A pristine rarest-of-rare Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe has recently been listed for auction by Worldwide Auctioneers, of Auburn, Indiana. This extraordinary car, certified as previously owned by Carroll Shelby himself, would appear to be an authentic sibling or documented derivative of the original six Shelby Daytona Daytona Cobra Coupes that were developed in 1964-65 and raced throughout the USA and Europe in mid-1960s international endurance events. While the car’s serial number, CSX2469, as published in the authorized auctioneer’s published materials, does not appear to be one of the serial numbers of the original six Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes originally built or commissioned by Carroll Shelby Enterprises in the mid-1960s (specifically CSX2286, CSX2287, CSX2299, CSX2300, CSX2601, CSX2602), the car nevertheless is authentic in its document presentation and appearance. Key elements of the car’s provenance as listed include:
• Previously owned and driven by Carroll Shelby
• Current owner purchased this car directly from Carroll Shelby
• Well-documented, including a title in Shelby’s name
• Vintage race history includes wins at Laguna Seca and Goodwood
• Driven by Phil Hill, Derek Hill, Derek Bell, John Morton and Brian Redman
• McCluskey Daytona Coupe body commissioned by Carroll Shelby
• An impressive piece of racing history
• Listed in the Shelby Registry
Origins of the Shelby Daytona Cobra
Initially based on the chassis and drivetrain of its forerunner, the Shelby Cobra roadster, the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe was further engineered and purpose-built to take-on Ferrari and its renowned 250 GTO in 1960s FIA GT class endurance racing. The original Shelby Daytona Cobra project consisted of six Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe racecars, developed in 1964 and 1965, just prior to Shelby American’s focus on the Ford GT40 Le Mans prototype project. With the Daytona Cobra, Shelby became the first American constructor to win a title on the international stage, specifically the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers of 1965.
During 1964 and 1965, Ford entered their six Shelby Daytona Coupes in numerous international races, through the British Alan Mann Racing Ford factory team, as well as temporarily selling or leasing to other racing teams such as Tri-Colore of France and Scuderia Filipinetti of Switzerland.
During this time period, Shelby Daytona Coupes raced in GT Division III, for engine displacements over 2000 cc. They competed in many 500 km, 1000 km, 2000 km, 12-hour and 24-hour races in the International Championship for GT Manufacturers series, including events at Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, Imola, Reims, Spa Francorchamps, Goodwood Circuit, Oulton Park, Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, the multi-race Tour de France Automobile, Enna, Rouen, Monza, and the Nürburgring.
The Shelby Daytona Coupes, in their first year of competition, finished 2nd (by 6 points) in GT III class in the 1964 International Championship for GT Manufacturers. The Shelby Daytona Coupes won the GT III class (by 19 points) for the 1965 International Championship for GT Manufacturers.
A partial list of competitions included:
• 1964 12 Hours of Sebring (GT class win, fourth overall, Dave MacDonald/Bob Holbert)
• 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans (GT class win, fourth overall, Dan Gurney/Bob Bondurant)
• 1964 RAC Tourist Trophy (GT class win)
• 1965 24 Hours of Daytona (GT class win)
• 1965 12 Hours of Sebring (GT class win)
• 1965 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (GT class win)
• 1965 Nürburgring 1000 km (GT class win)
• 1965 12 Hours of Reims (GT class win, clinched 1965 International Championship for GT Manufacturers)
• 1965 Enna-Pergusa (GT class win)
• 1965 25 land speed records at Bonneville
Carroll Shelby himself, after winning as a driver at Le Mans in 1959, wanted to return to Europe to defeat Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans with a car of Shelby design. After developing his famous Cobra into a successful GT racecar, he realized that the weakness of open cockpit sports cars at Le Mans was the aerodynamic drag that limited top speed on the 3.7 mile (6.0 km) long Mulsanne Straightaway to around 157 miles per hour (253 km/h), nearly 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) less than the Ferrari 250 GTO, which itself could sustain 186 miles per hour (299 km/h). Given the length of this straightaway, the speed differential represented a loss of over 10 seconds per lap, which would negate any power and acceleration advantage that the Cobra roadsters had in the more serpentine sections of the track.
Shelby asked young designer Pete Brock to create the Daytona Cobra’s aerodynamic bodywork and Bob Negstad to design the car’s suspension. (Negstad also designed the chassis and suspension for the Ford GT40 and the CSX3000 series Shelby Cobra, often referred to as the “coil-Spring Cobra” chassis).
After sketching the proposed design on the floor of the Shelby workshop, starting with a Cobra roadster chassis that had been crashed at the 1963 Le Mans race, Brock removed the bodywork and placed a seat and steering wheel where he felt they should be. He then placed driver Ken Miles in the car, and using scrap wood and gaffer tape, designed the windscreen, the first component to be manufactured for the car. He then interspaced wooden formers and, using these as a guide, hand-made the aluminum bodywork for chassis #CSX2287 around them.
Shelby conferred with an aerodynamics consultant from aircraft company Convair, who reported that the design needed an extended tail of at least 3 feet (0.91 m), but Brock stood by his design. Ken Miles took the car to Riverside Raceway for testing, where on the 1-mile (1.6 km) main straightaway he took the car on his first five laps to 186 miles per hour (299 km/h), admittedly after it had been found to have “almost flown,” lightening the steering a great deal at speeds above 160 miles per hour (260 km/h). It took another 30 days of development before Miles signed-off on the car, clocked at that point capable of speeds over 190 miles per hour (310 km/h). #CSX2287 was transported to Daytona Speedway for its debut race in the February 16, 1964 Daytona Continental 2000 km. Driver Dave MacDonald earned the pole position with a time of 2:08.200 and average speed of 106.464 MPH.
Shelby Cobra Daytona Chassis numbers
The first Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe was built at the Shelby Enterprises race shop in Venice, California. The remaining five Daytona Cobras were built at Carrozzeria Gransport (Italian for “Grand Sport Coachbuilders”) in Modena, Italy.
A seventh semi-related car, the 427 “Type 65” Shelby Daytona Super Coupe (#CSB3054) prototype was developed, but was never officially completed.
Chassis #CSX2286
Shelby Daytona Cobra, chassis #CSX2286 was built as a one-off special for the 1964 24-Hours of Le Mans, however it never made it to the race. Carroll Shelby was rumored to have told a fictitious version of the story, claiming that it had an accident when being put on the truck to go to Le Mans. But in fact, the car was never finished.
The original plan for Daytona Cobra #CSX2286 was to lengthen the chassis and modify the car so that the 289 cubic-inch Ford engine could be replaced with a NASCAR inspired big block engine. New Zealander John Ohlsen, who worked for Shelby on the original Daytona Cobra prototype (chassis #CSX2287) with Pete Brock and Ken Miles, modified the chassis accordingly, before shipment to Italy where Ohlsen was meant to oversee the installation of a Ford aluminum 427 aluminum big block engine. Citing concerns about overheating, Ford, however, instead provided a 390 cubic-inch block, which Ohlsen installed. Time ran out on the build after the remaining long list of parts from Ford never arrived. Instead, another build, chassis #CSX2299, was used at the race with Ohlsen as crew chief and the car driven by Bob Bondurant and Dan Gurney. This car finished fourth in the main race and won in the GT class.
Car #CSX2286 was then returned to California, converted to stock specification, and was raced at Le Mans the following year with drivers Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Due to clutch trouble it failed to finish. This car was later owned and successfully vintage raced by S. Robson Walton, but was crashed at Laguna Seca Raceway in August of 2012. The car has since been repaired and fully restored.
Chassis # CSX2287 (The Original)
Shelby Daytona Cobra Chassis #CSX2287 was the very first prototype Cobra Daytona Coupe, and is the only coupe that was built entirely at the Shelby Enterprises race shop in Venice, California. Designed by Pete Brock, based on German engineering designs for an aerodynamic racecar that dated back to the late 1930s, the plans were thought by Brock to have been lost during World War II, however copies of the original German plans were found in the archives at Ford. Brock used these as the basis for the new design. Brock, driver Ken Miles and fabricator John Ohlsen were the original members of the project.
Initially snubbed by the rest of the Shelby team, early driving tests showed impressive results and the team got onboard with the project to help finish it. In the May 2020 issue of Classic Motorsports magazine, Brock recounted; “…In spite of all the internal dissension, Ohlsen, Miles and I persevered. We led a small group of shop converts into building our first Daytona Coupe in 90 days!”
#CSX2287 developed an extensive race history, competing at Daytona, Sebring, Reims, Spa Francorchamps, Oulton Park TT, Le Mans, Tour de France and Bonneville Salt Flats. It was driven by Dave MacDonald, Bob Holbert, Jo Schlesser, Phil Hill, Jochen Neerpasch, Chris Amon, Innes Ireland, André Simon, Maurice Dupeyron, Bob Johnson and Tom Payne. Chassis #CSX2287 won the GT class at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 1964 with MacDonald and Holbert behind the wheel. The race at Sebring marked the first victory for a Cobra Daytona Coupe. At Le Mans in June 1964, the car was finished in Viking Blue metallic very distinctive white painted front fenders. The drivers were Amon and Neerpasch. They led the GT class until the car was disqualified in the 10th hour for an illegal jumpstart due to battery and alternator failure. This coupe ended its racing career by setting 25 USAC/FIA world records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, in November 1965, while driven by Craig Breedlove, Bobby Tatroe and Tom Greatorex during a Goodyear tire testing session. Shortly thereafter, it was reconditioned and sold to slot car racing magnate Jim Russell, who bought the car from Shelby in 1966.
All trace of #CSX2287 was lost by the mid-1970s, with car historians and collectors fearing the car had been destroyed. But in 2001 the car was rediscovered in a rental storage unit in California. Today #CSX2287 is restored and is part of the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA.
Cobra Daytona Chassis #CSX2299
This was the second Coupe built and the first one completed at Carrozzeria Gransport. It competed in nine FIA races (LeMans, Reims, Goodwood Tourist Trophy, Tour de France, Daytona, Sebring, Oulton Park TT, LeMans, Enna), won four FIA events (LeMans ’64, Tourist Trophy ’64, Daytona ’65, Sebring ’65) and one event during the Tour de France (Rouen). The car was driven through this period by Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant, Maurice Trintignant, Bernard de St. Auban, Jo Schlesser, Hal Keck, Jack Sears and Dick Thompson. At LeMans in 1964, drivers Gurney and Bondurant, clocking over 196 miles per hour (315 km/h) on the Mulsanne Straight, took First Place in the GT III Class.
#CSX2299 was painted Viking Blue with two white stripes in 1964 and repainted Guardsman Blue with two larger longitudinal white stripes and a transverse white stripe across the nose in 1965. In 1964 this car set lap records at Le Mans, Reims and Rouen and the race distance record at Le Mans and Goodwood. In 1965 the car set the lap record at Oulton Park. #CSX2299 was the last Daytona coupe sold by Shelby with a Bill of Sale, which read “the number one Cobra Daytona coupe”. It is currently owned by the Larry H. Miller Group and is displayed at the Shelby American Collection in Boulder, Colorado.
Chassis # CSX2300
This Shelby Daytona Coupe was leased from Alan Mann Racing by Ford of France, to race as the national “Tri-Colore” entry in the 1965 Nurburgring 1000 km race, for which it was painted white with blue and red stripes. Well known French drivers André Simon and Jo Schlesser drove this coupe to 3rd in the GT III category (behind the GT winning Alan Mann entry driven by Bondurant and Neerpasch), and 12th overall. After the race, this white coupe was returned to Alan Mann Racing and was repainted in the official Guardsman Blue metallic and white stripe of the 1965 Shelby American team. Carroll Shelby himself owned this Cobra Daytona before it was sold by RM Auctions for $4.4 million on August 19, 2000.
Chassis # CSX2601
This was the fourth Coupe built and the third completed at Carrozzeria Gransport. It competed in eight FIA races in 1965 (Daytona, Sebring, Monza, Spa, Nürburgring, LeMans, Reims, Enna), won four times in GT III class (Monza, Nürburgring, Reims, Enna), and driven by Bob Johnson, Tom Payne, Bob Bondurant, Allen Grant, Jochen Neerpasch and Jo Schlesser. At Reims, 3–4 July 1965, its drivers were Bondurant and Schlesser. In the car as painted in Guardsman Blue, they won the GT III Class, while also earning the points needed to secure the 1965 International Championship for GT Manufacturers. This car was featured in the 1965 film Red Line 7000, before later being purchased by its driver Bob Bondurant, who sold it in 1969. The car sold for $7.25 million on August 15, 2009, and it is currently owned by the Perez Companc family from Argentina.
Chassis #CSX2602
This was the fifth Shelby Daytona Coupe built and the fourth completed at Carrozzeria Gransport. It competed in six 1965 races (Daytona, Sebring, Monza, Spa, Nürburgring and LeMans) and was driven by Rick Muther, John Timanus, Lew Spencer, Jim Adams, Phil Hill, Jack Sears, John Whitmore, Peter Sutcliffe and Peter Harper. Prior to the Le Mans race, chassis CSX2602 was also raced at Daytona (driven by Muther and Timanus) in 1965, at Sebring (driven by Spencer, Adams, and Hill) in 1965, at Monza (driven by Sears and Whitmore) in 1965, and at the Nurburgring (driven by Sears and Gardner), also in 1965. Racing with the #59 at Le Mans on June 19–20, 1965, British drivers Sutcliffe and Harper ran CSX2602 with the distinctive Red & White Swiss colors for the famous Swiss racing team “Scuderia Filipinetti”. When Ford used up their allotment of entries for the 1965 Le Mans race, they asked team owner Georges Filipinetti to buy a Shelby Coupe from Alan Mann Racing and race it as his own annual entry.
Shelby Daytona Cobra: Continuation model
In July 2015 Shelby American announced that they would produce a limited run of 50 continuation Cobra Daytonas to honor the 50th anniversary of the the car’s win in the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. Some of the 50 were aluminum-bodied, while others less expensive fiberglass bodies.
List of Shelby Daytona Cobra Replicas and Reproductions
- Daytona-Coupe, Aps (Denmark) and AMMAS (Germany) for 1964, 1965 replicas
- Superformance Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe – “SPF Coupe”; Shelby Licensed Replica
- All Pro Cars
- Borland Racing Development’s Daytona Sportscar reproduction
- Factory Five Racing – Type 65 Coupe, reproduction
- Shell Valley Companies – 1964 Daytona Coupe Series II, reproduction
- Lesher Motor Sports
- Kirkham Motor Sports 289 Coupe
