The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

Cobra was with a customer. He was looking out the showroom window when my wife made the turn in front of the dealership, and his customer pointed out, ‘Look, there’s a girl driv- ing a 427 Cobra.’ The Ford man re- sponded with, ‘Yeah, I sold the couple that car and the girl driving is eight- months pregnant. ’ “I drove 3356 for a while, and even- tually had it painted green. Bill Watkins Ford, formerly Paradise Ford, had hired a mechanic who’d previ- ously worked for Shelby American and handled all Cobra work. He applied the green paint. I remember being around their service bay one day in 1968 and they had three big wooden crates, each containing a 427 engine that was brand-new. Supposedly they were back-up engines for the J-Cars at LeMans for 1967. They were for sale, with a price tag of $800 each; single carburetor, magnesium intake mani- fold and aluminum heads. No, I didn’t buy one, but I should have. “I kept this red (later green) 427 Cobra for a couple of years, and sold it to purchase CSX3034. The photo of CSX3356 #39 being loaded onto a trailer behind a green Ford station wagon was taken as we were headed to Riverside. I’m on the right, and our driver, Kent Bagnell, is leaning down by the rear bumper. Kent was re- cruited because I didn’t have an SCCA license. The 4.11 gears made the car fast on corners but slow on the straightaways. It was the only time we raced this car. There were other Co- bras there and I suddenly realized af- terwards that we were fighting an uphill battle with a street car. “When we took the Red/Green Cobra to Riverside, there was a kid there not much older than me that went through Turn 1 in his 427 Cobra a lit- tle too fast. He ended up football-flip- ping it, end over end, six times. Picture this: his 42-gallon gas tank blew up and he was stuck in the car. Believe it or not, he survived the wreck. I took those pictures of his car over 50 years ago, and they still send chills down my spine. I went to a National race some- place and ran into the guy, and he was still racing – Formula Fords I think. I approached him and asked if he was the driver that flipped the Cobra end over end, and he nodded ‘Yes.’ His face looked like Nicki Lauda – scarred from the fire. He also had a noticeable limp but liked racing so much he was still at it, but added he’d since decided to slow down a little bit. “ I knew there was a 427 S/C (street/competition) Cobra running around here in Phoenix, belonging to Dale Kelly. I didn’t know Dale but somehow got his phone number and started bugging him. I told him I needed a car with a little more get up and go, competition worthy, and would he be willing to sell me his car? He wasn’t all that enthusiastic about my idea, and had bought it brand new, but I wore him down. Kelly eventually caved, saying, ‘Yes, I’ll sell it, for $7000’. Sold. “ I said goodbye to CSX3356 when I purchased Kelly’s white 427 S/C Cobra, CSX3034. Dale Kelly had orig- inally called Shelby and said he wanted to buy a 427 Cobra. Back then Shelby American was pushing their competition cars because they weren’t selling; they added mufflers to the side exhaust and a windshield so they could be sold as street cars. Dale ended up with one of these. When he purchased the car he said he’d come and pick it up Wednesday. They asked what color he wanted. Dale asked what colors were available. ‘We’ve got every color in the rainbow. What color do you want? Also, tell us when you’re getting on the airplane, and we’ll paint the car the night before.’ Well, the quality of the paint job made Earl Scheib look like Michelangelo. You could strike a match on it, the finish was so rough. “I liked this car so much, and it was so comfortable. It had Naugahyde seats, and was big and roomy, but had no sound deadening. Even though it had 2x4 carbs I decided to drive it on the street, and that caused a stir [laughs]. It was an awesome car and always ran well. We drove it with the top up in the winter and the top down in the summer. The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 78 427 Competition Cobra wreck at Riverside Raceway. It was Jim McCashin’s CSX3052. CSX3034