Original 289 colors?

[Newsnake]

What were the original colors that were used on 289 racers and roadsters?

Thanks

[1985 CCX]

Credit to Jim Maxwell

[Nedsel]

That's a nice AC color chart, but it dates from the Brian Angliss era, and has colors that were never used on the 60's 289 Cobras. Some may have been used on the cars they built for the UK market, but weren't standard colors for Shelby's cars.

[BBQCYCLEWERKES]

I thought the very 1st Cobras only came in 2 colors. White with Guardsman Blue stripes or Guardsman Blue with white stripes. Have I been incorrect all this time?

[jeffy]

Originally Posted by BBQCYCLEWERKES

I thought the very 1st Cobras only came in 2 colors. White with Guardsman Blue stripes or Guardsman Blue with white stripes. Have I been incorrect all this time?

You are indeed incorrect. No street cars came with stripes. The comp cars were mostly shipped unpainted, although I think some of the early ones were shipped painted black or red.

These are I.C.I. paint codes. The Rosso Chiaro formula is in the PPG Nexa system, which is how I got it for my car. They formulated it as a two-stage. I remember asking about some other codes but they couldn't find them in the system; not sure which ones, although one was probably Ruby Red.

AC1 Guardsman Blue 4424m Single stage urethane, c262b Base/Clear
AC2 Dark Blue fg47 single stage
AC3 Mist Silver 6182m single stage
AC4 Ruby Red 6192m single stage
AC5 Canary Yellow fg38
AC6 Lt. Green 5302m single stage, 5vf9b Base/Clear
AC8 Rosso Chiaro fg39 single stage
AC9 Pure White fg46 single stage
AC11 Mushroom 6189m single stage
AC12 Vineyard Green ej29 single stage
AC13 Live Oak 6188m single stage
AC14 Sand 6190m single stage
AC15 Princess Blue 6191m single stage

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by BBQCYCLEWERKES

I thought the very 1st Cobras only came in 2 colors. White with Guardsman Blue stripes or Guardsman Blue with white stripes. Have I been incorrect all this time?

The first 100 + Cobras only came in red, black, or white. CSX 2104 was the first car to break the trend, and it was Guardsman Blue.

[Bartruff1]

Originally Posted by Newsnake

What were the original colors that were used on 289 racers and roadsters?

Thanks

.....The original FIA Shelby Team Cars in 1964 were Princess Alice Blue....even the car transporters and the crew's Ranch Wagons (station wagons) were painted that color. Someone ? didn't think that name was macho enough for those fire breathing and thundering monsters, so they changed the name but not the paint to Viking Blue. I have read that it was Ford and not Shelby that wanted the team cars painted in the Blue Oval Blue (Guardsman) in 1965. And so according to the Golden Rule ( He who has the gold makes the rules) it was done.

[LMH]

My bosses 289 CSX was metallic green. He describes it as "kind of avacado green". Anyone know if that was an original color?
(it may have been repainted but he's unsure)
Larry

[Nedsel]

The dark green offered by Shelby on the 289 Cobra was a non-metallic paint. The only car we know to have been given a custom metallic green paint color was 2367. "Avocado" sounds lighter than BRG, and there was no standard color of that description offered.

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Bartruff1

.....The original FIA Shelby Team Cars in 1964 were Princess Alice Blue....even the car transporters and the crew's Ranch Wagons (station wagons) were painted that color. Someone ? didn't think that name was macho enough for those fire breathing and thundering monsters, so they changed the name but not the paint to Viking Blue. I have read that it was Ford and not Shelby that wanted the team cars painted in the Blue Oval Blue (Guardsman) in 1965. And so according to the Golden Rule ( He who has the gold makes the rules) it was done.

The Cobra color of Princess Blue (no "Alice") is a different color than the '63 - '64 Ford color of Viking Blue. The former is more a metallic greyish-silver, with practically no blue in it, whereas Viking is a metallic sky-blue.

[LMH]

Originally Posted by Nedsel

The dark green offered by Shelby on the 289 Cobra was a non-metallic paint. The only car we know to have been given a custom metallic green paint color was 2367. "Avocado" sounds lighter than BRG, and there was no standard color of that description offered.

Thanks Ned! It was probably repainted before he bought it. He said it also had chrome wire wheels and unless I'm mistaken, they came painted. So it had been altered before he bought it. This was the early/mid 70's.
Larry

[Nedsel]

Larry, chrome wire wheels were an option, so the car could have come with them originally.

[LMH]

Interesting! See, learn something new everyday.
Larry

[Bartruff1]

Originally Posted by Nedsel

The Cobra color of Princess Blue (no "Alice") is a different color than the '63 - '64 Ford color of Viking Blue. The former is more a metallic greyish-silver, with practically no blue in it, whereas Viking is a metallic sky-blue.

I got the " Princess Alice Blue" from a team member in the pits at the Targa in 1964 because I really liked the color and asked what it was. I remembered that name because it was so unusual and he was laughing when he told me. It is quite possible he didn't know wtf he was talking about. Later, I saw a reference to that color on page 66 of Trevor Legate's book " Cobra, The First 40 Years". In any case, I was wrong because Cobra's were raced as early as 1962 at Riverside and there were some very famous Cobra's raced in Europe in 1963....soooo...the Team Cars I saw in 1964 were hardly the original race cars.

[Bartruff1]

Originally Posted by BBQCYCLEWERKES

I thought the very 1st Cobras only came in 2 colors. White with Guardsman Blue stripes or Guardsman Blue with white stripes. Have I been incorrect all this time?

According to Trevor Legate on page 58 of " Cobra, The First 40 Years ", .... " Cobra's were initially offered with a colour choice of red or white but customer demand soon saw the introduction of black, blue, green, silver and burgundy...red and white remained the most popular " Since the first 75 cars were 260 ci it begs the question of what was the colour of the original 289's....my understanding is that they all came painted from the factory. Who knows ? Someone knows... but part the fun of the Cobra Legend is arguing about it.. edited to add that the 5 FIA cars were shipped in primer..

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Bartruff1

According to Trevor Legate on page 58 of " Cobra, The First 40 Years ", .... " Cobra's were initially offered with a colour choice of red or white but customer demand soon saw the introduction of black, blue, green, silver and burgundy...red and white remained the most popular " Since the first 75 cars were 260 ci it begs the question of what was the colour of the original 289's....my understanding is that they all came painted from the factory. Who knows ? Someone knows... but part the fun of the Cobra Legend is arguing about it..

Who knows? The registry knows! And it lists the color of each car. Which pretty much slows down the arguing.

[LMH]

Hey Ned
CSX2367 didn't happen to have two four barrels did it?
Larry

[Bartruff1]

Originally Posted by Nedsel

Who knows? The registry knows! And it lists the color of each car. Which pretty much slows down the arguing.

Thats right...I stand corrected...they do a great job..

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Bartruff1

...they do a great job..

Especially the guy who actually collects all that data.

[Bartruff1]

I can learn...I was surprised to learn that there were so many with 260's. I had never seen one, there were a bunch of original and important Cobra's at Kirkland Wa. Concourse last year and I suspect were several 260's there but it never occured to me to ask and I never noticed a badge to that effect.... that sounds like a very sweet combo to me...