If the Super Cobra is worth 5mil what is the Flip Top worth?

[Cal Metal]

dblbarrel:

The exact paint that dons the car presently is Acapulco Blue, a slight variation of Guardsman Blue.

Excaliber:

The sale of the Super Snake will have an impact on the original cars much more so than it will with the replicas, imho. Keep an eye on the Costilow/Larson DragonSnake that will be auctioned this weekend in Florida.

[Hank F]

The Fliptop is the Fliptop,a race car and engines get changed.
I don`t think it makes any difference if the engine has been replaced as long it is a big block.
Shelby has had heart transplants but he is still Shelby.
Hank

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by Hank F

Shelby has had heart transplants but he is still Shelby.
Hank

Nice!!!

[Cal Metal]

Rick:

Carroll was born with that syndrome. It wasn't an acquired taste.......

[RACERAL]

Man, you talking about a "perky butt".. I think FFR should sue......JUST KIDDING...JUST KIDDING.....

[Excaliber]

I seem to recall the original alloy 390 was offered to the owner of the "Turd", who declined the purchase. Probably due to a unrealistic price for the motor?

[CSX 4027]

The original motor exists.
When the car was a modified 289, it had the iron block/iron head 427. Miles stuffed it in a tree and told Shel bout the need to lighten the nose.
The alloy 390 blocks were sleeved 427 sideoilers, not 390's but were 390 cubic inches. The turd was rebuilt into the fliptop and got the all alloy 390 with webers. 3002 got the other alloy 390 with a single 4. There might have been a few more blocks but no proof was ever given so, 2 for sure and one exists. The right one. When the fliptop 390 got damaged it was thought to be gone when actually it was the 3002 motor that was gone. The fliptop motor is alive and well showing a non thrust side repair and in fact the one it had from the problem.

[Excaliber]

Thats a good point Steve, I to understood the alloy 390 was a side oiler, sleeved down. NOT to be confused with a 'real' 390.

I assume they used the same casting for the alloy as did they did for the iron side oiler. I always wondered how they actually made the blocks, and why so few...

[Power Surge]

Steve beat me to the punch. The Flip Top's original 390 alloy motor is alive and well.

[Cal Metal]

I suspect that the reason for so few is that the processes for working with aluminum were still in their infancy circa the early 60s. General Motors, who had more technology than any corporation on the face of the earth back then, had some success in using it in the 215 cid Buick blocks. The Corvette, on the otherhand, discontinued the aluminum head option after 1960, having had a run of two years with marginal success. Cracking was the big problem, and the option was discontinued and did not resurface until 1967 with the 427 "rat motor" L79, an absence of 7 years. And then there was the infamous Vega.................

[ROUSHAC]

Maybe one of us should install this:

Part #: 18851985
Description: Flux Capacitor
Price (Each): $0.00

from the DeLorean online store in our car, and go back to 1966 and buy these items:

[CSX 4027]

The dry sump 427 car above the fliptop for $2500 more is CSX 3002.
My very close friend sold it in 1997 for under $450K
What do you think that would bring?
The Flip top is leaf springs.
3002 is coil overs and the only 427 ever campaigned by Shelby American.

[Cal Metal]

That is an ad for the Shelby fire sale.

[snakeeyes]

The "Supersnake"? When was that moniker created--when it was registered for sale at B-J? The friggin' thing's an automatic, for God's sake. It has no race history.

2196 has race history, is probably the lightest Cobra ever built (as light or lighter than the small-block cars), has a unique body and frame that has little or nothing in common with any other Cobra, has the "big-block aura", and not only has the Miles connection but the Shelby one, too (being a Cobra). It is a "1 of 1" car, built to best the Corvette Grand Sports (which Dave Friedman's Nassau photos prove it did, at least when it was running properly).

Buyers are fickle, but if Shelby were engaged to help market this car as the "lightest, quickest competition Cobra ever built" or somesuch, it ought to bring big dollars. I'll disagree with Cal here and estimate $5,000,001.

[Cal Metal]

Not a totally unbiased opinion. Forum members need to understand that Snakeeyes has had the unique opportunity to do something that none of us have been able to do----he has driven the Flip Top.

[snakeeyes]

Guilty as charged, sir. A testament to the extreme kindness of the car's owner. Even if I never exceeded 15 mph (the paddock at Laguna Seca is a tight place during the MHR weekend), it was the high point of my automotive experience.

I don't hate the Supersnake, btw. I recall lusting after the car as a kid when I first saw the one-pager on it in Road & Track. The magazine quoted a 0 - 60 time of 3.8 seconds, IIRC, which is quick as anything short of a Veyron these days and seemed otherworldly back then. As has been intimated, the casual collector probably attaches more value to it simply because it's a special 427 that was Carroll's personal car. As a longtime champion of the Flip Top I guess it irks me that what I consider the ultimate Cobra may never be so recognized.

Enough self-analysis. After all this introspection, I now declare the FT's value to be $15,000 and dropping fast. In the interest of supporting a friend who made a bad investment, I will reluctantly take the car off of Rich's hands for that amount. Best hurry lest this charitable streak burn out...

[PDHse]

What the Grand Sport saw for a while back at Nassau.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by PDHse

What the Grand Sport saw for a while back at Nassau.

Indeed. Just from a lot farther away.

[Bob P.]

Originally Posted by lamaluv

What do you suppose CSX2196 the Fip Top, also known as the Turd, is worth?





It is truly a one of a kind Cobra with a race history It was raced at Sebring by Ken Miles. It was also used as a 427 pre-prototype and is a significant part of the development of the 427 Cobras. So what do you think it would be worth.





Having seen both cars , I know I would rather have CSX2196.
The current owner had the Fip Top at the 2005 WSCB and he and his wife actually took it to the track and on the cruise.





That car is not a Museum queen. I wonder how much driving the Super Cobra will get?

Dick

I spent a week with the owner at his home several years ago. He is a devoted Cobraphile and I doubt it will go up for sale during his life-time. However I can tell you an interesting story about the car and how he got it for a very low price by buying a VERY expnsive hand-made purse for his wife.

Bob

[PDHse]

Please tell