Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Widewing on February 14, 2015, 03:05:16 PM
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Knowing your love for the AC Cobra, I thought that I'd share some rare photos with you. At the bottom, you'll find a link to an archive that will surely make you smile.....
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/64/53/9a/64539aed0eabe60075cca4c78e0c47a0.jpg)
Dave MacDonald was considered a natural, which was one reason Shelby brought him on to race the Cobra. MacDonald's style was often tail out, steering on throttle. He was a great talent, gone far too soon.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d7/07/31/d7073196b282f264f7af5f99500071e1.jpg)
Another shot of MacDonald....
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/44/86/c2/4486c289b011c1f9da015519f645f334.jpg)
Shelby with a pair of 1963 289 Cobras.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9b/fd/4f/9bfd4fef59a398e9dd6c2d4e0f2d7b92.jpg)
Shelby with the three Cobras you well know...
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f3/b1/5b/f3b15ba35f504a68b349aa1b8499db0a.jpg)
Dave MacDonald at Leguna Seca, 1963.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/eb/6a/c0/eb6ac0af64518a45028698839bffa131.jpg)
The evolution of the first Daytona Coupe, chassis # CSX2287.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/31/20/c9/3120c9bc5e4a2b542571de3c541a1bc2.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/08/67/39/086739d09da2e028c92bbfdd0eb1c4c8.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/18/ae/76/18ae76d75aa26352ee7d5372950bad33.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bf/e0/0b/bfe00b72d8e270a5695cd3b9e756c273.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4b/e2/de/4be2de2116c1aa145224fc812e96c81e.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/df/9d/77/df9d77359b15920bee19c55d0b4439ae.jpg)
Finally, the link to rare photos of Cobras, and much of American road racing in the 1950s and 60s... Enjoy!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/sets/ (https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/sets/)
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Peter Brock facial features have not changed. :D
Oh and : "There is not such a thing as an AC Cobra" - Carroll Shelby :old:
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there is no denying the badarseness of that car.
yes I said it :uhoh
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Here's a shot of MacDonald, Hobert and Shelby with the first Daytona coupe at Daytona in 1964. The car was entered in the Daytona 2000 km race, and opened a four lap lead over the fastest Ferrari by mid distance.
The car set fastest lap 16 times... Ultimately, Shelby tried to jam in too much fuel during a pit stop, and it spilled on the exhaust system, igniting a fire. The damage was minor, requiring less than an hour to repair, but Shelby was disgusted with himself and withdrew the car. His Cobra roadsters won their class, but the unimpressive Hill/Rodriguez Ferrari GTO would get the overall win.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a2/8a/2a/a28a2a929b15c4aadcdf1d6e65449689.jpg)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a5/70/8c/a5708cd12ca7de731b59347847d61d3d.jpg)
What most people don't realize is that all subsequent Daytona coupes were assembled on rolling chassis' in Italy by Carrozzeria Gransport. They differed in the shape of the rear half of the car slightly from the prototype. It is the shape of the Italian made cars that are most commonly used for the modern reproduction Daytona coupes currently made and sold as kit cars.
Here's the third Daytona coupe made by Carrozzeria Gransport....
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4a/02/86/4a02869dc50293b8b1bcf44b39d7bdc0.jpg)
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Ink, you're gonna love this short video.....
Crank up the volume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU)
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Saw one of the 6 Shelby Cobras auctioned off couple years ago. 7.25 million if I remember right.
Daytona my favorite Shelby of all time.
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Ink, you're gonna love this short video.....
Crank up the volume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU)
awesome... :rock
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Ink, you're gonna love this short video.....
Crank up the volume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU)
Fantastic! Glad they are actually enjoying the car instead of having it sit in a museum. :rock
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Re: For Skuzzy... Rare Cobra photos
« Reply #4 on: Today at 05:47:37 PM »
Reply with quoteQuote
Ink, you're gonna love this short video.....
Crank up the volume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU
:aok :O love the sound as its going away and shifting gears :x
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Ink, you're gonna love this short video.....
Crank up the volume!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_IhFsqgAU)
The sound and the setting...Spa! Thanks for the link.
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Speaking of Phil Hill :D V12 Ferrari best sound ever to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs)
I'd get a Daytona before a Cobra, I even ordered the build book from Factory 5 to see what was involved to build one. I'm spoiled as I'm lucky enough to live a few miles from this place and see them a couple of times a month when I go race there.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5pi4Tm2VSvw/Ufra6oLONZI/AAAAAAAARtw/yQbCB1Iqk2Q/s1600/IMG_0688.JPG)
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Speaking of Phil Hill :D V12 Ferrari best sound ever to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs)
I'd get a Daytona before a Cobra, I even ordered the build book from Factory 5 to see what was involved to build one. I'm spoiled as I'm lucky enough to live a few miles from this place and see them a couple of times a month when I go race there.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5pi4Tm2VSvw/Ufra6oLONZI/AAAAAAAARtw/yQbCB1Iqk2Q/s1600/IMG_0688.JPG)
Cobra>Any European competitor in that time.
Nuff said, Frenchy! :p
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Very clever Widewing, trying to lure Skuzzy out of the shadows on the weekend to see if he's watching. :D ;)
One of my old bosses had a Cobra replica with, what was it, an old 427 or something? Sweet car.
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Saw several AC's for sale in Pasadena back, what . . . 30 to 35 years ago.
I SO miss the Can-Am racing I grew up upon. Gosh what happened?
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Cobra>Any European competitor in that time.
Nuff said, Frenchy! :p
Ripsnort my friend, I love you man but you need to own an American car to participate to this discussion. Your argument has been nullified, you are invited to go back to kissing the ring of the Kaiser you Teutonic rider. :old:
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Speaking of Phil Hill :D V12 Ferrari best sound ever to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs)
I'd get a Daytona before a Cobra, I even ordered the build book from Factory 5 to see what was involved to build one. I'm spoiled as I'm lucky enough to live a few miles from this place and see them a couple of times a month when I go race there.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5pi4Tm2VSvw/Ufra6oLONZI/AAAAAAAARtw/yQbCB1Iqk2Q/s1600/IMG_0688.JPG)
That is a great video.... Shelby was finding it hard to beat the 250 GTO with the Cobra roadsters. Sure, the Cobra was considerably quicker in acceleration, but its aerodynamics limited top speed to just over 160 mph. In comparison, the 250 GTO could reach 185 mph on long straights (Mulsanne) and the banked portion of Daytona. Brock had the solution. Shelby wasn't especially interested, but finally agreed finance the development of a prototype, on a very tight budget.
When the prototype was tested at Riverside, it was 3 seconds a lap faster than the best time turned in by a roadster. Shelby decided to go to Daytona for the Continental (2000 km). During practice, Bob Hobert brought the car in and told Shelby, "this thing is fast! I can drive right past the GTOs".
Later that season, Phil Hill had stepped out of the Ferrari and into one of Shelby's Daytona coupes. Practicing at Spa, he found the car dangerously unstable through the track's many high speed bends, causing him to slow down where he should be going the fastest. This resulted in Hill qualifying second to Park's GTO. Bringing the Daytona into the pits after his qualifying run, he complained about the high speed handling. Phil Remington (Shelby's famous fabricator), took some sheet aluminum and cut out a rear spoiler, which he then pop riveted to car. When Hill went out for practice, he ran several laps. When he pulled in, he was beaming. "The car is perfect now, don't do anything else to it." Hill turned the fastest lap in the race, easily running away from the GTOs. However, tire trouble and some mechanical issues cost him much pit time and he finished 6th.
Ironically, Brock had designed a wing-like spoiler for the coupe, but Shelby refused to spend the money to fabricate it... So the Daytona was built without it. Many years later, Shelby admitted that he didn't have much faith in the "whiz kid" (Brock), and regretted not trusting Brock more up front. In retrospect, this lack of faith in Brock probably caused him to lose the championship to Ferrari by not locking in the championship when he could have.
Just keep in mind that Ferrari didn't win the 1964 GT championship in the traditional way. It was handed to Enzo by the FIA to PREVENT the Cobras from winning it. Heading into the last race of the season, Ferrari had a very small lead in the points. Monza was the location of the last race. Shelby's coupes had already been testing there and had shown far greater speed than the 250 GTOs. At the previous race at Reims, the Daytona qualified faster than some of the 250 LMs, and was much faster than the 250 GTOs. With Gurney back at the wheel, the Daytona would be very fast. This left Enzo in a panic. He petitioned the FIA to reclassify his 250 LM prototypes as GTs, so he could use them to combat the fast Daytona coupe and the two Cobra roadsters. If the FIA didn't do so, he threatened to withdraw his entire team and pressure all Ferrari privateers to do likewise. Rather than reclassify the prototypes as GTs, the FIA did one better. They simply cancelled the race.
Every team except Ferrari, was livid. Henry Ford II vowed to crush Ferrari. Shelby ramped up his GT program, now inundated with Ford money, building more Daytona coupes, with another 40 hp on tap. Shelby would be ready for 1965 with six Daytona coupes. Ferrari was, indeed, crushed in GT. Meanwhile, the GT-40 program took off. 1965 was a learning and sorting year. It was also Ferrari's last year to win at Le Mans. Ford won 1966-69, and Porsche then dominated with their 917s.
The morale of the story is well known now... If you pee in Shelby's Cheerios, you can expect an old fashioned Texas arse kicking....
Fast forward to 2015, and Ferrari can only be found in the GT category. Corvette is a leading challenger... However, Ford has a new bowl of Cheerios and a new GT car for 2016. I wonder if it's deja vu time in Modena?
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I encourage you to watch all the videos from "Petrolicious" on Youtube. It's a lot about why the driver loves the car rather than the typical chest beating ownership of laying down 200 yards of rubber.
I too would like to see Americans win Le Mans once again. After 69 it was mainly Germans and French ... half a century ago :uhoh
Peter Brock told me that Carroll though the Daytona would take many weeks to sort out (I don't remember the number), and didn't back out the project much. At the first practice cession the car was reported as 'perfect'. He also confessed that the 'cutt back' was for esthetics, but turned out great aero wise. Personally I think he got his inspiration from the 62 GTOs, or the 63 Alfa TZ1 ... but what do I know. Some car designer said 'There's only one way to go fast' meaning each fast car from an area look alike.
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I encourage you to watch all the videos from "Petrolicious" on Youtube. It's a lot about why the driver loves the car rather than the typical chest beating ownership of laying down 200 yards of rubber.
I too would like to see Americans win Le Mans once again. After 69 it was mainly Germans and French ... half a century ago :uhoh
Peter Brock told me that Carroll though the Daytona would take many weeks to sort out (I don't remember the number), and didn't back out the project much. At the first practice cession the car was reported as 'perfect'. He also confessed that the 'cutt back' was for esthetics, but turned out great aero wise. Personally I think he got his inspiration from the 62 GTOs, or the 63 Alfa TZ1 ... but what do I know. Some car designer said 'There's only one way to go fast' meaning each fast car from an area look alike.
69 aint half century.... :old:
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Rounded 4 years for dramatic effect. :angel:
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Nice stuff!
Sidenote: The Italian manufacturer made an error on the first Daytona they built. The cowl and roof line was 2 inches taller than it was supposed to have been. This one ended up being Gurney's ride as it had the most room in it.