06-21-2016, 02:08 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Currently outside Chillicothe, Mo.,
Mo
Cobra Make, Engine:
Posts: 1
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Sieben skinner cobra
This should shed some light on the early years of this Cobra. It was originally purchased new by Tom Sieben whose family owned Sieben Construction in Kansas City Missouri.
Tom was a bit of a playboy and heavy drinker on occasion and wrecked the Cobra near Riverside Missouri not long after he made the purchase.
It was taken to Riverside Automotive and Body shop to be repaired. Alex (body shop owner) had a frame machine and was well known for his good work. My dad, Harry D. Skinner Sr. operated the auto repair portion of the shop and had been involved in drag racing in Kansas City for years.
Tom decided it was safer for him to ride around in his Lincoln and he and dad turned the stock Cobra into a strip car (mostly stock still).
One interesting note, according to dad, when they were working on the "289" they discovered it was in reality a 260. Again, according to dad Shelby was having trouble getting 289's because of the strong demand for the domestic vehicles and Mustang introduction. Dad was known to embellish a story at times though....
They installed a weighted flywheel and took it to the strip. Tom was the driver and when he went to take off at the line the Cobra stood up, teetered on the rear bumper and came down hard on the front end causing a lot of damage. Hence, they redid the front axle system and followed the Dragon Snake concept complete with spoke wheels......and installed the "wheelie" bars. All of this was done at Riverside Automotive by Dad, Tom and some of dad's employees.
Tom continued to be the driver but dad always claimed that he had lost a bit of his nerve after standing it on end and it just never performed up to expectations.
This Cobra was raced in Kansas City, Salina Kansas and Green Valley Texas Nationals I believe.
The last outing was in 1973 at Kansas City International Race Way and Tom complained it just was not running right. We changed the jets in the Webbers (we put the same size back in) and Tom said it was much better! This was the first time I heard of the Dragon Snake concept. Dad was arguing with strip officials about the cars classification. Not sure who won that one.
Riverside Automotive moved to a building in down town Kansas City and the Cobra and the 1937 "711" Fiat were housed there.
The last time I saw the Cobra was when Tom, Dad and I pushed it out of the storage side and helped load it onto the trailer of a collector that I think, was from New York. We laughed as we put boxes of the stock parts into the guys vehicle knowing what a monumental task it would be to take it back to stock condition.
I would like to know the location of this Cobra, it was part of the family heritage.
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