Factory Replacement Shift Knob

[BGlover67]

I just found this online and bought it from a nice guy.   It seems the seller owned a CSX 2000 series Cobra back in '67.  Does this look correct for a service replacement knob?  It came with a loctite type substance, does that sound correct?  The seller sent me the following story:

"I bought it in '67 from Shelby- American, found out early that if you leave the car parked on the street the shift knob disappears quickly, never used the old AC soft top, typical British rag with a joint in the middle of the windshield that bowed over onto each side, anyhow so I bought two shift knobs and forgot to give the new owner the backup, sold the car in 69 so I could go back to school after air force, bought it for $4200 and sold it for $4400, thought that was great at the time, guess we should have put it in a barn for 20 years or so.......if for any reason it doesn't meet up to your expectations send er back and I will make a refund--"

[2112]

It sure is attractive.

[6s2055]

We have a lot in common! I left my Cobra on the street in front of S&C Ford and it was stolen. Got the car back with the shift knob but not the Weber's. Sold that car in 1968 for $4000 to buy my first home in Lake Tahoe. That was CSX2192. In 1968 $4000 was a lot of money!

[BGlover67]

Pardon my stupidity, but what did the original shift knob look like on these cars?

[JD]

I think they were standard Ford black with white shift pattern of the time period.

[Dan Case]

I think they were standard Ford black with white shift pattern of the time period.

Correct. CSX2001-CSX2200 used the 1963 Galaxie design then CSX2201 and later used the 1964 Fairlane design.

The wooden knobs with COBRA medallions were "accessories" for any manual transmission Ford in the floor gear shift lever. Shelby American sold them retail via magazine advertisements for $3.50. Said another way, it was not particularly a Cobra car accessory but an accessory for Ford cars.

Like most "Cobra" subjects, the wooden gear shift  knob one is not simple. There was more than one wooden piece design and two different 'colors' for graphics.  I have samples of what I call early and late knobs.

The early one has no protection of the medallion insert if the user threaded the knob on too far they would literally push the insert out with the end of the shifter,  usually damaging the foil the graphics were printed on and often cracking the plastic lens which is very fragile.  The graphics of the early medallions were 'golden' in color.

The type that I call the later style has a stop inside the wooden knob to protect the back of the medallion from threading the knob on the lever too far. The graphics in the medallion were 'chrome' color.   The physical shape of the wood piece was also different than that of the early assembly.

I have had four knobs to examine, one being new old stock of the "early" type.  In that four there were two different versions as described before. I have no idea it there are more versions. All versions are rare. The first one I saw in person was on CSX2210 circa the late 1970s.

[Corey Bowcutt]

Brian, that is a great looking knob regardless of its history.  Nice find.

[BGlover67]

Finally received it.  According to Dan, it must be the early style.  It is Mint, NOS with the original container and a small tube of 'Loctite' included.  If you screwed it down to far, it would come out the top, lol.