Last Call- Opportunity Knocking Edition

Robert Emslie

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Shelby’s original Cobra was a vehicle of opportunity, making do with what they had. AC having lost the Bristol engine to power their Ace, and Ford debuting a new small thin-wall V8 but lacking a suitable performance platform in which to showcase the mill, both unknowingly needed each other. Acting as middleman, and representing the ultimate opportunist, Carroll Shelby brought the two together for what was initially conceived as a big bang for your buck roadster, but which has since become one of history’s most venerated and valuable sports cars.

This is one of Shelby’s Continuation 289 cars and it puts a smile on my face to see the opportunism still alive here with white stripe tires being turned inward, making do with what you have.

Image source: Shelby American 

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Robert Emslie

Robert Emslie

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7 responses to “Last Call- Opportunity Knocking Edition”

  1. Garland137 Avatar
    Garland137

    I love the 289. It's just so much more refined-looking than the 427 (though I'm sure "refinement" is probably dead last on a list of Cobra attributes).

    Reply
    1. Felis_Concolor Avatar
      Felis_Concolor

      It's definitely much more svelte in overall appearance, and the power was already at the crazy single digits level before the 427 was shoehorned into the engine bay. The 427 versions always gave the impression they were waiting for the driver to sneeze in order to wrap themselves around the nearest telephone pole.

      Reply
  2. JayP2112 Avatar
    JayP2112

    Beautiful.
    Akin to the librarian wearing a thong versus the 427 on the stripper pole.

    Reply
  3. zeepet Avatar
    zeepet

    289 is a snoozer. Put the 7 ltr. in it and fulfill your bucket list desires. If you got it, flog it ! There's no substitute for cubic inches ! Big block Fords were made for this. Check out the 1964 Fairlane 500 427 at Nurburgring video on youtube. You will believe !

    Reply
    1. skitter Avatar
      skitter

      Really? -5? Didn't we just go through this on the obscure muscle car post?
      Yes, the tone is a little dismissive, but (he) goes on to elaborate on (his) preference for the 427.
      There is no perfect comment.

      Reply
      1. Devin Avatar
        Devin

        While I agree, he puts a space between the end of the sentence and an exclamation point, and my life and career has made me wince at that.
        (I didn't downvote though, you need to be doing something much worse than formatting errors for me to do that.)

        Reply
  4. CJinSD Avatar
    CJinSD

    If I had the bucks for a continuation Shelby Cobra, I could not do the whitewalls-in thing. I'd either go for full irony and have the whitewalls out, or I'd spend the money on some decent continuation tires like Michelin-Xs, and have blackwalls. I realize that the difference is probably about a grand a set, but it's hard to believe that it would matter to someone that has a Shelby-built Cobra.
    When I was a teenager, most department store tires were whitewalls. The salespeople would try to convince me to take them and have the tires mounted as above. I told at least one of them that the last thing I wanted was for people to know I had whitewalls when I inevitably parked another car on its roof.

    Reply