This slightly ratty early Cobra was photographed at SAAC-1 in Oakland, CA back in '76. It remains unidentified in my files. Anyone recognize it? The black CA plate is "ZFH-534" and the car appears to have a wooden dashboard.
Hi Ned,
One clue may involve the Black plate shown. This series would be from the 1969 year so this car was not sold new in California. Wish you luck finding out more info.
R.R.
Hi Ned,
Just wondering if you ever solved this mystery?
I came across a car that at one time was also equipped with a wood dash-CSX 2417 It is the car that caught fire in the tunnel near Zion. I kinda doubt it could be the same car as the one pictured but it says in the registry it did have a wood dash in its "early" days. Doubt many owners spent time with trim like this, most wanted to spend money to go fast vrs. Look nice.
Regards R.R.
The black plates were issued from 1963-69. The car could have spent its entire life in CA (or not). If he got the car without a front plate or if a plate was lost/stolen he'd get a new set from DMV. Often times the cops would go on fishing expeditions and no front plate was a good reason to stop you for a chat. If he gave you a fix-it ticket you'd need to get new plates.
Don't remember CSX2417 having a wood dash when I drove it.That was about 1 year before the fire. Saw it after the fire and don't remember the dash being wood. Sadly Marty Langsam passed away last year and can't verify, however Lynn Park knows the car well and can verify.
ZFH black plate would be late 1969 or early 1970.
Quote from: JohnSlack on April 06, 2025, 06:30:02 PMZFH black plate would be late 1969 or early 1970.
My sister's 68 Calif Spec was ZAZ 235. She bought it new in SoCal July or Aug 68.
Thanks for the thoughts on this car. Years ago the club had contacts which allowed us to obtain owner info from license plates. This is now protected by privacy policies.
One thing we do know is the approximate time frame of these plates which may help figure out which car is pictured. 1970 Plates were Blue with yellow.
R.R. 8)
Wouldn't surprise me if a few 70 model year cars were issued black plates as well. Anything can happen with the DMV. Many years ago I saw a 69 Mach 1, I ran the plate and it came back as a 70 Ford. Thinking I made a mistake I ran it again, still returned to a 70 Ford yet this time I looked at the vin return and saw it indicated a 69.
Ended up talking to the guy and his family bought the car brand new and the DMV registered it as a 70. The driver said his dad tried to get it corrected a few times early on but DMV wouldn't do it. His dad gave up trying to resolve the issue.
He said that every 5 years or so he would get stopped and he showed me a registration from the early 70s with his dads name on it showing Model year 1970 with a 69 vin. Id love to see the comments if that car ever ended up on BAT.
Quote from: Road Reptile on April 06, 2025, 09:47:45 PM......Years ago the club had contacts which allowed us to obtain owner info from license plates. .....
At that time CA DMV still had their paper records. DMV would not search those but would allow certain individuals to search them. Once it was exposed that those searches were leading to people re-creating Cobras from totaled cars (whose titles had been surrendered) DMV ended the practice. The privacy laws came into effect several years after that. I've heard rumors that 28 "Air Cobras" are known. The practice ended when a guy called SAAC and wondered why the Cobra he bought new and totaled in CA was now listed in the registry. He had bought the salvage back from his insurer and it was sitting in his CO garage still wrecked. SAAC got in touch with the CHP and they went and scooped up the fake. The owner was able to get it back after all the CSX numbers were ground off and CA assigned a VIN to it. At that time his $250,000 Cobra investment was turned into a $60,000 kit car.