CSX2079 coming back to life after 37 years in hibernation

[SFM5S000]

As a  preface, I've been meaning to post this since mid-August between SAAC 43 and the Rolex Reunion down Laguna Seca this past summer. I promised Vern I would. Here it is mid November. I also wanted to confirm a few more details with Tom C. without further delay . Oh, by the way this will be an ongoing update on CSX2079.




Well, first off CSX2079 I believe is the 5th original 289 (CSX2074 being the last 260 car). I've been working with Tom C. and 2079 off and on for the past 4-5 years now. We've been going at it in a very casual way.  Tom C. has owned  CSX2079 since 1974. He's a long time NorCal SAAC and Cobra Club member from the 70's. I only work on it when I'm home - here in California and when our schedules allow, hence the slow progress.

Unfortunately, the information (for 2079) which was submitted to Ned Scudder for the Cobra Registry  in the late 80's/early 90's prior to the '97 Registry is inaccurate; and was not submitted by this owner. Whomever submitted the Registry information during that time period is a mystery. In the meantime 2079 stayed as the same vehicle since the early '80s, and Tom C. made a conscious decision not to bring his car to club events.

Fast forward to 2013. I was Vice President of NorCal SAAC at the time and during our holiday party that year, Tom C. walked up to me and said he was referred to me by Mike Camicia. He introduced himself and asked me if I would consider looking at the Webers on his 289 Cobra. The Webers in the car needed some attention. My first thought was; I thought I knew a good 85-90% of our region members, NorCal had 500+ members at the time and secondly a club member walks up and says he has an original 1963 Shelby Cobra. I'm like...Ooookay... tell me more.

As it turns out, we coordinated a date to view his car. This was the first time I'd seen CSX2079 in person. Quite a unique car. This started as a red exterior/black interior slab side cobra (now British Racing Green, vintage photos looks almost black) that had been modified in the late 1960's by the previous owner. In trying to understand what the previous owner  (Marty N.) had envisioned, Marty described it to Tom C. this way: (quote) "I wanted a serious roadster" (see vintage photos), and a serious roadster it had become.

First off, the front and rear wheel wells were flared (nicely, but not stock) to accommodate large Good Year Blue Streaks. This was the first thing I noticed. Next were the gorgeous polished alloy Borrani wire wheels with knock offs. I then noticed the bumpers and nose guard and emblem holes had been closed for a super clean 60's look. They were hanging on the garage wall. Lastly these unique side vents in the front fenders were added behind the front wheels, certainly not the stock louvers. (early cars had no vents at all) My first thought, "what the heck are those?" but they do grow on you after a while in a good way.

Okay, the interior is pretty Spartan: bare aluminum interior panels are painted an unusual light green shade. I immediately thought of that military green paint they used to paint the interior of USAF fighter planes,  some kind of oxide protecting paint. In addition to overuse of this dark grey indoor/outdoor carpeting under the wheel wells to prevent rock chips. This car was never driven in the rain. This carpet had also been applied to the interior foot box, floors and transmission tunnel sides. It was even used under the front and rear fenders flares for rock protection.


Tom rarely drove and brought 2079 out. Of the few times, which took some convincing, the late Lewis Downs recommended Tom bringing it to a few club events. This was in the early 1980's. Since then life continued on with married life,  career, kids, college and so on. CSX2079 sat dormant until Tom and I crossed paths.

To be continued...

Cheers,
~Earl J


p.s. I was informed, these two vintage photos were taken by Lynn Park back in 1974 when he came up from southern California to see 2079. These shots were taken on Marty N.'s front lawn.

[SFM5S000]

One of the first projects on 2079 was addressing the home made fuel line that fed the Webers. I posted this first on the old forum. I never mentioned it was for CSX2079 but it was. Here is that photo. several forum members commented on it. It was a scary item to me. I wasn't about to attempt to start 2079 with these lines.

Cheers,
~Earl J

[2112]

Love it in those vintage pictures.

[Mr.Guts]

Neat car and an interesting story. I have a couple of questions.
What does the transition look like from the twin hoses to the radiator?
The bellcrank for the throttle linkage is attached to the firewall?

Thanks and have fun with it!

[shelbydoug]

Soldering the fuel lines together with Webers is actually not an uncommon thing although largely a Euro thing.
They are sturdy and reliable.
It doesn't need a return loop. That actually will effect the fuel pressure negatively.

The simplest change would be to go to the Shelby Team FIA waterneck configuration of the fuel log attached to the waterneck housing and separate fuel lines to each carb.

That stove pipe ventilation system is an interesting modification.

I like the flares. Are they aluminum and soldered/welded on?

The early steering wheel is also an interesting variation from the common as well.

Is this now your car or are you just working on it for another owner?

Does it have the early carbs on it?

[propayne]

Very, very cool, thanks for posting.

Love those deep dish Borrani wheels.

I would imagine those would bring a nice price if the car is returned to it's original body work and wheels.

- Phillip

[2112]

Love it in those vintage pictures.

More specifically, the day 2 upgrades. Especially the flares and wheel/tire combo.

[SFM5S000]

Answering a few quick questions regarding CSX2079;

2212,
Thanks these were a few early pics Tom had of 2079.

Mr. Guts,
I'll post a few new pics of the twin hoses from the manifold to the radiator. Originally it had the cast aluminum Cobra water "Y" neck for the Weber Parallel mounted carbs and the SAI Upper radiator hose coupler for the Smiths temperature sender.
We have since switched out the Cobra water neck for the SAI FIA Water Neck/Fuel log assembly updating the fuel line issue as well as adding Jim Inglese's inline Thermostat Housing.
We also switched out the firewall mounted bell crank for the tower mounted bell crank to the back of the head ala SAI design.

Shelbydoug,
Agreed, we did do just that, switching to the SAI FIA water neck fuel combo.
The Stove pipe piece (on both sides) still exist. Kinda funky in appearance. Instead of directing air into the foot boxes the stove pipes re-direct into the side areas to help cool the headers(?) and under the sides of the engine (?) and battery (?,  on the passenger side) Hence the unique side vents I'm assuming.
Working with Tom on this to convert them back to the original configuration.
The flares are all aluminum. They are really well done.
The Steering wheel will be heading to Jeff Stephens for a complete restoration soon. Yes the wheel  is an interesting  variation. Was this common? That's a Dan Case question.
CSX2079 belongs to Tom C.
2079 has 48IDA 4's without the bosses.

Cheers,
~Earl J

[Bob Gaines]

Soldering the fuel lines together with Webers is actually not an uncommon thing although largely a Euro thing.
They are sturdy and reliable.
It doesn't need a return loop. That actually will effect the fuel pressure negatively.

The simplest change would be to go to the Shelby Team FIA waterneck configuration of the fuel log attached to the waterneck housing and separate fuel lines to each carb.

That stove pipe ventilation system is an interesting modification.

I like the flares. Are they aluminum and soldered/welded on?

The early steering wheel is also an interesting variation from the common as well.

Is this now your car or are you just working on it for another owner?

Does it have the early carbs on it?

I was always surprised that SA didn't come up with a better solution with waterneck fuellog because the heat from the coolant heats up the metal of the fuel log and raises the temperature of the fuel running through it. I would have thought it would be insulated instead of direct contact. It seems counter intuitive to unnecessarily heat up the fuel.

[SFM5S000]

While in hibernation during the 37 years, 2079 experienced some bumps and bruises while sitting in the garage. During a tremor (mild earthquake) a box fell from the rafters above the car not once but twice leaving a dent on the right front fender as well as a dent on the nose just in front of the leading edge of the hood. Then there was a splash of some type of fluid that marred the left rear fender (about the 2 o'clock position of the rear flare) those three mishaps will be eventually addressed. Other than those three issues the beautiful British Racing Green Lacquer Paint (yes Lacquer) is simply stunning.

There are other priorities at the moment. As for the interior, if anyone has seen ( I'm sure everyone has) photos of Carroll Shelby's CSX2000 original deteriorating seats, 2079's seats are just as in similar condition.

I'm hesitant to post any photos of 2079 just yet other than me returning from taking 2079 from a quick spin on my last visit. You guys know me when it comes to posting photos. I've got quite a few of the ongoing process of CSX2079 over the past several years.

To Be Continued...

Cheers,
~Earl J

[shelbydoug]

Soldering the fuel lines together with Webers is actually not an uncommon thing although largely a Euro thing.
They are sturdy and reliable.
It doesn't need a return loop. That actually will effect the fuel pressure negatively.

The simplest change would be to go to the Shelby Team FIA waterneck configuration of the fuel log attached to the waterneck housing and separate fuel lines to each carb.

That stove pipe ventilation system is an interesting modification.

I like the flares. Are they aluminum and soldered/welded on?

The early steering wheel is also an interesting variation from the common as well.

Is this now your car or are you just working on it for another owner?

Does it have the early carbs on it?

I was always surprised that SA didn't come up with a better solution with waterneck fuellog because the heat from the coolant heats up the metal of the fuel log and raises the temperature of the fuel running through it. I would have thought it would be insulated instead of direct contact. It seems counter intuitive to unnecessarily heat up the fuel.

This is true but I think the answer is that it is insignificant. The carbs themselves work as heat sinks and you need to insulate them from the intake manifold.

Some things on race cars always seem counter intuitive but are done for safety or accessibility.

Four separate fuel lines is just for speed of disassembly/assembly. Each carb simply kicks down faster and maybe save some burnt mechanics fingers under race conditions.

They simply had to have done something to insulate the carbs from the engine heat to keep the fuel from boiling out of the carbs which also means they couldn't have been running the stock carb needle and seats because those things wouldn't take the pressure of either the fuel pump or the additional pressure caused by boiling the fuel in the carbs.

That entire modification tells me quite a bit about the set up and what the mechanics were trying to fix/correct.

[tom c]

While in hibernation during the 37 years, 2079 experienced some bumps and bruises while sitting in the garage. During a tremor (mild earthquake) a box fell from the rafters above the car not once but twice leaving a dent on the right front fender as well as a dent on the nose just in front of the leading edge of the hood. Then there was a splash of some type of fluid that marred the left rear fender (about the 2 o'clock position of the rear flare) those three mishaps will be eventually addressed. Other than those three issues the beautiful British Racing Green Lacquer Paint (yes Lacquer) is simply stunning.

There are other priorities at the moment. As for the interior, if anyone has seen ( I'm sure everyone has) photos of Carroll Shelby's CSX2000 original deteriorating seats, 2079's seats are just as in similar condition.

I'm hesitant to post any photos of 2079 just yet other than me returning from taking 2079 from a quick spin on my last visit. You guys know me when it comes to posting photos. I've got quite a few of the ongoing process of CSX2079 over the past several years.

To Be Continued...

Cheers,
~Earl J

As a  preface, I've been meaning to post this since mid-August between SAAC 43 and the Rolex Reunion down Laguna Seca this past summer. I promised Vern I would. Here it is mid November. I also wanted to confirm a few more details with Tom C. without further delay . Oh, by the way this will be an ongoing update on CSX2079.




Well, first off CSX2079 I believe is the 5th original 289 (CSX2074 being the last 260 car). I've been working with Tom C. and 2079 off and on for the past 4-5 years now. We've been going at it in a very casual way.  Tom C. has owned  CSX2079 since 1974. He's a long time NorCal SAAC and Cobra Club member from the 70's. I only work on it when I'm home - here in California and when our schedules allow, hence the slow progress.

Unfortunately, the information (for 2079) which was submitted to Ned Scudder for the Cobra Registry  in the late 80's/early 90's prior to the '97 Registry is inaccurate; and was not submitted by this owner. Whomever submitted the Registry information during that time period is a mystery. In the meantime 2079 stayed as the same vehicle since the early '80s, and Tom C. made a conscious decision not to bring his car to club events.

Fast forward to 2013. I was Vice President of NorCal SAAC at the time and during our holiday party that year, Tom C. walked up to me and said he was referred to me by Mike Camicia. He introduced himself and asked me if I would consider looking at the Webers on his 289 Cobra. The Webers in the car needed some attention. My first thought was; I thought I knew a good 85-90% of our region members, NorCal had 500+ members at the time and secondly a club member walks up and says he has an original 1963 Shelby Cobra. I'm like...Ooookay... tell me more.

As it turns out, we coordinated a date to view his car. This was the first time I'd seen CSX2079 in person. Quite a unique car. This started as a red exterior/black interior slab side cobra (now British Racing Green, vintage photos looks almost black) that had been modified in the late 1960's by the previous owner. In trying to understand what the previous owner  (Marty N.) had envisioned, Marty described it to Tom C. this way: (quote) "I wanted a serious roadster" (see vintage photos), and a serious roadster it had become.

First off, the front and rear wheel wells were flared (nicely, but not stock) to accommodate large Good Year Blue Streaks. This was the first thing I noticed. Next were the gorgeous polished alloy Borrani wire wheels with knock offs. I then noticed the bumpers and nose guard and emblem holes had been closed for a super clean 60's look. They were hanging on the garage wall. Lastly these unique side vents in the front fenders were added behind the front wheels, certainly not the stock louvers. (early cars had no vents at all) My first thought, "what the heck are those?" but they do grow on you after a while in a good way.

Okay, the interior is pretty Spartan: bare aluminum interior panels are painted an unusual light green shade. I immediately thought of that military green paint they used to paint the interior of USAF fighter planes,  some kind of oxide protecting paint. In addition to overuse of this dark grey indoor/outdoor carpeting under the wheel wells to prevent rock chips. This car was never driven in the rain. This carpet had also been applied to the interior foot box, floors and transmission tunnel sides. It was even used under the front and rear fenders flares for rock protection.


Tom rarely drove and brought 2079 out. Of the few times, which took some convincing, the late Lewis Downs recommended Tom bringing it to a few club events. This was in the early 1980's. Since then life continued on with married life,  career, kids, college and so on. CSX2079 sat dormant until Tom and I crossed paths.

To be continued...

Cheers,
~Earl J


p.s. I was informed, these two vintage photos were taken by Lynn Park back in 1974 when he came up from southern California to see 2079. These shots were taken on Marty N.'s front lawn.

While in hibernation during the 37 years, 2079 experienced some bumps and bruises while sitting in the garage. During a tremor (mild earthquake) a box fell from the rafters above the car not once but twice leaving a dent on the right front fender as well as a dent on the nose just in front of the leading edge of the hood. Then there was a splash of some type of fluid that marred the left rear fender (about the 2 o'clock position of the rear flare) those three mishaps will be eventually addressed. Other than those three issues the beautiful British Racing Green Lacquer Paint (yes Lacquer) is simply stunning.

There are other priorities at the moment. As for the interior, if anyone has seen ( I'm sure everyone has) photos of Carroll Shelby's CSX2000 original deteriorating seats, 2079's seats are just as in similar condition.

I'm hesitant to post any photos of 2079 just yet other than me returning from taking 2079 from a quick spin on my last visit. You guys know me when it comes to posting photos. I've got quite a few of the ongoing process of CSX2079 over the past several years.

To Be Continued...

Cheers,
~Earl J