Shelby Cobra sells for $5.5 Million!!
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From: The Dark Side
Shelby Cobra sells for $5.5 Million!!
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - An 800-horsepower Shelby Cobra, once the personal car of the racing veteran who developed the iconic vehicle, has sold for $5.5 million at auction, a record for an American car.
The sale of the 1966 Shelby Cobra "Super Snake" brought a packed house to its feet Saturday at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction after a pair of bidders drove the price up.
Carroll Shelby, 84, who created the Cobra in the '60s using Ford engines and a British sport car chassis, said he built the Super Snake -- with twin superchargers on a 427 cubic inch V-8 -- and drove it for years.
"It's a special car. It would do just over three seconds to 60 (mph), 40 years ago," Shelby told the crowd before the sale.
"I killed a buzzard with it," he said. "Nasty, nasty."
The car had a twin, built for comedian Bill Cosby, but that car was destroyed in an accident while being driven by another owner, according to the Barrett-Jackson Web site.
Barrett-Jackson said the $5.5 million price tag for the Cobra was not an overall world record car price; others have sold at auction for more than $11 million. However, it is a world record for American cars, said Steve Davis, Barrett-Jackson president.
The winning bidder was car collector Ron Pratt of suburban Chandler. Last year, he paid $4.32 million for the Futureliner, one of 12 futuristic buses used for shows in the 1940s and '50s by General Motors.
The sale of the 1966 Shelby Cobra "Super Snake" brought a packed house to its feet Saturday at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction after a pair of bidders drove the price up.
Carroll Shelby, 84, who created the Cobra in the '60s using Ford engines and a British sport car chassis, said he built the Super Snake -- with twin superchargers on a 427 cubic inch V-8 -- and drove it for years.
"It's a special car. It would do just over three seconds to 60 (mph), 40 years ago," Shelby told the crowd before the sale.
"I killed a buzzard with it," he said. "Nasty, nasty."
The car had a twin, built for comedian Bill Cosby, but that car was destroyed in an accident while being driven by another owner, according to the Barrett-Jackson Web site.
Barrett-Jackson said the $5.5 million price tag for the Cobra was not an overall world record car price; others have sold at auction for more than $11 million. However, it is a world record for American cars, said Steve Davis, Barrett-Jackson president.
The winning bidder was car collector Ron Pratt of suburban Chandler. Last year, he paid $4.32 million for the Futureliner, one of 12 futuristic buses used for shows in the 1940s and '50s by General Motors.
WOW.
This was INSANE!!! I was out there SUNDAY and heard a lot about it. I guess 2 of the bidders that pushed up the price were Jerry seinfeld and Jay Leno.
The guy that bought this thing is actually a customer of my girlfriends at Chase Bank in Chandler, AZ. She talks to him all the time when he comes in to the merchant teller window. I told her to get a pic with him next time he comes in and have him sign it cause I know somebody 's gonna call BS Without Pics LMAO!
The guy that bought this thing is actually a customer of my girlfriends at Chase Bank in Chandler, AZ. She talks to him all the time when he comes in to the merchant teller window. I told her to get a pic with him next time he comes in and have him sign it cause I know somebody 's gonna call BS Without Pics LMAO!
Its all about Style...
Joined: May 2006
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From: South of Boston, MA
I watched bits and piece's of Barrent Jackson this year. I missed this car being sold, I'm not surprised though that Pratt bought the car. Pratt and someone else (name escapes me atm, he was the 2nd bidder to the Futureliner last year) have been buying cars up like they are five cent candy. I know the 2nd guy (might have to look up his name) is building a car museum in Canada. Pratt I believe is just a collector.
X-Sapper
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From: where angle's fear to tread
^awe.....that's kinda a turn off....but then again if you drop 5.5 mil on a car...i'm sure he has the money to convert it to a standard.
well maybe not since he droped 5.5 mil on the car in the first place. hehehe
well maybe not since he droped 5.5 mil on the car in the first place. hehehe
Last edited by army_rx8; Jan 24, 2007 at 03:13 PM.
Its all about Style...
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From: South of Boston, MA
Originally Posted by Ike
One thing the article didn't mention is that car is an automatic 
X-Sapper
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From: where angle's fear to tread
correct me if i'm wrong...but werent' most muscle cars sodl as automatics? i knwo there were a few standards sold..but i thought there were more auto's per manuels sold in the muscle car era.
although it was befor my time..but that's what i always thought.
granted i would never buy one that was an auto...unless it was an old gto (they didn't have manuels)...but then never for 5.5 mil. that's for sure.
although it was befor my time..but that's what i always thought.
granted i would never buy one that was an auto...unless it was an old gto (they didn't have manuels)...but then never for 5.5 mil. that's for sure.
Northeast Pimpin'
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Originally Posted by Clavius
Saddest thing Ike while watching the show half the old school muscle cars that were selling for several hundred grand if not close to a mil.. were all Automatics! I rarely heard of a Manual selling while at the auction.
I guess RX-8's are fast?!
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Phoenix, AZ
I actually know a guy who knows the guy who bought this...the day he bought this at BJ he spent more than $20million, he also bought that General Motors bus last year. My friend says that this guy just parks them and is very protective, rarely letting people even touch them. I may try and go with him to this guys collection, he said he WILL sit in it.
FYI, my friend is an old time dragger, he used to race a 63.5 Galaxie for Berge Ford in the days of the Beeline Race track.
FYI, my friend is an old time dragger, he used to race a 63.5 Galaxie for Berge Ford in the days of the Beeline Race track.
Blue By You
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From: Milwaukee
Originally Posted by army_rx8
correct me if i'm wrong...but werent' most muscle cars sodl as automatics? i knwo there were a few standards sold..but i thought there were more auto's per manuels sold in the muscle car era.
although it was befor my time..but that's what i always thought.
granted i would never buy one that was an auto...unless it was an old gto (they didn't have manuels)...but then never for 5.5 mil. that's for sure.
although it was befor my time..but that's what i always thought.
granted i would never buy one that was an auto...unless it was an old gto (they didn't have manuels)...but then never for 5.5 mil. that's for sure.
Last edited by Ike; Jan 25, 2007 at 10:29 PM.
I guess RX-8's are fast?!
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Originally Posted by Ike
Yes, but the Cobra wasn't a muscle car, it was a roadrace car. These cars were built with the sole intention of winning GT races that Europeans and Stingrays were dominating. I'll take a race proven Daytona coupe over the Supersnake any day, but I certainly wouldn't turn the Supersnake down. It's a stunning car.
Dayton Coupe
Isn't there a twin to this Cobra that is in Britain right now? I read that it originally crashed in the 80's and killed the owner in the States and then was bought by a British man. It's somewhere there without the two superchargers.
Blue By You
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From: Milwaukee
Originally Posted by Smoke Honda
Isn't there a twin to this Cobra that is in Britain right now? I read that it originally crashed in the 80's and killed the owner in the States and then was bought by a British man. It's somewhere there without the two superchargers.
The Brian Angliss car in Britain supposedly doesn't even have the original chassis, body, or engine. Some even believe it to be an air car.
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