Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (CSX2299) brought the United States its first victory in 1964 at the  24 Hours of Le Mans making Carroll Shelby has been the only person to win Le Mans as a driver, team owner and manufacturer. CSX2299 was the second Coupe built and the first completed at Carrozzeria Gransport in Modena, Italy. Using a powerful, reliable 289 CID Ford engine and a new aerodynamic body, the Shelby Cobra competed in nine FIA races.

For the 1964 Le Mans, four Ferrari GTOs were entered, all aimed at beating Shelby’s Daytona Coupe. The race featured a pitched battle between Shelby and Ferrari for the GT class. Drivers Gurney and Bondurant, clocked over 196 miles per hour on the Mulsanne straight in CSX2299 and took first place in the GT III class. Joe Schlesser drove it at Daytona in 1965, finishing between a pair of GT 40’s to win its class and come in second overall. This helped the Shelby American team take the World Manufacturers Championship from Ferrari in 1965. It currently resides at the Miller Motorsports Park museum in Tooele, Utah.

Automotive legend Carroll Shelby made his mark after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 in an Aston Martin, but decided to stop racing shortly thereafter with an impressive career under his belt. Not only an accomplished driver, Shelby was also a skilled automotive designer who recognized the Cobra roadster as a great platform on which to build a championship GT vehicle. Shelby tapped designer Peter Brock to carry out his vision for the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe we know today. After the design process was completed and a satisfactory coupe, the CSX2287, was built and tested at Riverside Raceway in California, the vehicle went off to Daytona International Speedway in Florida for its first race. As a result of Brock’s design, the streamlined coupe on a roadster chassis went 20 miles per hour faster.

In 1964, the International Championship for GT Manufacturers was narrowly won by Ferrari over the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, but in 1965, the Shelby captured redemption and took home a victory over Ferrari. The most intriguing part of the 1964 coupe’s history, however, revolves around a Goodyear tire test in November 1965 when the car was called into action at Utah’s iconic Bonneville Salt Flats.

THE CAR

Back in 1965, Goodyear secured a four-day stretch at the Salt Flats with the United States Auto Club (USAC) to practice land speed record attempts with Craig Breedlove and the Spirit of America jet car. Since the jet car was out of commission for repairs, the Goodyear team needed a legitimate reason to stay on the Salt Flats until it could run again. The Goodyear team called Carroll Shelby and asked if the CSX2287 coupe was available because, if they could use the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe for endurance record attempts, they could hold onto the Salt Flats for their allotted time and avoid any issues with the USAC.

Initially, Carroll Shelby questioned the request because the 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe had not been used in the six months since the 1965 Le Mans. To make proper adjustments to the vehicle before it was sent to Bonneville, Shelby sought out Tom Greatorex, a former crew chief. Greatorex had the Le Mans engine removed from the Daytona coupe and added in a rebuilt engine from Shelby’s shop instead.

The 2.88 Le Mans rear axle gearing was still on the Shelby coupe as well, so all that was left to do was to apply a new set of racing tires. Shelby and Greatorex arrived at Bonneville and found a place to test the vehicle. Soon, it was running at 6,000 RPM in top gear, approximately 188 mph. The car felt motionless, with only the tachometer needle sound indicating its speed.

When it came time for Breedlove (a man who had previously driven over 500 mph in his jet car) to test the CSX2287, the team found he had never driven a car with a four-speed, stick-shift transmission, but he caught on quickly.

Significant adjustments had to be made during the tests in order to keep the car running properly. The USAC officials did not believe that Goodyear’s endurance record attempts were serious, and they doubted that the “little motor” could run that fast for 12 hours. They were also worried that with no refueling rig, the time it would take to fill the huge tank by hand pump would affect the records. As was described that day, “the whole effort was so spontaneous that it almost failed for lack of preparation.”

The end result is perfectly stated in Brock’s book, Daytona Cobra Coupes: Carroll Shelby’s 1965 World Champions: “At dusk it was over, Breedlove…had clocked more than 1,931 miles, averaging 150 miles per hour and breaking the record set by Bugatti in the 1930’s by some 200 miles. It also set 23 national and international speed records.”

Shelby prototype (CSX2287)

Los Angeles – Feb. 12, 2014 – The prototype Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (CSX2287) designed and developed by Carroll Shelby’s racing team, Shelby American, in 1964 is the first automobile recorded under the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Heritage Documentation. The Historical Vehicle Association announced that honor recently, unveiling the car in its “survivor” state at a press conference in Washington DC.

“We’re honored that a Shelby car is the first vehicle to attain the same status as American icons like the Golden Gate Bridge, the spacecraft ‘Enterprise’ and Mount Vernon,” said Neil Cummings, Co-Trustee for the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust and Co-CEO of Carroll Shelby International. “This Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe represents the hopes, dreams and monumental effort of a group of hot rodders who changed the way the world perceived American cars. Conceived by Carroll Shelby and created by his team, it captured the public’s hearts when it captured the world championship.”

Carroll Shelby International has been cooperating with the HVA to help chronicle this incredible story. Its division, Carroll Shelby Licensing donated images and offered HVA access to materials. According to HVA, this documentation will be part of its National Historic Vehicle Register permanently archived in the Library of Congress. HVA and U.S. Department of the Interior collaborated on the effort and plan to document other historically significant automobiles.

CSX2287 was built during 1964 by Shelby American, Inc. in Los Angeles as the first of six Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes for competition in world sports car racing. It was an attempt to improve upon the tops that were placed on the Shelby Cobra roadsters for competition on high speed tracks in Europe like Le Mans.

“One of the most important aspects to the National Historic Vehicle Register is the emphasis on creating an accurate record,” said Joe Conway, Co-Trustee for the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust and Co-CEO of Carroll Shelby International. “So much lore surrounds this particular car. Early on, Shelby American tried to combat aerodynamic issues using a removable hardtop on the Cobra roadsters. Always looking for an edge, Carroll asked Peter Brock to sketch a new, better body that could be adapted to the existing chassis. Then he assigned his most important development engineer, Ken Miles, to the project. Even though many were skeptical that it would be successful, Carroll continued to finance and support development of the Cobra Daytona Coupe by his team.”

That tenacity on the part of Shelby paid off in spades. The Daytona Coupe enabled the Shelby American Cobra race team to dominate and win the International Manufacturer’s GT Championship in 1965. It was the first time an American manufacturer won an international race series.

That success, as well as the popularity of the Cobra roadster has often led people to copy and claim rights to the designs. The Carroll Hall Shelby Trust owns incontestable design rights to the Shelby Cobra “Daytona” Coupe pursuant to U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Registration No. 2,958,927, and to the Shelby Cobra 289 FIA pursuant to U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Registration No. 3,490,853.

“Everyone appreciates the efforts of Peter Brock, who originated the concept of placing a hardtop on the existing Shelby Cobra roadster for aerodynamic purposes, as well as all the other employees of Shelby American who turned Carroll’s dream of building a faster version of the car for international racing” said Cummings. “With budgets being so tight, it was Carroll’s willingness to gamble on design, as well as the numerous revisions like the tail spoiler that made the car so successful. It was a total team effort.”

HVA chose CSX2287 to be the first car in this groundbreaking program because it is among the most historically significant automobiles in America based on its association with important persons and events; its construction and aerodynamic design; and informational value as one of the few racecars from the period that has not been completely restored. The Shelby is part of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia.

“Dr. Simeone was very gracious to allow the car to be photographed, inspected and displayed for this initiative,” said Conway. “We appreciate his patience, as well as the persistence of the HVA to properly chronicle the Shelby. Our goal is to contribute the texture and archival documentation necessary to help them complete their story accurately.”