Autoblog

1967 Shelby 427 S/C Cobra Roadster – Lot 254

Here's another gem from RM. One of Only 30 S/C (Semi-Competition) Cobras built, this ex-John Mozart Collection car was another childhood dream car visited for us. Aside from the rare supercharged specials, the S/C was the fastest Cobra around. After getting spanked by Chevy's new Corvette Grand Sport in Nassau (at Speed Week in 1963) Shelby decided they needed a big block in the Cobra. The NASCAR teams made it tough on Ol' Shel and so the iron 427 was used instead of the aluminum motor Ford had been developing for racing. The chassis had to be completely reworked, and widened by 5 inches to handle the extra bulk. These competition cars featured the wider bodies to cover the huge wheels and tires, an oil cooler, side exhaust, external fuel filler, front jacking points, roll bar, and a special 42-gallon fuel tank.

Unfortunately, the FIA inspectors who showed up on April 29th, 1965, saw only 51 finished cars and denied Shelby homologation approval. Shelby cancelled the remainder of the order with AC, who went back to building street cars. Then the FIA decided to add a new class called "Competition GT." Only 50 production versions were needed to qualify. Of the 53 competition cars Shelby had received, 16 were sold to private teams, the first two were used as prototypes, and one went to Ford Engineering. The other 30 cars ended up sitting outside Shelby's L.A. warehouse until one bright soul thought to shift them as street cars. And that's how the 427 S/C was born.

This super clean, fully documented car went for $1,300,000.

[Source: RM Auctions]