50th Anniversery Daytona
Peter Brock's sleek aerodynamic aluminum body designed to allow higher speeds on the long straight-aways of the 1964 24 hours of Le Mans. Shelby was the pointman appointed by Ford in their battle with Ferrari for the LeMans crown, and this was his first try. Of course eventually with the GT40 he did succeed, but this was the first as the Cobra convertibles caused too much air turbulence to hit the high speeds necessary to beat Enzo's best.
As the story goes, the truck carrying CSX2286, the one-off Daytona Coupe built special for the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans race, was involved in an accident on the way to the track. Carroll Shelby’s “secret weapon,” as the car would become known, was badly damaged and would not be able to race. According to the legend, the car was powered by an iron-block 427 with aluminum cylinder heads, just like the one the NASCAR boys had been running, and had been tested at Riverside.
Only all of the above never really happened. It’s an urban legend. Hogwash. Poppycock.
In reality, the car was never finished. Despite the best efforts of John Ohlsen, one of Shelby’s trusted fabricators, CSX2286 was still missing major components in June 1964 and wasn’t ready to race. Despite the “story,” it was never put on a truck headed for Le Mans. Instead it remained under construction in a dark and dusty corner of Carrozzeria Grand Sport, an Italian body shop in Modena often used by Shelby.
“I think this story was invented by Shelby as an answer to why it never arrived in France for the race,” says Peter Brock, who designed the Cobra Daytona Coupe for Shelby in 1964. “It couldn’t have, as it was never completed and never ran. Since some people knew of Shelby’s plan to embarrass Ferrari with a prototype Daytona Coupe at Le Mans and it never showed, he had the story released that it had been crashed on the way to France.”
Months earlier, Shelby asked Ohlsen to yank the coupe’s 289 small-block, lengthen its chassis three inches and install an all-aluminum 427. He wanted a big-block to take on Ferrari in the Prototype Class. “The idea was that it would have the power of a big block with the lightweight of the 289,” Brock says.
Ohlsen modified the chassis at Shelby’s shop in Venice, California, and then shipped the car to Italy where he would oversee the body modifications and install the larger engine. Only Ford wouldn’t make Shelby an aluminum 427. “They said the bore spacing and thin walls of the block would cause overheating,” says Brock, who is now 82. “Instead, they sent us an aluminum 390 block, which Ohlsen installed.”
Unfortunately, time ran out. “The car was maybe 70-percent completed,” Brock says. “He was waiting on a long list of parts from Ford, including a clutch.” Shelby must have been disappointed. With more than 500 horsepower and weighing just 2200 pounds, the sleek, aerodynamic coupe would have been the fastest car on the three-mile long Mulsanne Straight that year. “We were running 197 mph in the 289 car,” Brock says. “So it would have easily passed 200 mph.”
Enzo must have had a laugh when he heard of his rival’s misfortune, and his team did win big that year, with Ferraris taking all three podium spots. But Shelby’s crew was a scrappy bunch, and a small-block Daytona Coupe, CSX229—with Ohlsen as crew chief and driven by Bob Bondurant and Dan Gurney—finished fourth, winning the GT class over Enzo’s GTOs.
The car in the image is one of Shelby's official 50th Anniversery models....The price for each aluminum and fiberglass selection, sans drivetrain, starts at $349,995 and $179,995, respectively. Get your spare change out........
50th Anniversery Daytona
Peter Brock's sleek aerodynamic aluminum body designed to allow higher speeds on the long straight-aways of the 1964 24 hours of Le Mans. Shelby was the pointman appointed by Ford in their battle with Ferrari for the LeMans crown, and this was his first try. Of course eventually with the GT40 he did succeed, but this was the first as the Cobra convertibles caused too much air turbulence to hit the high speeds necessary to beat Enzo's best.
As the story goes, the truck carrying CSX2286, the one-off Daytona Coupe built special for the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans race, was involved in an accident on the way to the track. Carroll Shelby’s “secret weapon,” as the car would become known, was badly damaged and would not be able to race. According to the legend, the car was powered by an iron-block 427 with aluminum cylinder heads, just like the one the NASCAR boys had been running, and had been tested at Riverside.
Only all of the above never really happened. It’s an urban legend. Hogwash. Poppycock.
In reality, the car was never finished. Despite the best efforts of John Ohlsen, one of Shelby’s trusted fabricators, CSX2286 was still missing major components in June 1964 and wasn’t ready to race. Despite the “story,” it was never put on a truck headed for Le Mans. Instead it remained under construction in a dark and dusty corner of Carrozzeria Grand Sport, an Italian body shop in Modena often used by Shelby.
“I think this story was invented by Shelby as an answer to why it never arrived in France for the race,” says Peter Brock, who designed the Cobra Daytona Coupe for Shelby in 1964. “It couldn’t have, as it was never completed and never ran. Since some people knew of Shelby’s plan to embarrass Ferrari with a prototype Daytona Coupe at Le Mans and it never showed, he had the story released that it had been crashed on the way to France.”
Months earlier, Shelby asked Ohlsen to yank the coupe’s 289 small-block, lengthen its chassis three inches and install an all-aluminum 427. He wanted a big-block to take on Ferrari in the Prototype Class. “The idea was that it would have the power of a big block with the lightweight of the 289,” Brock says.
Ohlsen modified the chassis at Shelby’s shop in Venice, California, and then shipped the car to Italy where he would oversee the body modifications and install the larger engine. Only Ford wouldn’t make Shelby an aluminum 427. “They said the bore spacing and thin walls of the block would cause overheating,” says Brock, who is now 82. “Instead, they sent us an aluminum 390 block, which Ohlsen installed.”
Unfortunately, time ran out. “The car was maybe 70-percent completed,” Brock says. “He was waiting on a long list of parts from Ford, including a clutch.” Shelby must have been disappointed. With more than 500 horsepower and weighing just 2200 pounds, the sleek, aerodynamic coupe would have been the fastest car on the three-mile long Mulsanne Straight that year. “We were running 197 mph in the 289 car,” Brock says. “So it would have easily passed 200 mph.”
Enzo must have had a laugh when he heard of his rival’s misfortune, and his team did win big that year, with Ferraris taking all three podium spots. But Shelby’s crew was a scrappy bunch, and a small-block Daytona Coupe, CSX229—with Ohlsen as crew chief and driven by Bob Bondurant and Dan Gurney—finished fourth, winning the GT class over Enzo’s GTOs.
The car in the image is one of Shelby's official 50th Anniversery models....The price for each aluminum and fiberglass selection, sans drivetrain, starts at $349,995 and $179,995, respectively. Get your spare change out........