An interesting Cobra

[Darin Bastedo]

You might wonder what is so interesting about This Cobra. Well if you are a Ford fan any Cobra is interesting, But this one is CSX3181. If any of you have the Monogrram "427 Cobra Street" kit, The liciense plates read "CSX3181". Of course during it's life CSX3181 never looked like the car on the Monogram box. I'm fairly sure the simply randomly picked a serial number. Ironicly curiosity got the best of me and I decided to research the Cobra that goes with these plates. I didn't have to look any further than my hard drive, as a couple of years ago I had already downloaded pictures of that very car.

On November 18th of 1965 CSX-3181 was invoiced to Shelby America and shipped to Los Angeles. It arrived on November 23rd 1965, 366 Days before I was born. It was originally white with a black interior It was originally not an 427 S/C, although it did come with the 427 rather than the 428. Orders were not exactly pouring in, so it sat outside the Shelby hangar at Los Angeles International Airport for several months. Work Order Number 18088 was opened in January of 1966 and finished in March. It was then sent to Archway Motors Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland for $6,398.

In March of 1966 the Cobra 427 was sold to David Pyles of Marlow Heights, Maryland. After two-hundred miles of driving, it was returned as it was in need of major engine repairs. The crankshaft and bearings had been scored and the engine required a rebuilt. This task was undertaken by Archway Motors under warranty. The car then passed through a number of owners before ending up with an unknown owner who crashed CSX 3181. The crash ejected him from the car as the vehicle went into a lake. At some point after this the 427 S/C conversion took place and it began to look much like the photos here.

Andre Fiejo of Michigan was the vehicles next owner. It then passed to Gregory Lonberger of Lombard, Illinois. Mr. Lonberger was mechanically inclined and performed a restoration on the vehicle bringing it back to its glory days.

In 1989 the vehicle was sold for $425,000 by George Stauffer. It was later resold to David Livingston of Seattle, Washington who displayed it at the SAAC-17 in Portland, Oregon in July of 1992.

At the 2006 RM Auction in Monterey, Ca CSX-3181 was offered for sale. It was estimated to sell between $450,000-$550,000. At the conclusion of the sale the vehicle had found another owner, selling for $412,500.