He claims he bought one new

[zedog]

A guy I work with claims he purchased an original 427 cobra at a Ford dealer in the Buffalo, NY area in 1969. I asked him if he remembers the name of the Ford dealer and he does not.

The story goes he was planning to order a new 1970 429 Torino but the Cobra 427 that was in the show room caught his eye. The car was solid white, non strip car, and only came with a tonneau cover. It had side pipes and hood scoop. He does remember it had a 427 not 428. He said the dealer marketed it that way. The car had just under 1k miles at the time. He said it had a large gas tank and cost $15.00 to fill so I presume it had a 42 gallon tank.

He said he only owned it for 3 months and in those months he had many problems and issues with it. He ended up trading it back in on a Torino that the dealer had in stock. He says after he traded it in the car met it's demise on a test drive driven by a salesmen. The car was a total loss and scrapped somewhere in Talawana, NY.

Was there many white CSX 3000 series cars? Would be interesting to see if there is a record of a white car delivered to the Buffalo area in the registry. Could somebody take a look?

Not sure if this story holds water but I thought I would share it.


Mike

[Mark IV]

Frontier Ford was the dealer for Western New York and they were in Niagara falls, not Buffalo.

I do not recall any white 427s coming out of them but the SAAC registry will show what dealer delivered what chassis.

There were no fatal "demo" accidents in this area. The only local fatal Cobra accident was CSX3326, the wreck I bought years later. I also assume "Talawana" is really "Tonawanda" a local town.

Now there was a low mile used Cobra 427 sold in Syracuse that had belonged to "Sam" from Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs that I believe was white.

[zedog]

I will ask him again if he bought it in Syracuse or Buffalo. Funny thing is this guy is not really a car guy so the details are vague. I will also mention Sam, maybe that will ring a bell for him.

[Nedsel]

I'm calling his story BS. While Frontier Ford did have an S/C for a time (which left the factory in primer), paperwork shows the car was intended for delivery in Canada. Frontier Ford is right by the border, so they had it sent to them for ultimate delivery to Ford of Canada. And the car wasn't wrecked. If any 427 Cobra with side pipes and a hood scoop from the factory had been totaled by a sales person, that would be known today.

[Frank Messina]

When I got out of the Army in February 1967 there was a Ford dealer on Transit Road in Buffalo that had a white 427 Cobra parked out front with a $7495 sign in the window.
Frank

[Blue66]

Originally Posted by Nedsel

I'm calling his story BS. While Frontier Ford did have an S/C for a time (which left the factory in primer), paperwork shows the car was intended for delivery in Canada. Frontier Ford is right by the border, so they had it sent to them for ultimate delivery to Ford of Canada. And the car wasn't wrecked. If any 427 Cobra with side pipes and a hood scoop from the factory had been totaled by a sales person, that would be known today.

Ned maybe it was the car I bought the rear clip from in 1977ish from Carter Gette.. CSX3294 ??

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Frank Messina

When I got out of the Army in February 1967 there was a Ford dealer on Transit Road in Buffalo that had a white 427 Cobra parked out front with a $7495 sign in the window.
Frank

Transit Road dealer was Al Maroone Ford (now in Florida and part of Autonation) and they never had a 427.

Buffalo was a tough sell for Shelby. Ford first sent a 260/289 Cobra to Kenmore Motors on Delaware Ave in Kenmore, at that time the biggest Ford dealer around. They held it for a short tie and passed on the product. Ford then sent two 289s to Al Maroone Ford (a red car and a white car) to test the waters. The white car was given to Cookie Gilchrest the Buffalo Bills star in hopes he would purchase it. Cookie rode it hard and returned it as it really didn't fit an NFL player well and it didn't even have roll-up windows!

Eventually Frontier Ford took the franchise and Jerry Hamam worked as the "Hi Performance manager" selling the Shelby products. he eventually became the Datsun dealer in Niagara Falls and I have receipts for work they did on CSX3327.

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Blue66

Ned maybe it was the car I bought the rear clip from in 1977ish from Carter Gette.. CSX3294 ??

Nope. The supposed buyer said the car had a hood scoop and side pipes. Shelby didn't sell street cars configured that way, and no dealers ordered them so equipped, so if it had these options, it would have had to have been a comp or S/C 427. And none of those are missing; none were crashed in upstate western NY by a salesperson. 3294 came out of Massachusetts and was a blue street car.

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

Transit Road dealer was Al Maroone Ford (now in Florida and part of Autonation) and they never had a 427.

Buffalo was a tough sell for Shelby. Ford first sent a 260/289 Cobra to Kenmore Motors on Delaware Ave in Kenmore, at that time the biggest Ford dealer around. They held it for a short tie and passed on the product. Ford then sent two 289s to Al Maroone Ford (a red car and a white car) to test the waters. The white car was given to Cookie Gilchrest the Buffalo Bills star in hopes he would purchase it. Cookie rode it hard and returned it as it really didn't fit an NFL player well and it didn't even have roll-up windows!

Shelby American records show that Al Maroone was shipped the two cars you mention, but neither was white. They got a red one and a Princess Blue one. They had a third on order, also red, but cancelled the order before it arrived.

[Buzz]

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt - since the car was allegedly bought in '69 with a thousand miles on it, could it be possible that it was a pre-owned street car trade-in with original owner added pipes and scoop? That may explain some of the discrepancies. Then again, the claim that it only came with a tonneau (as opposed to a top and curtains) would seem to imply that it was an SC. Did any 427 roadsters come with the big gas tank?

[Mark IV]

Ned,

I am senile but my neurons really remember one being white. I will ask one of the guys who worked there at the time and see if he concurs or confirms the princess blue unit. As I recall they never did sell one and the cars were passed on to another dealer.

[Tim7139]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

Frontier Ford was the dealer for Western New York and they were in Niagara falls, not Buffalo.

I do not recall any white 427s coming out of them but the SAAC registry will show what dealer delivered what chassis.

There were no fatal "demo" accidents in this area. The only local fatal Cobra accident was CSX3326, the wreck I bought years later. I also assume "Talawana" is really "Tonawanda" a local town.

Now there was a low mile used Cobra 427 sold in Syracuse that had belonged to "Sam" from Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs that I believe was white.

Any chance we have a dealer name in Syracuse? Curious since that's home.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Tim7139

Any chance we have a dealer name in Syracuse? Curious since that's home.

Reynolds Ford was the Syracuse dealer. No longer exists but then neither does my dealership!

Perhaps Ned can look up Sam's 427 info as my registry is loaned out.

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt - since the car was allegedly bought in '69 with a thousand miles on it, could it be possible that it was a pre-owned street car trade-in with original owner added pipes and scoop? That may explain some of the discrepancies. Then again, the claim that it only came with a tonneau (as opposed to a top and curtains) would seem to imply that it was an SC. Did any 427 roadsters come with the big gas tank?

Buzz, yes, anything is possible. It seems odd that someone would add side pipes and a hood scoop, enjoy the car for just 1,000 miles, and trade it, but many Cobras were traded in early with few miles on them. My thinking is that we would have heard of a dealer sales rep fatality and the white car, whichever one it might have been, would be missing from the data base or would be known as a rebuild from a total wreck.

[Nedsel]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

Ned,

I am senile but my neurons really remember one being white. I will ask one of the guys who worked there at the time and see if he concurs or confirms the princess blue unit. As I recall they never did sell one and the cars were passed on to another dealer.

Correct. Both cars were returned to Shelby American.

[Nedsel]

3277 was a white 428 car that was originally sold through Nagle Ford of Rochester, NY in late '66 to a buyer who lived in Bath. But that car is shown to have been in Oklahoma by the time a warranty repair was performed in Oklahoma City early in '67. Had it been on a road trip, the car's mileage would have exceeded 1,000 miles by '69.

[Bernica]

The "Ned's Never-Ending Cobra Encyclopedia and Brain Trust" continues...

[olddog]

As I read the 1st post:

The 427 Cobra was a used car with 1000 miles, purchased in 1969. It could have been any dealer, not just dealers that Shelby shipped to.

The car met its demise... not the driver. No mention of a fatality.

He said it was a 427 not a 428 because the dealer marketed it that way, and the guy is not very car savvy. I would not rule out the possibility that it had a 428 in it. Salesmen still lie to this day.

Hope clearing those statements up helps.

[Al G]

The OP never said the accident involved a fatality. He said the car, not the driver, met its demise.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Al G

The OP never said the accident involved a fatality. He said the car, not the driver, met its demise.

But totaled 427s are pretty much all tracked in the registry so what car is it?

I call shenanigans!