1967 King Cobra Can Am Race Car

[BGlover67]

I wasn't sure where this car would best fit in on the forum, so I picked here.  This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the Palm Event in Palm Beach, Florida.  It is held to benefit A Place Of Hope, a charity for abused women and children in South Florida.  It's my third year attending and as in the past, it is held at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's house. 

While I was there, I ran into Steve Johns who brought his 1967 King Cobra Can Am Race Car.  I believe that this is one of those Shelbys that most folks have minimal knowledge about, I certainly did.  When I heard the name 'King Cobra' I always thought of the original 1963 race car based on a lightweight Cooper T61 Monaco sports car. 

After the historic Ford win of 1966, Shelby thought more about branching out into the competitive CanAm race circuit, so he outsourced the building of 3 new cars to Len Terry (formerly of Lotus) in England.  According to Colin Comer's Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles, Shelby American took possession of these cars and tweaked them as expected.  They added Ford horsepower to chassis number 1 and took it racing.  It didn't fair very well, racing only twice, crashing and finally being stripped of it's usable parts.  Chassis number 2 was sold off and raced by a private owner/driver, and it still exists today. 

This car, chassis number three, has the original doors and air splitter off of the original raced car no. 1.  It has an experimental Dan Gurney XE 351 engine with Gurney Weslake heads and Weber 48 IDA carbs. It may not have seen any race action under the Shelby American banner, but it's current care taker claims it to be "the last race car ever produced by Shelby American". (I'm sure that will be challenged by someone, lol).  I just thought you all might want to see the pics. Enjoy!

http://imageshack.com/a/GWZ17/1

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Slight mention of the car here - https://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?2279-Photos-When-Ford-Went-Can-Am-Racing&p=59797#post59797

Titus bought(maybe car 1 - sans engine) and stripped (trans, suspension, fuel tanks) it for a car he built. It was an unsprung ground effects car with a big fan to hold it down (ala Chaparral). The frame was very light tube and you slid another tube inside of varying thickness to adjust the chassis deflection on various tracks. It had a Traco Buick in it. Rick Titus bought the frame sometime in the 90s and it hung on his shop wall for many years. The inner tubes had rusted in place and no amount of WD40 and heat could get them to budge. It like the original ended up in a landfill. The original in the San Fernando Valley and the Titus car in Las Vegas.

[FL SAAC]

What a beauty!

[Bob Gaines]

Yes Shelby American built and raced cars after 1967. I know Shelby campaigned 68 and 69 race cars in Trans Am .

[Road Reptile]

Hi to all,
Thanks for the great car pictures Brian. Is it just me? Or is that a flat gas cap type emblem on the front and rear of the racecar. Would be interesting to chase that story HOPE This keeps the questions alive.
R.R.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Yes Shelby American built and raced cars after 1967. I know Shelby campaigned 68 and 69 race cars in Trans Am .

I'd challenge your "built" statement. In 1967 Shelby American was allowed to build their TA cars following the specs provided them by Kar Kraft. The 1968 and 69 cars were provided (loaned) to the Shelby Racing Company by Ford. After the first couple 1968 races Ford even dictated that Shelby Racing must use the engines as provided by Ford. When the contract expired in 1969 Ford had their cars and spare parts sent to Bud Moore Engineering. In late (Aug?) 67 after Ford took over production of the GT350/500 cars Carroll Shelby had 2 contracts with Ford. (Ford no longer had any business relationship with Shelby American) One went to his newly formed Shelby Racing Company. It was to campaign Ford Mustangs in the TransAm series. The other was a personal services contract (similar to the one they inked with him in 2005) to assist Ford with their sales and public relations efforts related to Shelby branded cars built by Ford's wholly owned subsidiary Shelby Automotive. Ford closed Shelby Automotive when Carroll's personal services contract ended and they could no longer use his name. Basically any racing other than TransAm done by Shelby after the 67 LeMans win was done by Carroll on his dime and not as a Ford factory backed team. 

[Bob Gaines]

Hi to all,
Thanks for the great car pictures Brian. Is it just me? Or is that a flat gas cap type emblem on the front and rear of the racecar. Would be interesting to chase that story HOPE This keeps the questions alive.
R.R.

I believe those are decals that were sold back in the day. The flat gas cap emblem was silk screened onto a round piece of aluminum and not a sticker or decal . The thicker flat gas cap emblem profile is not evident in the pictures.

[JD]

Hi to all,
Thanks for the great car pictures Brian. Is it just me? Or is that a flat gas cap type emblem on the front and rear of the racecar. Would be interesting to chase that story HOPE This keeps the questions alive.
R.R.

I believe those are decals that were sold back in the day. The flat gas cap emblem was silk screened onto a round piece of aluminum and not a sticker or decal . The thicker flat gas cap emblem profile is not evident in the pictures.

Yes, to what Bob said, there are old ads that show those decals as an item you could buy.

[BGlover67]

Hi to all,
Thanks for the great car pictures Brian. Is it just me? Or is that a flat gas cap type emblem on the front and rear of the racecar. Would be interesting to chase that story HOPE This keeps the questions alive.
R.R.

I believe those are decals that were sold back in the day. The flat gas cap emblem was silk screened onto a round piece of aluminum and not a sticker or decal . The thicker flat gas cap emblem profile is not evident in the pictures.

Yes, to what Bob said, there are old ads that show those decals as an item you could buy.

Yes, Bob and JD are both correct, those are the aftermarket stickers that are so prevalent today. (Just go check eBay)  They were available in the Shelby aftermarket catalog for 25 cents.   I guess he liked the look of them when he was putting this car together.  Road reptile's is also right, they do look like '67 flat gas caps at a quick glance, especially if you suffer from '67 redlightitis.   

https://imageshack.com/i/pmlgCQbDj

[JD]

Close-up of Brian's catalog page...

[6s2055]

I think at one time (late 90's to mid 2010) Nancy Gimble ousted one and vintage raced it along with her husband's Gordon FIA Cobra.

[kranky]

The Gimble car was a Lotus 19B also known as the Pacesetter Special.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

The Gimble car was a Lotus 19B also known as the Pacesetter Special.

Lotus chassis #19-966. Great little car - but fragile. Lots of DNFs. It's the one Gurney blew the engine on and stopped before the finish line. Once the checkered was out he coasted across the finish line. Wayne Linden who owned the Whistle Stop model train store in Pasadena found and restored it. I think he found it in a trailer full of old tires at Caldwell Tire in Pasadena. They made budget racing recaps we all ran at Willow. Gimbal bought it from him. I've lost track of where it is now. Arciero Bros sponsored Gurney for years. In the 90s Gurney loaned us their Indy car for a photo shoot. We showed up with a junk open trailer to haul it to the studio in Hwood. Gurney's guys were kind enough to warn us if anything happened to the car the Arciero Bros would plant us under their next parking lot project......

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/sports-cars/coasting-victory-daytona/

OH NOOOOOO........ it looks like some euro trash has painted it in Gulf colors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyM5p-k4U4o