Hank Williams Cobra 289--did he order a two barrel originally?

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Ah yes, and if you ever met "THE" Hank Williams (Cobra owner) you would never confuse him with the singe by the same name . Same goes for his "vintage" travel trailer and "custom" van/tow vehicle......


Bill S.

I've met and talked to "Hank" 3 or 4 times and once you meet him, you'll not soon forget him......He's a character and then some, just ask him about his car and get a chair, he recalls stories from "back in the day" and tells them with great enthusiasum.......
He travels all over the country showing the car, last I heard he was in California.........

David

[Historybuff]

I never heard the story about when Hancock bought the car. Can you tell it? I am surprised that Hanock didn't pull an "Elvis," because wasn't it when Elvis was thrown out of a Cadillac showroom around the mid-'50s that, in a fit of pique, he went to a Lincoln dealer and bought a Lincoln Continental? Another story in the same vein is that Dual Motors, who used to import Italian bodied Dodges from Italy (Dual-Ghia) wouldn't sell Sammy Davis Jr. a car when he was in the "ratpack." He had to have someone else in the pack buy one and sell it to him

[02roush]

Hank lives out here in SoCal. I just saw the car again last week at Fab Fords.

[WarrenG]

Hank has lived in Fontana, CA for a long time. When I met him, he told me that the car is now exactly as it was when he bought it except for the plates which read "NOKIT.".

[02roush]

I got to park next to Hank at the Woodley show this Sunday. It was cool, since my plates are CBRA KIT, his NO KIT. I'll post a pic when I get them online.

Yes, CSX2227 is now 100% as it was bought.

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by 02roush

Yes, CSX2227 is now 100% as it was bought.

"Over that time, a hard top, American 5-spoke wheels, sway bars, 2x4Vs and a hood scoop were added; the car was repainted '64 Lincoln "Silver Mink," the upholstery was redone in red naugahyde," ....from the SAAC World Registry

So, not exactly as it was bought.

[02roush]

HE said it was once "touched up", with a single coat only. HE said it came with the hardtop. And HE said it was right now exactly as he got it. I'm just going with what HE said.

Here's the car running, hood open from Sunday.



And my FFR "CBRA KIT" next to "NO KIT"

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by 02roush

HE said it was once "touched up", with a single coat only. HE said it came with the hardtop. And HE said it was right now exactly as he got it. I'm just going with what HE said.

Hank has mentioned that certain items where added just as A Snake mentioned above.




Bill S.

[damdfw]

I met Hank and saw csx2227 about 7 years ago. He was at a car show/vintage race weekend at the Navy base on Coronado Island. To say that the man is very proud of his car is an understatement. I spoke to him for quite some time and listened to some of his stories from way back. I vaguely remember the car's paint needing a freshen up then.

Great car and interesting gentleman.

[CobraDan]

Printed in Road & Track September 2007

The Watermelon Man The Cobra
Herbie Hancock, Carroll Shelby and all that Jazz
By Tom Cotter

In spring 1963, two young men on opposite sides of the country were plying their chosen crafts, each eager to become successful in their respective careers. On the west coast, Carroll Shelby was anxious to prove his own brand of sports car-the Cobra-could be a winner both on the racetrack and in the showroom.
On the east coast, a young musician was pounding keyboards and writing songs that he hoped would jump to the top of the jazz charts.
For a brief moment that April, these two men’s lives converged.
Even though Shelby’s California operation was still in its infancy, his new car’s brilliance was already being realized. In February the Cobra scored its first win at Riverside Raceway, then nearly won at Daytona and Sebring.
Quietly, in New York, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock was celebrating his first success. In t6he mail that April, Hancock received a check for $3000 as a royalty payment for his song, “Watermelon Man” for a 22-year –old in 1963, this was a fortune.
For Hancock, who lived in the Bronx and commuted to rehearsals in Manhattan by subway, his first thought was to spend his windfall on a station wagon. After all, he was a musician, and he could pack fellow musicians and their instruments in the back. But his roommate, jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd convinced him otherwise. Byrd drove a Jaguar that belonged to his girlfriend, and was a sports-car aficionado. He persuaded Hancock to consider a new sports car that was just beginning to get attention on display in Manhattan.
“Donald told me the Cobra was kicking Ferrari’s ass,” says Hancock. The next day he hopped on the “L” train and heade4 to Charles Kreisler Automobiles on Broadway. “I had never bought a car in my life; I had only driven an old Dodge my father bought me for college.”
Instead of feeling excited as he walked into the dealership, Hancock experienced racism that, sadly, was all too common in 1963. Even though the civil rights movement was gaining momentum-Dr Martin Luther King Jr. would deliver his famous “I have a Dream” speech just four months later- that didn’t seem to register with the salesman on duty. Noticing the young black man walking into the showroom, the salesman all but ignored Hancock and continued reading his newspaper. “I walked right up to his desk and asked if I see the Cobra, “Hancock says, admitting that he was shabbily dressed. “He never looked up or answered my questions; he just pointed in the direction of the car.”
Hancock attempted to engage the salesman in conversation about the Cobra’s specifications and features, but no luck.
“He pissed me off.” He says.
Hancock walked across the showroom to CSX2006, the sixth-production Cobra ever built. He was instantly smitten. It was Old English White, with red leather interior and silver wire wheels. Under the hood was a high-performance 245-bhp, 260-cu.-in. engine that had originally been developed for the Fairlane. Interestingly, it is the only known Cobra ever equipped with a two-barrel carburetor.
“I walked up to it and kicked the tires, because that’s what I heard you were supposed to do,” he says, upset over the salesman’s attitude.
“I walked back to his desk and said, Okay I want to buy it!”
Hearing that, the salesman suddenly lifted his eyes and asked, “Do you have any idea how much the car costs?”
“Yeah, $6000; I’ll be back tomorrow to pick it up.” says Hancock, who admits that he probably would not have purchased the Cobra if the salesman hadn’t been so rude.
The next day his friend Byrd accompanied him to pick up the new car. This time Hancock was dressed in a suit. Word of the celebrity had apparently spread throughout the dealership because this time he was treated like royalty. He paid $2500 in cash, and financed the balance through the dealership. He was nervous about the performance of his new purchase. “That car could go from zero to a hundred in less than a block,” he says. That acceleration, plus a very stiff clutch pedal, convinced Hancock that his friend Byrd should drive the car back to the Bronx.
“I rented a garage for the car near Donald’s house, but didn’t drive it for two weeks because I was scared,” he says. “But every day I’d sit in the car and press the clutch…and make motor noises with my mouth,” he says with a laugh. Finally, as Hancock became more comfortable with the Cobra, he began taking it out for short drives. One day several weeks after his purchase, Byrd was involved in a minor accident while driving the Cobra. “Herbie, I screwed up your car,’ he said to me on the phone. I said, ‘Hey, man, don’t worry about it; it’s just a car.’
“That fender bender connected me to reality.”
From that time, CSX2006 was no longer a shrine, but a daily driver. As soon as it left the body shop, Hancock began driving it to gigs in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago, and even drove it to California a couple of times. Hancock chalked up more than 70,000 miles on the Cobra before the speedometer cable broke.
Eventually Hancock moved to California and began using the Cobra less and less. He purchased a new Ferrari in 1990, and from that time, CSX2006 has been in storage. “When I bought the Ferrari, I went into the garage and had a long talk with the Cobra,” Hancock says. “I said, ‘This is for your own good; you’re too valuable to drive. Look, I’m replacing you with a Ferrari; at least it’s not a Chevy!”
In April 2007, the 67-year-old Hancock celebrated his 44th year of Cobra ownership, making him the longest original Cobra owner in the world except for Carroll Shelby himself, who still owns prototype CSX2000.
Both Shelby and Hancock went on to become hugely successful; Shelby’s cars won an untold number of races and championships, including Le Mans in 1966 and 1967; Hancock has written scores of hits and chart-busting albums and received a Grammy Award in 1983. But despite these accolades, Hancock remains passionate toward his four-wheeled companion.
I’ll never sell it,” he says. “It represents my first success in life.”

[Xavier]

Wow, the things you learn. Herbie Hancock owns a real 289, shows it, drives it and most surprisingly lives in the city I live in. Does he drive it to the shows or trailer it?

Man, ain't that someth'n.

[02roush]

Herbie lives in Santa Monica. Hank Williams lives in Pomona

And I asked Hank what other cars he has. He has a fully customized FIERO!!! Said its the baddest Fiero around. lol