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AC Cobra Argument

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by steel rebel, Feb 19, 2009.

  1. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Okay guys and gals. Help me settle an argument with my brother in law about how cheap Cobras ever got. Not saying which side I or he is on.
    Reach back and put your thinking caps on. Probably in the 70s when gas prices zoomed up to the astronomical price of 60 cents a gallon and nobody wanted muscle cars. To be fair we're talking about drivers, not wrecks or big block garage queens.
     
  2. cuznbrucie
    Joined: May 1, 2005
    Posts: 2,567

    cuznbrucie
    Member

    In 1968 I almost bought a new 289 Cobra and the best I can recall is the price was about $6500........hope that might help....

    CB
     
  3. 32 Barn Car
    Joined: Jul 2, 2008
    Posts: 663

    32 Barn Car
    Member
    from Oregon

    In 1971 there were 2 for sale by the same owner that I looked at . One was a 260" for $2000 , the other a 289" for $2500 . In 1977 I bought a 289 Cobra , CSX 2549 for $17,700 , from the original owner ......Z.D.
     
  4. ZOOOM
    Joined: Aug 8, 2008
    Posts: 40

    ZOOOM
    Member

    In about '68 my wife and I drove back to Chicago from Elkhart Lake after a Can Am weekend, in the driving rain. We stopped just off the interstate in Kenosha at a Shell gas station for some gas for our American Motors rambler.
    We heard them comming. The low growl of a Ford V-8 comming down through the gears as they left the expressway for the same gas station.

    Two young kids, maybe 20 years old each, in a 427 Cobra, soaked to the gills, miserable as could be, stopping for gas right along side of us. The Cobra was silver and of course had no top. The floor was awash. The two guys looked like drowned rats. It was about 40 degrees outside too.
    The driver got out and began to fill the tank. He looked at the rambler and asked if we wanted to trade. I asked for how much?
    He said he was so wet and miserable that he would give me the cobra for $5,000.00 right then and there.

    I finished putting $11.00 worth of regular in the rambler and checked my wallet. I think I had something like four dollars total.

    That car, today, is prolly north of half a million dollars.
    I couldn't afford it then, and I sure as hell can't afford it now either....
    ZOOOM
     

  5. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Thanks guys all over the place but keep them coming.
     
  6. noboD
    Joined: Jan 29, 2004
    Posts: 8,460

    noboD
    Member

    I know of a local that traded an early 289 Cobra for a '67-'68 Mustang and PAID money out. Then in Jan.'73 I sat in a red '65 427 SC, with 5000 miles on it. It was at a used car dealer and it was $9500.
     
  7. SOCAL PETE
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 1,204

    SOCAL PETE
    Member
    from Ramona CA

    Which Cobra the 289 or the 427 June 1970 Road and track classified ads.....Makes you friggin sick huh!
    SCAN pics 003.jpg
     
  8. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Can't read it. How much are each one?
     
  9. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Thanks guys. I feel vindicated. I made the statement at a club meeting that there was a time when you could buy a Cobra for two or three thousand dollars and everybody laughed at me. Said they never got that cheap.
     
  10. LongT
    Joined: May 11, 2005
    Posts: 968

    LongT
    Member

    I don't remember the year but a friend of mine had a choice between a 1962 fuelie Vette and a Cobra. he Cobra was not that much more. Probably late-late '60s or early '70s, $2500-$3000, maybe? I just know he chose the Vette and was sorry the last time I saw him.
     
  11. Beach Bum
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 573

    Beach Bum
    Member

    When Carroll Shelby had his "garage sale" (late '66 early'67 I think), you would have had your choice of the following;

    [FONT=Verdana, Arial]- fully race-prepared 289 Ford GT-40s, at $18,250

    - 1965 USRRC winning 289 Cobra, at $6,000

    - Ken Miles 427 Cobra, at $8,500

    - Nassau 1964 427 Cobra, at $6,000

    - Cobra Daytona Coupes, at $8,700
    [/FONT]

    The Daytonas were particularly slow sellers. The last one didn't go down the road for quite sometime.
     
  12. Thorkle Rod
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,392

    Thorkle Rod
    Member

    I came real close to buying one in April of 67. A guy I worked with was wanting sell his blue 63 with a 289 to buy a XKE. He wanted $3,200. I didn't buy it because I was going in the Navy and really didn't want it setting around while I was gone and wouldn't be able to drive it. Then a friend of mine also told me I should never buy a used "Sports Car"

    Still want to shoot myself for not picking that up.
     
  13. hotrod-Linkin
    Joined: Feb 7, 2007
    Posts: 3,382

    hotrod-Linkin
    Member

    my buddies in hs around 68 came home with a cobra minus the motor ,that they found in town in a ladies backyard.seems she was divorcing her old man and didn't like looking at the car. we played around with it and put a 327 /pg in that car under the tree one night and got a short drive shaft welded up.then the boys started arguing about who got to keep it at which ones house.next thing i know,one guy gets the body and engine,the other guy gets the frame.
    about mid summer that year my brother in law traded a gocart for that frame and made a dune buggy out of it...hell,we didn't know.
    last time i saw that dune buggy with the cobra frame i was heading off to thailand.when i got back it was gone...boy were we stupid kids....so to answer your question....25 bucks and a friendship for a cobra
     
  14. GassersGarage
    Joined: Jul 1, 2007
    Posts: 4,727

    GassersGarage
    Member

    Around '68, a doctor that gassed up at the Mobil station I worked at had a '67 427 Cobra. I asked him how much it cost. Brand new, it was $8K. Not to get off the subject, but a co-worker bought a Super Bird during the gas crunch. He paid $3K and has 3.
     
  15. C-1-PW
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 357

    C-1-PW
    Member

    AC Ace $3,000 in 1971
    I passed. Wasn't gonna spend that kind of crazy money on a used car. I didn't care how cool it was.
    Sheesh!
     
  16. A good friend of mine was shopping for a new car in 1966 and it had to be nothing but a Ford.His wife and he went to a local Ford dealer and bought a bright red 66 289 a/t Mustang coupe that they still own albeit several accidents and 3 engines later.Dick wanted to buy the 427 Cobra that was parked next to his Mustang in the showroom but his wife(the ever practical member of the family)couldn't quite picture them with their young son driving around in such a vehicle and besides it cost $6800!He still hasn't let her forget THAT one!
     
  17. lentz automotive
    Joined: Jan 31, 2009
    Posts: 99

    lentz automotive
    Member

    when i was 18 and driving a 57 chevy 2dr ht a buddy offered me his 289 cobra for 1750.00 -- might as well have been a million - my chevy cost me 125.00 ---1971
     
  18. 303racer
    Joined: Aug 23, 2006
    Posts: 563

    303racer
    Member

  19. Pir8Darryl
    Joined: Jan 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,487

    Pir8Darryl
    Member

    As late as 1985, there was a 427 SC in louisville for $10,000, and it was for sale for a loooong time before it sold.

    The same year, I bought an orange and white 440 4V dodge Daytona, rough but running for $2500, and the seler gave me a 340 4sp duster and a ram air 4 GTO with a 4 speed for free.

    But what's more important here is fixing those prices for inflation. In 1985, my $175k home was $34k... Back then, a brand new caddilac or corvette could be had for $17,500.

    Even in 1970, when they could be had for $3k, a brand new LS-6 chevelle or hemi MOPAR was only going for $3500-4000.

    So even tho it's true that they could be had at one time for just "a couple thousand bucks"... Back then, a couple G's was damn close to new car money!!! :eek:
     
  20. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,770

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    About 65 or 66 when we all were young with familys, a lineman I worked with bought a new 289 Cobra for around $6500 when an Impala cost $2500. He had it for a while but got alot of tickets--later traded it for a house. About 85 or 86 there was one in a sports car place in Mill Valley with a 427--think it was $35 or $40K at the time--
     
  21. Deuce Daddy Don
    Joined: Apr 27, 2008
    Posts: 5,544

    Deuce Daddy Don
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    OK, now back to the original question of "how cheap was the original Cobra?" I have an original brochere of the AC Cobra, all aluminum hand formed AC body, running a 260 CID motor with 4spd. with a price of 4200.00. This was in 1963.
    Back then, most gearheads were running the popular SBC motors, but I wanted to be different, for a powerplant in my '32 roadster I was building. I had read how Shelby was cleaning up at the Sports car races all over the country, & other places too.
    Later, in 1964, I got word that Shelby was selling 5 used 260 motors previously raced in his Cobras. When I arrived at his facility in Venice,Ca. there were the 5 sitting on the garage floor, after looking each one over, (they all were stripped of external parts) I chose the one with least "road film" on front of timing cover, something like checking a horses teeth before buying!--- I paid the asking price of 350.00 & they loaded it on my pickup. Big smiles were in evidence all the way home!!
    Of course I had to replace all external parts, BUT, I had my COBRA motor!!
    That was MANY years ago, & MANY thousands of miles ago, (300,000), Sure,I have replaced fuel pumps, timing chains, water pumps, cam, valves,etc. but never been re-bored yet!!---What a great FORD MOTOR!!
     
  22. Dirtynails
    Joined: Jan 31, 2009
    Posts: 843

    Dirtynails
    Member
    from garage

    In the early 70's a friend of a friend bought a 427 SC. Side oiler FE and all. I can still remember getting kicked in the back by the bucket seat as that thing struggled for grip at 60mph!. He wrote it off shortly after and the engine ended up in a speed boat before ending it's days in an altered. The rest of the car was sold as scrap....:eek: today you can get 5 figures for the ID plate. It was a desirable car amongst those who knew what it was but everyone wanted corvettes and camaros .
     
  23. Cobra's are really a sore point with me. When I got out of University in Dec 1969 I wanted a car to drive that was "hot" so I searched for quite a while & found 2 vette's #1 was a 1966 convert 327 300HP for $2500 the second was a 68 or maybe 69 ZL1 All aluminum BBC for $9000. from a dealership on Woodward Ave someplace around 12 Mile Rd. ( I did the research & it was a ZL1) . I really wanted a Cobra so I figured just buy the 66 & enjoy the gas mileage & reduced insurance & chance of tickets and buy a Cobra later. So then I built my first Model A & the Cobra went wayside. I still have the 66 vette put it away in 1976.

    So what is a ZL1 worth now???
     
  24. Zookeeper
    Joined: Aug 30, 2006
    Posts: 1,042

    Zookeeper
    Member

    A freind of mine was a member of SAAC when they very first started, and a few years ago, he loaned me a boxful of their bi-monthly club magazines from '76-'77. In the back were some classified ads that are enough to make a person sick. Shelby Mustangs of pretty much any year were $4,000-$6,000, small-block Cobra street cars were $10,000 and 427 Cobras were $15,000, give or take. They even had some old ads from various dealers who were trying to sell two year old Cobras that were still in dealerships in '68. I destinctly remember one 427 Cobra, brand new and the asking price was $6200. Forget inflation, that'd be a hell of a return on your investment! By comparison, my parents bought the house I grew up in for $4,000 in 1964, and today it's likely worth $200,000 or so. That BB Cobra would probably be worth around $600,000 to $800,000, using the B-J auctions as a guideline. BTW, if anyone wants a good read, check this out sometime. It's the short version of the car's convoluted history, but interesting nonetheless.

    http://www.thecarsource.com/shelby/cobra/daytona/csx2287.shtml

    BTW, this article is a few years old, and the car was eventually sold to a neurosurgeon in Philidephia for $3.5 million.
     
  25. raven
    Joined: Aug 19, 2002
    Posts: 4,698

    raven
    Member

    All this just makes me sick.
    When I was in high school, a couple of buddies and I were skipping school when we saw an original '66 GT350 at a gas station with a for sale sign in it. The owner let us look all over it. I was perfect and all original. The price?
    $7000.00.
    Ugh!
    I hated being a kid with no money...
    r
     
  26. Shifty Shifterton
    Joined: Oct 1, 2006
    Posts: 4,964

    Shifty Shifterton
    Member

    All you guys kicking yourself for passing up those bargain cobras, it's not too late for redemption............

    Look at what early Vipers are selling for right now.

    Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
     
  27. propwash
    Joined: Jul 25, 2005
    Posts: 3,857

    propwash
    Member
    from Las Vegas

    I bought my first Shelby in 1965 for $2500 - it was a 64 289 4bbl - I was about the 100th owner and it was a POS. Ran fine - like the proverbial scalded cat. But it had been abused by several previous owners - aluminum rattled at idle, doors were hard to shut and even harder to keep closed. I traded that crappy thing in on a 427SC brand new off the dealer's showroom floor - sticker on that car was $7100 or so - Halibrands and dual quads. They allowed me $1,000 trade-in value. At that time, you could by GT350s off of the used car lots for around $2,000. Hertz editions were slightly less, or at least the AT Hertz cars were.

    dj

    dj
     
  28. Zookeeper
    Joined: Aug 30, 2006
    Posts: 1,042

    Zookeeper
    Member

    That's no lie at all, I'm old enough to remember GT350H's not being considered "real" Shelbys. My grandparents' next-door neighbor had an absolutely perfect back-with-gold-stripes GT350H, and he sold it around '74 for $1,200! He felt that was all it was worth, after all, it's just an old rental car...
     
  29. Dirtynails
    Joined: Jan 31, 2009
    Posts: 843

    Dirtynails
    Member
    from garage

    I notice the nuerosurgeon,Dr Simone wasn't really entitled to buy it in the first place having gazumped another buyer by offering more money. In meantime Spector claims he never sold it. :D:D
     

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