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While predating GT350s, here is picture of one version of a family of 260 c.i.d. engine aluminum 4V intake manifold. Ford made a number of different prototype cast iron 260 4V intake manifolds. One of the patterns got carried over into an aluminum version from Holman-Moody. If you poke around the Internet you will find aluminum 4V models with:

Holman-Moody bird shaped logo.
A raised flat rectangular pad with nothing on it. (Shelby American factory picture.)
A raised flat pad as above with a COBRA transfer applied (Shelby American magazine ad.)
COBRA text as shown below.
TIGER text.
A raised flat pad with round ended and nothing on it.
MOON text.

At least those are the ones I know about.



There were also 2-4V manifolds with:
Edelbrock F4B logo (two places).
COBRA text.
SHELBY text.
A raised flat pad with nothing on it.

At least those are the ones I know about.

I have seen a few of the intakes as shown in the original post. I have seen holes drilled somewhere to add a PCV system fitting in intakes without bosses for the purpose.

Making additional versions must not have been a big project in the 1960s.

BLUE STREAK STOCK CAR SPECIAL 6.50/6.70-15 tires were common as front tires in Shelby team race Cobras on and used by SFMR002 during the track session covered by Sports Car Graphic. The left rear wheel on the car in one picture was an American Racing drag race wheel for Cobras with the spline drive adapter and hat removed but retaining the chromium plated lug nuts left from the Cobra assembly. I reverse engineered the lug nuts and captured washers into drawings for the car's owner so he knew what to look for.)

I kept a some of the research material from helping with details of SFM5R002's restoration. SFM5R002 had quite a few parts from the Cobra department that track day including a 1964 type five bolt HP289 4V race engine and experimental Holley Custom Shop 1964 made prototype R-3259 700 c.f.m. carburetor.  Several of us identified components in picture previously published and not published and helped come up with all the period and or Cobra roadster parts required. The mechanical tachometer drive and cable, also like 427 Cobra CSX3002 used early, were adapted from a tractor application and new old stock parts were tough to find.  (SFM5S003 had an oil pressure gauge form a engine powered lift truck like Shelby American used. It took me a long time to figure out which exact model of lift truck and which exact model of oil pressure gauge was required. After that, I found a gauge for the owner to buy in a few days.)

Side Bar: Shelby American had access to every type of tire Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company made and used models made in England and the U.S.A.  The size, type, and rubber compounds they chose for a car, driver, or event could be anything in stock that the rules allowed sizes of wheels wise.

Just as a SHELBY lettered time frame reference, the 1967½ Honest Charley catalog. I do not know if the catalog had a publishing date in it or not.

One of the older Registries shows CSX2210 with that kind of wheel. Big red book back in the 1990s? Page 160.

Instead of high jacking the racing stem caps for sale thread,

https://www.saac.com/forum/index.php?topic=30790.0

I moved my comments over to the CSX2000 Series car section.

Cobra wise, street tires, black plastic caps were standard. That said, from the first production Cobra to the last customers could and did at times order race tires for street use. The whole topic of Cobras and original tires is very complicated. There were multiple street and multiple race tires made in England or America, while most were made in the U.S.A.

Valve stem caps were a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company detail. Caps came with inner tubes and Cobras street and race, wire wheel or magnesium wheel, used inner tubes. Goodyear racing inner tubes were specifically marked heavy duty models and came with military specification metal caps with internal seal. You will see these caps in new race car pictures of Cobras and other Shelby American prepared racers. We find them in low mile unrestored Cobra tire and wheel sets when race tires were included.  They were widely used in civilian and military aviation inner tubes. In the 1970s and later I occasionally found the same model of Scharder® cap used in industrial hydraulic accumulator assemblies for high pressure nitrogen gas bladders. In the Schrader brand I was aware of the MADE IN U.S.A. marked caps connected with Cobras. A very knowledgeable historian told me that when GT40s received British made inner tubes during construction, there was a MADE IN ENGLAND marked version of the metal cap we are discussing. I have not had one of those in hand to study.

What valve stem caps were used on the Goodyear brand G8® tires used as standard equipment in Cobras before the middle of the CSX2101-CSX2200 contract, I have no idea.

Decades ago I obtained the entire spare wheel with a 7.35x15 low profile (thinks 65 series) speed rated American made Goodyear 7.35X15 3•T POWER CUSHION tire (see end note) still mounted. The early 1964 model Cobra was purchased with racing in mind and was said to have been converted to a racer immediately. The spare wheel got set aside for decades until I obtained it. It is the only original Cobra wire wheel and tire set I have had access to that MIGHT never had its air stem cap removed until I removed it for a picture session. Not a surprise really, it had a Schrader® brand black plastic cap on the valve stem. (Side Bar: A vendor has been selling new old stock ones like it on eBay® recently.)  When Dave Riley and Steven Juliano recommissioned CSX2416, Steven traded me out of the spare wheel assembly for that car. Before it left, I took a picture of the balance weight on the assembly.  Right or wrong, with only mint condition spare tire sample to go by, I obtained some new old stock Schrader black caps for our cars in case they ever get reworked. One cap goes with the one new old stock 1964-65 Cobra tire I found decades ago.



End note: There were three slightly different drawings for three slightly different molds used in two different tire manufacturing plants in two different states to make these special tires. There was also a British made version that showed up very late near the end of Cobra production.

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Sorry for bringing this older thread up again - but are those Wheels still available (center lock Torques for standard hub) ?

Originals made by American Racing Equipment in cast magnesium, no. They have been obsolete multiple decades now. The 6" wide Cobra only front wheels have been obsolete since Shelby American shut down in California long ago.

Great information, much appreciated.
Dan

THE ELECTRIC AUTOLITE COMPANY® created or purchased the Prest-O-Lite®, Prestolite®, Auto-Lite®, and Autolite® brand names over a few decades prior to 1962. The Ford Motor Company purchased the Autolite brand name and selected business operations mid-1962.

The 1965 MUSTANG GT350 was not the first Shelby car to use leftover AUTOLITE batteries. Starting with approximately new Cobra CSX2117 during 1963 a 1950s design white and black plastic case model was used in new Cobras. The orientation of post was opposite of that of batteries used in multiple Fords.





Battery for a Cobra sitting on the floor at Shelby American.




I have seen a picture of them in a new 1966 Ford sponsored drag race car too.

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The subject of the factory installation details and the questions today that are unanswered is complicated.

Looking forward to your research. With DST making kits there must have been a demand outside of SA cars. Were they ever offered as one of those dealer installed "trunk" options for Mustang, Fairlane, etc that got shipped with the car or were they just over the counter parts?

Over-the-counter sales.

So the EARLY 1963 Cobras Comp or street cars could have had a small letter Cobra 2 x 4 intake with insignia and had a date coded 1963 aluminum water neck and ran the 3258s and 3259s carbs correct?

I don't believe that the 2X4 intake with the 3258 and 3259 carbs was ever run on a race successful MK I or II competition Cobra.

The system was advertised along with list of a drag racing options. The first 2-4V induction car by chassis number and invoice date was CSX2163 completed as a Ford executive car in September 1963. As for water neck (a.k.a. thermostat housing) whether a C3OE-8594-A or a C4OE-8594-A was used probably depended on what was in stock at Shelby American and whether or not they reused what Ford installed or not. Any part Shelby American removed during a induction system change may or may not have been reused in the same engine Ford installed the part in.

I have been working on the 2-4V option research project since late 2022. Progress has been slow because little factory documentation has come to light, because most Cobras to get a factory installed system lost them decades ago, because factory installations that stayed in their cars have been owner modified over time, and because Ford Motor Company contracted Dearborn Steel Tubing Company to make up kits of their which Ford sold over-the-counter in 1964 through at least 1967 and sold them for years after the last Cobra was completed.

My slide show file has grown to 113 pages so far. Since many ancillaries were rare new and are extremely rare now I have been doing reverse engineering of any parts from base gaskets to linkage components I have found to purchase or could borrow into detailed drawings. I even got to spend a few days with a borrowed system claimed to have been tested by Ford engineers at their proving grounds in 1965, removed, and stored as a display for decades.

The subject of the factory installation details and the questions today that are unanswered is complicated.

The original issues, that means first versions released, of covers for 1964 engines were produced for Shelby American in 1963 and they did not have any "BUDDY BAR" markings anywhere.

    How many covers do you think might have been produced in 1963 before the "Buddy Bar" moniker appeared?
    Scott.

The 1964 engine original version. I have no idea. I have never come across many of them but so many people call them fakes or reproductions they tend to get used on engines not in Shelby cars. I used to see oil fill and vent assemblies for sale with red rusted formerly chromium plated tubes. The chromium plated tube version of assembly was not used long and Ford sold them in dress up kits too.

The subject is so complicated is why my slide show has grown to 37 pages so far.

Dan

These are late die cast valve covers that have been machined to look like the early Buddy Bar castings. The sharp corners where the end mill took the turn is the clue. Buddy Bar is still in business and did speciality aluminum castings for all the Big 3 in the 60 and all of the SoCal speed shops. https://buddybarcasting.com/ They would have stuck their name on every casting for warranty reasons.

All three of the 1962-63 sand cast COBRA POWERED BY FORD rocker arm covers and the first version of casting for 1964 model engines did not have any kind of Buddy Bar identification anywhere.

I agree with you Dan about the very early valve covers did not have the buddy Bar trademark but the other things in the discussed auction stand out as issues that indicate repro to me especially given the description "Shelby Mustang GT350' context. 65 and early 66 GT350 valve covers do not typically have vent tubes for breather caps on both valve covers nor do typically the very early valve covers that I have seen. The very early valve covers that I have seen with no buddy bar typically had no opening and were all fins. I still believe in this instance we are dealing with repro for reasons I mentioned .

Many people do not know that the very first type of COBRA POWERED BY FORD sand cast rocker arm covers were being installed in 1963 in new Cobras as an extra cost option. Designed for 1962 and 1963 Ford Fairlane 260 and 289 c.i.d. engines in Cobras one cover design was used at a time on both sides as 1962 and 1963 engines had no openings in them for PCV Valves of oil fill and engine vent tubes.

It was not even that simple as all in the 1963 year there were three different wooden patterns made and used sequentially as the design evolved quickly. None of the three designs included the Buddy Bar identification.

A new wooden pattern was made to create covers for 1964 model year engines during 1963. A single pattern was used to make a casting type that was machined to make either a PCV side or an oil fill side. The earliest castings have no Buddy Bar markings. The earliest oil fill and vent tube equipped cover included a chromium plated tube that had very little rust resistance. Soon the Buddy Bar identification was added and the tube for oil addition and venting to one became bright plated in something more durable than chromium, still in year 1963.

The new Cobra car covers for 1964 engines in Cobras were continued for all the remainder of 1963 and through Cobra production in 1964. The earliest street 1965 MUSTANG GT350s received the exact same cover assemblies as late Cobras did.

At some time in early year 1965 more wooden patterns were made and now there were patterns to make just oil fill covers or PCV type covers. New wooden patterns were introduced into circa the summer of 1965. The interesting point for me, every hand made wooden pattern resulted in different versions of castings. How many masters were used, I have no idea but I had parts cast from several different patterns side by side on a table once. One version of casting had a crooked rib. One version of casting and its baffle cleared the roller rocker arms and nuts in an engine I had at the time.

Sellers of ALL the versions made 1963-65 for 1964 and later engines are likely to call them all 1965-66 GT350 parts. As best I can tell, Dearborn Steel Tubing Company packed kits for all the versions except the very first 1962-63 engine design which was extremely rare in 1963.

Shelby American sometimes used two each oil fill and vent covers on race engines in Cobras and Cooper-Monaco racers.

1962-63 model engine, three different casting versions in quick succession, no access ports in them.
1964 model engines, two casting versions finished in multiple ways in succession.
1965-66 model engines, started off with the last 1964 set and then had more versions of castings and how tubes were made added.

Sand cast reproductions? I have seen reproductions of multiple original 1964-1966 designs which just adds to the confusion in the used parts market. Circa 1984 Chuck Gutke (Cobra Restorers) had one of the later made wooden masters and was planing on having copies cast and machined. I held that master pattern in my hands while we talked in his office. He had original worn wooden masters for other COBRA items also in the shelves. What is original, copy, or reproduction gets real fuzzy sometimes. Parts that have never been modified in any way including hard media blasting are easier to identify usually.

The COBRA POWERED BY FORD sand cast rocker arm cover subject is complicated. My current slide show is over thirty pages in length so it cannot all be squeezed into text boxes in forum posts.
Dan