This Month in Cobra History - June
(We need to get a head start for June history... June is the month of LeMans, and there are tons of good stuff to recall. From the simple first-outing in 1963, all the way up to the GT40 sweep in 1967. Plus, there are many other events and Cobra milestones in June. Cal and I will be busy this month, for sure.)
LeMans - 1963
The first Cobra assault on the famed LeMans 24-Hour Endurance race was in June 1963. Shelby had AC Cars build two "LeMans Cobras" which competed in that race. The first LeMans Cobra was entered under the AC Cars banner and ultimately finished a respectable seventh, behind six Ferraris. The second was entered by a Shelby-franchised independant dealer-racer from Pittsburgh, Ed Hugas. This car was running 13th in the tenth hour when a connecting rod decided to vacate the premises...
The two LeMans Cobras were fitted with special aluminum hardtops to improve their aerodynamics and thereby increase top speed. It might even be said that they were the forerunner of the Daytona Coupes. The use of these tops -- longer that the street tops -- necessitated the fabrication of special shortened trunk lids that were hinged at the bottom and swung down when open...
The AC Car (#3) was right hand drive and, although entered and campaigned by AC, it was originally built for Shelby (although not for export). It carried a special serial number that had the prefix "CS" instead of "CSX"...CS2131.
The Hugas car, CSX2142, (#4) was left hand drive.
CSX2142 was driven by Ed Hugas and Peter Jopp
CS2131 was driven by Peter Harper and Ninian Sanderson.
These were the first Cobras to have the side vents.
Interesting to note that six "LeMans Replicas" were also built. The first series of three were used by the Shelby American Factory Team in the USRRC series; the second batch of three were sold to private parties and campaigned in the SCCA A/Production series.
First batch of LeMans Replicas= CSX 2136, 2137 and 2138
Second batch of LeMans Replicas= CSX2154, 2155 and 2156
Here's CS posing with one of his first "replicas" - CSX2138
(most text edited from Cobra/Mustang Guide - SAAC)
This Month in Cobra History - JUNE
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