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Cobra CSX3055: was it really a comp chassis?


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#1 HistoryBuff

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 22:42

Periodically a British car magazine rediscovers this car and does a brief driving impression. The story I heard was that John Willment racing team had a spare 427 Cobra chassis(CSX3055) and sent someone down to the breaker's yard to look for a body and they came back with a Ghia built Supersonic body that appeared on some Fiat 8Vs. I don't have the Shelby Register (too expensive and too heavy!) but does anyone recall if that Cobra chassis had a racing history? And why would they have a spare with no body? Or is this one of those deals where they switch around chassis plates depending on which country they are going to go to? Anyway interested in obtaining a copy of the most detailed article on this car which has been photographed quite recently at various British vintage races. Or if the present owner can contact me, I I will make a painting of it and present them with a print.

I also have a suspicion that this may be the chassis under the one off Ghia body that Giugiaro designed for a dark blue show car with removable hardtop that was shown in '65. That car has never re-appeared so maybe the chassis was returned to Ford after the idea of the car was shot down.

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#2 Supersox

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Posted 24 May 2013 - 17:18

Periodically a British car magazine rediscovers this car and does a brief driving impression. The story I heard was that John Willment racing team had a spare 427 Cobra chassis(CSX3055) and sent someone down to the breaker's yard to look for a body and they came back with a Ghia built Supersonic body that appeared on some Fiat 8Vs. I don't have the Shelby Register (too expensive and too heavy!) but does anyone recall if that Cobra chassis had a racing history? And why would they have a spare with no body? Or is this one of those deals where they switch around chassis plates depending on which country they are going to go to? Anyway interested in obtaining a copy of the most detailed article on this car which has been photographed quite recently at various British vintage races. Or if the present owner can contact me, I I will make a painting of it and present them with a print.

I also have a suspicion that this may be the chassis under the one off Ghia body that Giugiaro designed for a dark blue show car with removable hardtop that was shown in '65. That car has never re-appeared so maybe the chassis was returned to Ford after the idea of the car was shot down.

The book says that it was a competition chassis specifically called off by FAV and delivered to Harold Radford with a view to his putting a competition body on it for 1966. This did not happen so it was sold to Willment. Reading between the lines as Appendix J changed for 1966 and instead of the old make 100 cars and bodywork is free prior to 66 now the body work was part of the Group 3 homologation and clearly the Cobra was not the way to go for Group 4. Ford had worked out during early 1965 that the initial plans to use the 7 litre cobra as the principal race vehicle for 1966 were hopelessly compromised by the GT 40.