Shelby Cobra CSX2001 '64 Tour de France

[afx]

This picture of a Cobra hardtop in the book The Cobra-Ferrari Wars has always intrigued me.

 

Digging around the internet I was able to discover more photos of the car.  Unfortunately I find these subsequent views of the car’s hardtop less appealing.  

 

 

 

None the less I thought I would have a go at reproducing it.  I reworked the hardtop from the AMT kit and this is what I have come up with so far.  I typically strive for as much accuracy as I can with my builds but frankly I find my version more appealing than that of the 1:1 car.  So I think I am going to move forward with my interpretation of this one off Cobra.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2017 by afx

[Ace-Garageguy]

I always enjoy seeing your historically accurate work, but in this case, I have to agree that your roofline and tail are much more attractive than what was on the real car.

Kinda makes you wonder "what were they thinking?"    

[afx]

Thanks Bill.  The book says the top was inspired by a '64 GTO, it looks a lot more like the Ferrari Breadvan to me.

Edited December 17, 2016 by afx

[dublin boy]

You'll have to do the Breadvan at some stage JC.

[tmathew1us]

I agree your cobra coupe looks a lot better than the 1:1. 

You know your cobra/Shelby stuff, so I am looking forward to what you are going to do with this one.

Going off topic, the breadvan is one of my favorites, but I believe it was made as a side project by former Ferrari employees, and thus is not an official Ferrari. Which makes me think we will never see a kitted version of the breadvan due to licensing issues. 

[vamach1]

Yes JC yours is 100% better looking.

[250 Testa Rossa]

Beautiful!

[vintagercr]

It's going to look great!

[GerN]

I hope no one minds, but I couldn't resist posting photos of a model I started some years ago.  A cheap built-up in semi-decent shape but missing quite a few parts.  I too was inspired by the Ferrari bread van, and had a whole backstory for my Cobra BV:  backwoods mechanics made it to try to get in good with Henry F, but no luck.  BTW, these pix were nearly 1 MB each until I shrunk them in GIMP, a free alternative to Photoshop.

Edited December 18, 2016 by GerN

[250 Testa Rossa]

A story on CSX2001 with plenty of photos of the car with the roof it wore during the Tour de France race in 1964. http://saac.memberlodge.com/resources/0109/0109-csx2001.pdf

[cobraman]

Another cool Cobra in the works.

[afx]

Maybe someday Shay

Thanks Tom. Yea from what I know of the car Enzo wouldn’t allow them to badge or even refer to it as a Ferrari.  Some info here: http://www.supercars.net/blog/1962-ferrari-250-gt-breadvan/

Thanks Rex and Stephen.

Gerald maybe my project will encourage you to finish yours.

I found the same article during my research Maxx-thanks.

See Ray Cobras are never far from my mind or my work bench.

[cobraman]

I don't recall ever seeing a Cobra with that roof line in any of my Cobra books. I would check for more photos but they are in storage and tough to get at. The only roof I ever adapted to a Cobra was with a 63 Corvette split window. Might have to try something along these lines here. Always looking for another Cobra to add to the collection.

[afx]

Ray, it only ran in this configuration a few times all in European events.  The roof was later removed (it was heavy and was a handicap on shorter sprint events) and the car was converted back to a roadster.  The Tour de France was a multi-day endurance event.

Here you can see the mods I made to the AMT roof.

Edited December 19, 2016 by afx

[afx]

Didn't see any shots of the Cobra but a neat film none the less.

[TooOld]

Your mods to the AMT roof look really good , much better than the real thing !

[afx]

When CSX2001 was converted into a race car the fenders were enlarged (similar to what you find on the FIA roadster or the 427 Cobra) to fit the bigger Halibrand racing wheels.   For this reason the Sunny/Academy/ Minicraft 427 was a better starting point than the stock AMT body. However like all the early cars 2001 didn’t yet have the side cooling vents.  Therefore the vent opening as well as those for the through the fender side pipes had to be filled.   

 

[geetee66]

Fascinating project!

I'll be checking in for more updates ?

[afx]

Converting the 427 body to the 289 requires reshaping the radiator mouth and filling of the brake duct scopes.  Here is a comparison to demonstrate the modifications.

 

[250 Testa Rossa]

Converting the 427 body to the 289 requires reshaping the radiator mouth and filling of the brake duct scopes.  Here is a comparison to demonstrate the modifications.

 

What did you use to reshape the radiator opening and brake scoops?

[Randy D]

Excellent body work as always from your bench JC !!!!!

Randy

[cobraman]

I like what your doing here.

[afx]

Thanks Randy, really appreciate you checking out my projects.

Maxx, The white plastic in the brake ducts and along the bottom of the radiator opening is Evergreen solid square rod. I added some of my special putty (styrene bits liquefied in plastic cement) inside the upper corners of the radiator opening then sanded it to shape.  

[afx]

Some useless Cobra trivia: When the Shelby contract expired is 1966 AC Cars continued to produce 427 bodies and chassis.  However instead of installing the heavy 427 AC installed the lighter 289.  They of course couldn’t use the name “Shelby” or “Cobra” so they simply named it the “AC 289”  Only 27 cars were built and only 6 cars were exported (1-Sweden and 5-USA) they rest were sold in the UK.  That's why Academy refers to their kit as an "AC 289"

[cobraman]

Interesting. I did not know that.