What happened to the Brock Coupe?

[Woodz428]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

I bet at least 90% of Ford Hot Rods are running a Chevy motor. There just isn't any moaning or hand wringing by the Hot Rod guys about running a Chevy.

Probably accurate...overall, but more newer ones,percentagewise, are being Ford powered. I only build Ford powered rods. Nothing to do with anything other than I'm a Ford guy. If I built old ponchos, I'd likely have a poncho engine. I have one exception...I may be installing a 392 Hemi in our Dearborn Deuce convertible. It is currently set up for a SBF, but I have this nice Hemi and a blower...and well...they NEED to be somewhere. If not that it will be in a T-bucket...still a Ford.
To simply answer the original post. Yes the current car is the original Brock Coupe., there was no special "magic" added. Unless that "$" name is it. I believe they introduced a second version, same basic car with the deck chairs re-arranged. Oh yeah, it has out side door buttons/handles..big deal. I've crawled through the back hatch before( so did Peter when he visited a few years ago...or maybe he had Gayle do it ) not that big a deal. I also think it has Shelby signature gauges, just like the ones he used to make back in his gauge days. I think that would fall into the deck chair comment.

[Excaliber]

There just isn't any moaning or hand wringing by the Hot Rod guys about running a Chevy.

That's because there pretty much in lock step with the whole hot rod community. Low cost, easy to build, plenty of support, nothing to fabricate, parts readily available, many at Walmart, ZERO imagination required. They get great mpg, easy to work on, I could go on and on... Yet another "hot rod" with a small block GM motor. Talk about YAWN!

A Hemi?? Now THAT will be a hot rod!

[ENTDOC]

I had SPF0055 Brock Coupe with a Roush 427. I would gladly trade that motor for an LS7

[Wild Card 289]

I cannot remember now, was it the rods - or the pistons in my Performance Engineering built 427 stroker motor - that are actually Chevy components .................oh dear

If I do not get the TWM/Accel settup on my car sorted out soon, I will happily look for an LS7 to replace it.
They are both 500+hp power units, but at the end of the day it is the reliable horses that I trust.

45 years ago, Peter Brock was "right on the money" standing his ground, when Shelby doubted his concept and dubbed it as ugly.

[Trevor Legate]

OK, points of order on previous comments:

Shelby involvement regarding any form of AC Cars insolvency: zero

And Peter Brock was on board with the SPF Coupe project from day one, certainly did not visit to see any kind of 'project'. There was no project. Without him it would never have happened. Interesting to note that the whole thing was almost canned due to the lack of a suitable production tyre - that caused a two-year delay.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

Is the new Shelby Coupe going to be significantly different than the SPF Coupe? I thought they were basically just re-badging it...but I have no idea.

Actually,

There are many differences now: The suspension has been revised, the seating posistion has been changed, the windows are now power, there are exterior door handles (not just the remote power door "poppers") the wheels are different with revised offsets and more "dish" to them and most important is is NO LONGER A SUPERFORMANCE PRODUCT You can only buy them from Shelby dealers now so my idea of having a Brock coupe demo goes down the dunny.

[CowtownCobra]

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

OK, points of order on previous comments:
Interesting to note that the whole thing was almost canned due to the lack of a suitable production tyre - that caused a two-year delay.

hmmm.....tyre (tire?) issues? How so?

[Trevor Legate]

Nobody made a road-legal tire (sorry - a UK thing) of the correct depth of sidewall, as per the originals, to fill the wheelarch properly AND be speed-rated to 200mph. SPF could have used a 200+ tire but it would have been an ugly modern 'rubber band' tire that was lost in the wheelarch. It had to look right and be speed-rated before the car could be launched since a poor compromise was unacceptable. If memory serves it was Dunlop (?) who finally added such a tire to its range (luckily!)

There are numerous variations on the MkII Coupe including electric windows. Most are under the skin though. The door handles are from the GT40, mounted flush to the body, and are far more practical than the 'pop-and-hope' system on the MkI. I'm sure it worked fine but even so - plus it was possible to lock youself out on the MkI as happened to me twice. I now know how to enter a MkI illegally. Send a $100 bill to.....

[Got the Bug]

Superformance has one Brock Coupe left on their inventory list.



For me, the color might be OK if it didn't have stripes.

[Excaliber]

The color is likely why they still have this one.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

The color is likely why they still have this one.

Yep. But, the white stripes make it look even worse. It'll find a home...at the right price.

[rbkell]

I now have that car. Didn't like the color much at first, but it is growing on me.

[rcweingart]

Little bit of history as I understand it to explain the name and design changes: I guess everyone knows the story about Jimmy Price convincing Pete Brock to design the coupe with Bob Negsted tweaking the suspension and all. The car was originally known as the Superformance GT coupe which then became the known as the Brock Coupe for obvious reasons. All the while Superformance and Shelby were in litigation, perpetual litigation some might say. Lance Stander then bought Superformance from Jimmy Price who continued to manufacture the cars at High Tech in South Africa. Around this time Superformance and Shelby resolved their litigation and part of the settlement, for business and marketing purposes, was that Shelby got a license fee for each car sold and Superformance got the use of Shelby's name where upon the name then became the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe under license from Shelby. Lance used my car for the photo shoot with Carroll when they introduced the car as the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. All the while factory modifications were being incorporated into the original cars, exterior door locks and such. Pete Brock continued developing the car, most significantly the removal of the acrylic side scoops and introduction of the glass quarter window. I had developed and installed power windows on my coupe which everyone, Lance, Pete, Olthoff, and all recognized as a really convenient feature so when the factory incorporated Pete's glass quarter windows and acrylic side scoopless design, the power windows got incorporated into the car along with the deeper dish and relief more original style wheels that Lance longed for. A lot of people thought that the original wheels (without going into the story behind them) were too shallow and plain looking. The deeper dish necessitated the shorter control arms trading, in my opinion, function for form. Most of you know the other design changes including the external door handles, trimless headlight covers (Pete Brock), thinner tranny tunnel allowing for the seats to be moved further inward (without moving the pedals although the steering wheel was relocated, all so that the driver is in more of an early Ferrari misaligned seating position). Enter Shelby again and for reasons know to them and Lance, the car was now a Shelby MSO vehicle and not Superformance and known simply as the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (no longer followed by "under license from . . ." and with a CSX VIN. Hope this explains the metamorphosis of the name.