Shape of the Arntz/Butler body

[GVS]

I am a relative “newbie” to the ClubCobra forum and have been reading about the Arntz/Butler Cobras. I like that both Arntz & Butler worked for Shelby, and Arntz thought of his cars as an evolution of the Shelby 427 Cobra, picking up where Shelby stopped.

During my research about the Arntz body shape I found a website about CSX3193 which was created by its current owner who purchased this original Cobra in 1976. He believes that CSX3193 was the used to create early Arntz molds when it was owned by Max Sapp (1966-1974). When discussing previous damage to CXS3193, he states:

“During Max’s ownership, the car suffered two minor accidents. In one instance, the right front knockoff came loose and the wheel began to part company with the pin drive hub only to became lodged in the wheel well; thankfully with very minor damage. The second occurrence involved hitting the lower nose on a parking lot concrete bumper. Again the damage was somewhat minor. The history of CSX3193 gets interesting at this point. Max made a verbal agreement with Steve Arntz to do some horse trading on the Cobra. The short story is that Steve was to repair the body work and completely repaint the car. In return Steve would be given the opportunity to “…make a fiberglass mold of the front of the car for replacement parts for another foreign car…” This agreement did not go as planned and after a protracted period of time, the car was delivered back to Max with a relatively poorly done "bondo fix" on the nose and the body completely coated with a fiberglass mold releaser agent in lieu of a paint job (i.e. not repainted), dash removed, and numerous other “problems”. This created significant animosity between Max and Steve. Although not confirmed, it is assumed that the molds taken from CSX3193 were used as the basis for the Arntz Cobras produced in the early 1970s.”

When looking at pictures of CSX3193, the shape of the rear quarter panels are very similar to the Arntz, which to me have always appeared wider than most other CSX or Cobra replica.

Has anyone compared an early Arntz body to the dimension of CSX3193?
Did the Arntz bodies change shape through Type 1 to Type 4?
Did Butler make all his cars off the Arntz Type 3 body?

[750hp]

Isn't that a great little write up about CSX3193!
CSX3193 History

I've never seen a photo of an Arntz beside 3193, but if you get a picture of a car at the correct angle it seems that there are way more similarities than differences in the general shape of the car. For what it's worth, having owned an Arntz and a Contemporary, I personally much prefer the shape of the Arntz.

Shape aside, the thickness of Arntz bodies changed. "Donunder" is a forum member here and he has an incredibly thick body. Around the wheel arches, over the fender tops, the trunk, hood...they are all nearly TWICE as thick as the Arntz I owned until recently (now owned by "Leroy17" here on the forum). The thick body might as well have been made of bullet proof steel. It makes the car more of a tank than a light weight sports car! OK...Maybe not that extreme, but the body will outlive civilisation before it encounters any stress cracks...

Donunder's thick body is the shape that includes a cutout of the cowl section that is then incorporated into the hood shape. This was to allow easier access to Chevy distributors, and it is generally understood that this was offered in the Type 3 and Type 4 models. The literature I have seen would seem to date this option back much earlier than that. I wouldn't be surprised if his car was one of the very early Arntz Cobras before Steve realised he didn't need to put 400lbs of fiberglass into every car!

[750hp]

Here's the notched hood from Donunder's car