Shelby not the first Cobra ACE Bristol

[mrmustang]

Ron,

I meant a picture of the dataplate marked "cobra".....Thanks for the pics, although the car itself I have seen before, just never the VIN plate.

Bill S.

[normo]

ok will do

[normo]

My camera does not take extreme close ups here is the compliance plate for my Buchanan Cobra 001


Just to show I am not anti ford or cobra here is my 1977 toyota RA28

[normo]

I could scan the rego papers from the 70's but somehow I reckon you would say they are forged too Mrmustang.

[Naumoff]

Give them a call, YX 2809.

Nice toyota Erronore.

[normo]

Thanks tony
not many 67 mustang fastbacks in Australia to play with.
My 001 Cobra cost me $10 000 back in 1986 from the son of the original owner.He had torn out the original engine and jammed in a Fiat 1600 engine. It was pretty unloved then.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by normo

I could scan the rego papers from the 70's but somehow I reckon you would say they are forged too Mrmustang.

[Don]

Note the reference to a Buchanan Cobra in Open Sports with a 1147 CC engine

http://www.vhrr.com/results/Morwell%...%20Results.pdf

Victorian Historic Racing Register

http://www.vhrr.com/index.html

Question, does the existence of the " Buchanan " have any influence on the trademark/copyrights with the CSX series , the Buchanan dating back to 1958: Similarities in body design between the Aston Martin DB3S vs Buchanan vs AC vs CSX Cobra ?

" Though Nat Buchanan still dreamed of making his own car, his ambitions changed somewhat when the Ford-powered coupe project failed to get off the ground, for it wasn't long after this he decided the time and market were ripe for a "conversion" sports body.
And so was born the Buchanan body, or as it became known among enthusiasts - the Buchanan Body. In what proved to be a very shrewd and successful move, Buchanan hatched an agreement with Tom Sulman. He borrowed Sulman's Aston Martin DB3S sports-racer and, after subtly changing some details of the body styling to save too much embarrassment, used the shell as the mock-up on which the fibreglass moulds were made.
The immediate success of the Buchanan Body proved the Aston Martin DB3S might have been made for the job. It was a good looking shape in its own right, with long racy lines that stamped it as a serious sports car. And it didn't hurt that Aston Martin's racing reputation was riding high at that time. There couldn't have been many cars better than the DB3S for a specialist body to resemble. "

" More than one hundred bodies had been sold by 1958 when the Buchanan moulds were sold to Jennens & Simmonds of Parramatta Road, Croydon. who went on to produce about fifty further units. The bodies built by Buchanan are distinguished from those produced by J. & S. in having a numbered body plate attached. "

" Aside from the favoured MGs, the Buchanan Body also went onto many other cars including Triumph TRs and a variety of homebrewed specials, usually Holden powered. Some were made for racing but by far the most went on to the street. "

[normo]

Nat Buchanan certainly used the Aston Martin DB3 but he used a shell from an ACE Bristol and made his 8 Cobras in 1958. The ACE Bristol is what I believe Mr Shelby used as a basis for his AC Cobra

http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/43/
I have some motor magazines from 1959 with some articles and pics if interest warrants
Thanks

[Power Surge]

Does it really matter? There have been other names shared by auto makers in the past.

It's a neat piece of knowledge, but not something worth getting upset over.

[Excaliber]

It's an interesting footnote in the history of AC, and little more than that, certainly no impact on a long ago registered by Shelby 'trade name'. Curious, I wonder what Buchanans inspiration for the Cobra name was...

[Don]

Excaliber, agree. I am no where as well versed in the history of the Cobra as others in Club Cobra, but curious. I had always been under the impression " Cobra " was not used until the mid 1960s.

I had contacted the owner of the Buchanan Cobra mentioned in the Victoria Historic Racing Register and asked the question on the origination of the Cobra name, awaiting a reply.

[Naumoff]

Originally Posted by Don

Excaliber, agree. I am no where as well versed in the history of the Cobra as others in Club Cobra, but curious. I had always been under the impression " Cobra " was not used until the mid 1960s.

I had contacted the owner of the Buchanan Cobra mentioned in the Victoria Historic Racing Register and asked the question on the origination of the Cobra name, awaiting a reply.

He woke up in the middle of the night and the name popped into his head and he wrote it down in his dream journal then went back to sleep.
The next morning he looked in his journal and saw what he had wrote that night and said"Yeah...I'll name the car Cobra!"

[Don]

From Paul Schilling, owner of the Buchanan Cobra in Australia:

The Buchanan Cobra was produced from about 1958 to 1960 by Nat Buchanan as a turn key car to supplement the Buchanan bodies as mentioned on the Buchanan web site. He produced about 7 Cobras, the details about his operation are very vague. the first two were featured in road tests in current Australian car magazines of the period. The Modern Motor September 1958 and April 1959, Sports Car World May 1959 and Australian Sports Cars and Specials which was produced some times in the 1970s.I am not aware of the ACE Bristol being used as a styling buck for the Cobra, it was apparently designed by Nat Buchanan and Stan Brown who built the prototype body from Buchanan's drawings.

I am not aware of any Buchanan Cobras being exported out of the country although one did appear in New Zealand in 2004 with XJ6 Jaguar running gear and in a hundred bits.. It was on an E-Bay site. I know of two other cobras, both in Sydney and both in bits. As far as I know mine, number 3 of the 7, is the only one that is complete and running. Mine is registered on Victorian classic registration and used extensively for Hill climbs. sprints and race circuit regularity events. I manage about 12 events a year.

All of the cobras started out with very humble beginnings using Standard 10 mechanicals. Mine has a Triumph spitfire 1147cc motor and a mark 3 Spitfire gear box. This gives it a bit of spirit and I manage to give the bug eye sprites a bit of curry in most events.

I have no idea why the car was called Cobra in 1958, there is no mention of this in any of the articles about the Cobra. Seems to be the "first" Cobra though..

[normo]

The interesting piece for me is, if this is right then I own the world's first Cobra!

[computerworks]

Don has done some great background work on this car...and with the help of Paul Schilling, owner of this Buchanan Cobra in Australia, we now have some recent images....

[Excaliber]

Wow, it sure looks 'tiny'. But then again, the early 289 cars were not exactly 'roomy'.

[Don]

As noted by Phil Schilling, current owner of the Buchanan Cobra in Australia:

"I have no idea why the car was called Cobra in 1958, there is no mention of this in any of the articles about the Cobra. Seems to be the "first" Cobra though.."

Any other thoughts as to how the Cobra name originated with the Buchanan ?

[Bryan Wilson]

http://australia.motoseller.com/c/sys.php?a=2&b=13716

[Excaliber]

Bryan I see that ad lists the cars condition as 'used-average', both descriptions appear to be accurate. Certainly 'used-up' but may well be 'average' for the marque.