Published in Monterey Car Week (First Shelby Cobra)
Editor's Note: Thanks to RM Sotheby's for permitting Monterey Car Week to publish these photos and the article on a very iconic Anglo American sports car, the very first Shelby AC Cobra.
Specifications
- The very first Shelby Cobra
- Offered from the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust
- The most important modern American automobile
- A singular opportunity for a singular car from a singular man
First Shelby Cobra
CSX 2000 is the most important modern American car—period. Offered for sale by the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust, the iconic Cobra was constructed and owned from new by the legendary Carroll Shelby and never left his ownership.
The original Shelby Cobra, CSX 2000 marked the start of Carroll Shelby’s incredible automotive legacy. The car was born in 1962 in a small garage in Santa Fe Spring, California, after Carroll Shelby, joined by a handful of hot-rodders, shoehorned Ford’s new, lightweight, high-revving 260–cubic inch V-8 into a modified AC Ace chassis. The result—a fierce sports car armed with incredible performance in a lithe, stylish package—became the cornerstone on which the great Carroll Shelby set the world on fire and forever changed the course of automotive history.
CSX 2000 played a multitude of roles during its early days. As the only one of its kind, it was not only used in testing and development, but also driven by the motoring press, and shown in cities across the United States to drum up interest and sales for the fledgling company, Shelby American, Inc. During this time, thanks to clever marketing, CSX 2000 also convinced the public that Cobra production was in full swing; the car was repainted a different color for almost every appearance to give the impression that Shelby had more than one car in their inventory. In reality, it remained the first and only Cobra for seven months. CSX 2000’s technical specifications were also extraordinary. A 1962 road test by Road & Track revealed a 0–60 mph sprint in just 4.2 seconds, a standing quarter-mile run in 13.8 seconds at 112 mph, and a top speed of 153 mph.
Throughout its life, even after Cobra production ended, CSX 2000 never shied away from public view, nor did it change ownership. It has been featured in countless books and magazines, continually driven and critiqued in road tests, and a frequent motor show starlet. It was even used for a period of time by employees at the Carroll Shelby School of High Performance Driving. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra in 2012, CSX 2000 took center stage at some of the country’s most prominent events that year—the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion included. Since then, it has been a prominent and much-admired display at the Shelby Heritage Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
