The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

ypical of many of us, Drew Serb spent high school classes with a car magazine tucked inside his text- book. His attention was fixed on Co- bras rather than chemistry or history as the teacher droned on. We can all relate to that. He drove a ‘65 Mustang notchback, a 289 4- speed, in those days. He gradu- ated in 1969 when Cobras were still holding their value – mean- ing they were out of reach for him. He never even knew anyone who owned one. He would see them on the used car lots but could never convince his Dad to take one for a test drive. They were $2500 or $3000 at the time. At some dealerships there would be four or five of them lined up [ Coventry Motors in Walnut Creek, California sold more small block Cobras than any other dealer. ] The first time he drove a Cobra was the first one he put to- gether himself. That was in 1975. He bought the car in June of 1974. SAAC: Did you know about SAAC back then? SERB: Somehow or other Royal Krieger got in contact with me and showed me his car. It was probably through Don Spillaine at Cobra Per- formance at the time. That’s who I bought the car from. There were guys hanging out there all of the time. My brother-in-law was a UPS driver and he said, “ You gotta go by there. They’ve got a whole bunch of Cobra stuff there. ” That’s how I ended up buying my first car. When I picked it up I met Lynn Park. I paid $1,500 for my Cobra and I got Spillaine to throw the engine in. Lynn paid $2,000 for his so I keep telling him that he got screwed. SAAC: When you got your first Cobra, what condition was it in? SERB: Well, it was advertised in Cobra Performance’s little newsletter as “ half a Cobra for $1,500 .” I got him not to cut it up. It had hit a guardrail at Riverside and the front was all bent up on it. I took it but I said, “ Just don’t cut it up. ” I said “ I’ll take it but I want the motor. ” It had, at one time, be- longed to Paul Petersen from “The Donna Reed Show.” The studio made him sell it. SAAC: So you reconstructed it on your own? (We don’t want to say “restored” because that word wasn’t around back then). SERB: Well, not on my own totally. SAAC: But you didn’t take it to a shop and have someone else fix it. SERB: No. I did a great deal of it in my parent’s garage. At that point I didn’t know where were serial num- bers on all those parts. I thought the footbox tag was the I.D., so off you go. I went down to the junkyard in Hayward, ABC Au- towreckers, and Jerry Lacastas had a 289 chassis there, straight as a dime. That’s good – I’ll cut the back half of this car off, put it on that straight chassis and order a front clip from England. And for decades the serial num- bers were all screwed up. I had no idea that there were chassis numbers on the doors, trunk and hood. The car came out very nice. My parents were just pissed to the eyeballs because I bought that car. Fifteen hundred dollars I wasted. It doesn’t even have door handles. I sold it in April of 1978 for $36,000 to buy Pro Media, the AV business I was working for at the time. SAAC: I bet that changed their mind. SERB: I set the check on the kitchen table and showed it to my Mom, and that was the end of that conversation. But that was the only way I could af- ford one. I had to buy one that was kind of beat up and then put it back together. So I sold that car and bought another one. SAAC: The one you bought was prob- ably in a little better condition? SERB: No. Hell no. I’ve probably The SHELBY AMERICAN Summer 2022 38 Cobra True Believer – Rick Kopec saac@saac.com T