cross an auction block in 25 or 30 years.  There have been 4 cars at or over $1 million and many at the $500,000 range.  Some interesting & beautiful stuff.  The last 67 Corvette Stingray off the line, some pairs - the Teutles (those chopper guys from O.C. Chopper in NY) sold two Mustangs.  They also sold a 58 vette fuelie with a matching chopper & a Hemi Chargerr with matching chopper.  All were around $200,000.  Maybe someday after I win the lottery . . .

H₂O

[Walt_M.]

It is interesting to watch some of that stuff. Figured Carroll's personal Cobra would bring in a lot but 5 mil! Last year I saw a model of a car I used to own, a '70 Plymouth 'Cuda AAR go for over $100K! I sold mine in 1979 for $1200.

[YellowJacket!]

When I moved to TN in 1984 I made friends with a guy who was a big time Mustang enthusiast.  He had a very nice 1970 with a Windsor but his claim to fame was his cousins Cobra.  Classic story:  It was in a family barn since 1970 and had been a rear end crash and burn.  Otherwise it was pristine.  Forthose of you Mustang gurus, it was a 1968 GT 500KR convertible.  Only 30 were made.  They were carefully restoring it when his cousin got mixed up in a divorce.  Can you guess what his ex wanted.......  The mustang.  Hitem where it hurts.  In just good condition, that car is worth nearly 60,000.00.  ouch

David

[Brian Moffet]

There's an amusing sketch by Bill Cosby on the Cobra.  (on the album "200 MPH")

"Oh, it's got a fire extinguisher.  Now how cool is that!  You can be cruising down the road, see someones house on fire, jump right out and extinguish that thing!"


"I went around my own tree THREE Times.  I turned off the ignition, and still went around my own tree!"

Funny stuff.

Brian

[munkyfistfight]

That's what it was, the motor was from the Olds. :-P

The 2-seater cobras are cool. I hear you can buy kits and build them for pretty cheap. My dad always talked about it. I really never enjoyed "sporty" looking cars though. As long as it has the balls under the hood, that's all that matters to me.
I know a girl who had a '96 Mustang with a cobrajet engine in it. It was a 5 speed and I swear she never took it above 60mph, but she let me drive it on my birthday 2 years ago. She had to dig her fingers out of the dashboard when I was done with it. :-P

[Brian Moffet]

Speaking of girlfriends/spouses driving cars...

I had just purchased my 1987 RX-7, which is not a high-powered car, but it has a great power curve.  (you probably saw pictures of it earlier, I still own it).  My wife was driving 1979 Honda Civic, and we needed to go someplace to pick up something or other.  She asked me to show her how to drive my car, and off we went. (Both her car and mine are manual transmissions.)

So on the way home, we had to go around this 270 degree on-ramp to get onto the freeway. I told her that the RX-7 will handle differently than her Honda, and to just pay attention to the speed.  So, we are doing fine coming around the corner, and just before we would straighten out, she sees a car coming along.  Knowing that the proper thing to do would be to accelerate, she does just what she does in the Honda.

Yes, the pedal goes to the floor, in second gear.  If you've never felt 150 HP suddenly unleashed immediately on the rear wheels while in a corner, it is a feeling to behold, let me tell you.  I'm sure the car she wanted to get ahead of slowed down, because we entered the freeway heading sideways.

I think my statement "CLUTCH, GAS, STEER LEFT" was probably already in her head when she straightened us out.  I think my next statement was something along the lines of..


"This is not your Honda"

[munkyfistfight]

Those have Wenkel engines in them don't they? Not alot of displacement but hellofalota torque. I figure since it was 150hp, you don't have the turbo? I read somewhere the turbo bumped it up to about 200. There's a go-kart track here in Atlanta called Grand Prix, and their karts use rotary engines. I haven't ridden them yet, only heard about it. :-P ;D

[h2olawyer]

Those Wankel powered Mazdas are a blast.  I helped out a friend last summer with his Formula Mazda SCCA open wheel race car.  It has a 2 rotor engine.  The awesome ones are 3 rotors & turbo.  Still, in a 1400 pound open wheel racer with sticky tires, that 2 rotor engine is amazing!  Gets up to 120 in a hurry.   ;D

The same guy has a race Kart.  It's a TAG (touch & go (electric start)) with a liquid cooled 250cc 4 stroke Biland engine & Margay frame.   For the master's class, the minimum weight with driver is 410 pounds, so the kart itself is around 200 pounds.  Two people can pick it up & carry it around pretty easily.  No suspension.  That thing really beats you up in the corners, but it sticks like glue.  When it spins, though it really snaps around.  Fairly easy to drift through a corner, but there's a breaking point where you're suddenly feeling like you're inside a tornado going off the track.  Yes, I've done it - more than once . . .  ::)

As for power - anyone can go fast in a straight line.  It's the turns that separate those who can drive from those who can't.  I'm the first to admit I can't drive.  I'm fairly slow in the turns both in cars & on bikes.  Get me on skis, though & its a different story.   8)

H₂O