here is no one more impor-
tant in the Cobra world than
the Registrar. He is the com-
piler of facts who sorts the wheat from
the chaff. He is the final word on what
is and what isn’t. And he is proba-
bly the single person most respon-
sible, today, for the Cobra being a
genuine blue chip investment in
the automotive world. The regis-
trar isn’t elected or appointed, con-
secrated or anointed. According to
some people, the registrar is either
Yoda, Luke Skywalker or Darth
Vader.
A marque like the Cobra can
only have one registrar. Imagine if
there were two: you don’t like what
one says about your car so you go
to the other one. Daddy says you
cannot stay up past your bedtime
so you ask Mommy. With the his-
tory and provenance of valuable
cars, that wouldn’t work. The way
it does work is that all owners rec-
ognize the registrar’s authority and,
like it or not, agree with it or not, they
understand that in the Cobra world
there is no higher authority. And that’s
the way it needs to be.
So, how did the Cobra registrar
rise to this lofty position? It didn’t hap-
pen overnight, and no one bequeathed
him a vast treasure trove of infor-
mation. He collected bits and
pieces, here and there, beginning
when the cars were only a few
years old and not many others
who weren’t owners cared about
them. He slowly assembled a col-
lection of details that took shape
as more were added to it. It was
an undertaking he began on his own;
he wasn’t directed by anyone else, and
when he started he had no real idea
where it would eventually lead.
Owners come and go but the reg-
istrar remains, rock-steady as a reli-
able reference source, ready to answer
questions and dispense information
that he has collected over the past
forty-plus years. Cobra owners are for-
tunate there is such a person who em-
bodies the highest standards of
honesty and accuracy because the al-
ternative would be like the wild west.
A car’s “history” would be whatever its
owner said it was. If this was the case,
do you think they would be as sought-
after and valuable as they are today?
Here’s another little-known fact.
The Cobra Registrar operates inde-
pendently of SAAC and any other
owner or enthusiast group. SAAC
willingly assists the registrar and
the registrar shares all of the data
he has collected with SAAC, but
SAAC neither directs nor controls
what the registrar says or does. It’s
the same with all registrars; they
are completely independent and
their work product is their own.
Ned Scudder didn’t become the
Cobra registrar when someone
rubbed a brass lamp causing him
to appear in a flash of smoke. Like
a lot of other Cobra enthusiasts
(and eventual Cobra owners),
Scudder wasn’t quite in high school
in 1963 when he got his first look
at a Cobra. And it was definitely love
at first sight.
SAAC: So, tell us where it all began.
SCUDDER: I was accompanying my
dad to the annual New York Interna-
tional Automobile Show. It was April
1963. We went every year, and we
would go on Friday, which was set-up
day and the public was not al-
lowed in. I would pick up various
press kits which I would take
home. I was also able to sit in
some of the cars. In 1963 there
was a little race Cobra there and
I just fell in love with it. I don’t
recall the serial number at this
point, but the Shelby American
The SHELBY AMERICAN
332 Fall 2015
Ned Scudder is the Cobra Registrar. How did that happen?
– Rick Kopec
T
“According to some people, the registrar
is either Yoda, Luke Skywalker
or Darth Vader.”