$2,117,500! 1967 Shelby 427 'Semi Competition' Cobra

1967 Shelby 427 'Semi-Competition' Cobra
Sold For $2,117,500 Including Commission
RM Auction, Amelia Island, Florida 2015
Chassis No.CSX 3045
One of 29 authentic Semi-Competition Cobras built
Genuine and documented, with exceptional history
Authentic and well-maintained restoration
Long-term ownership by renowned Cobra enthusiasts
Est. 485 hp, 427 cu. in. “medium-riser” OHV V-8 engine with a four-barrel Holley carburetor, four-speed manual transmission, four-wheel independent upper and lower A-arms with coil springs, Koni tubular shock absorbers, and anti-sway bars, and four-wheel Girling disc brakes with alloy calipers. Wheelbase: 90 in.
THE 427 S/C COBRA
Although Shelby’s 289 Cobra was well-proven in competition, by the mid-sixties it was becoming clear that something else was needed. Every year, more power was required to stay competitive, and Ford’s 289 had reached its reliability limit at around 380 or 390 horsepower.
In many respects, the father of the 427 Cobra was racing driver and development engineer Ken Miles, who thought the idea of a bigger engine might work for the Cobra, especially if winning in SCCA’s A Production class was the aim. If there was any doubt about the need, it was eliminated when the Shelby team went to Nassau for Speed Week in 1963, where they were confronted with Chevrolet’s new Corvette Grand Sport, which was more than nine seconds a lap faster than the Cobras.
Although Carroll Shelby had been promised a new aluminum-block version of Ford’s 390 engine, internal resistance developed from the NASCAR faction inside of Ford and Shelby, and they were forced to make do with the cast-iron 427. Although reliable at 500 horsepower, the engine was so much heavier that a complete redesign of the chassis was required to ensure that the car would handle properly. The result was a larger, five-inch wider chassis and coil springs all around. The necessary work was completed with the help of Ford’s engineering department, and the formidable 427 Cobra was born.
As with all his cars, Shelby intended to see that the Cobras were winners on the track. In order to qualify as a production car under FIA rules for the GT class, manufacturers were required to produce a minimum of 100 examples. Shelby’s strong relationship with privateer racers gave him the confidence that he could sell that many, and as a result, a competition-spec version of the new 427 was announced. Features on the car included an expanded body to accommodate wider wheels and tires, an oil cooler, a side exhaust, an external fuel filler, front jacking points, a roll bar, and a special 42-gallon fuel tank.
In anticipation of FIA approval, Shelby placed an order with AC for 100 competition 427 Cobras. Each was finished in primer with a black interior and air shipped to Shelby’s facilities upon completion. Unfortunately, when the FIA inspectors arrived on April 29, 1965, they found just 51 cars completed, and they denied Shelby the homologation he needed. Oddly enough, the same fate befell Enzo Ferrari; his 250 LM, which was intended to replace the GTO, was also denied approval. As a result, both of these archrivals were forced to return to the previous year’s cars for the upcoming season.
Once Shelby knew that the FIA was not going to allow the new 427 Cobra to compete in the GT class, he cancelled his order for the remaining competition cars and AC reverted back to the production of street cars.
Meanwhile, in June 1965, the FIA decided to juggle its classification system, and a new class, called “Competition GT,” was created. The production requirement for this class was lowered to 50, which was, coincidentally, one less than the number of 427 competition cars built at the time of the FIA inspection.
The rule change created another problem for Shelby: it put his Cobra in the same class as Ford’s GT40. Since Shelby was running that program for Ford, there was a clear conflict of interest, not to mention a disparity in performance. To resolve it, Shelby agreed not to campaign his own car, leaving it in the hands of the privateers.
By this time, 53 competition chassis had been completed by AC (chassis numbers CSX 3001 through CSX 3053), and of those, 16 had been sold to private teams. The first two were retained as prototypes, and one chassis, CSX 3027, was sent to Ford Engineering.
The remaining chassis were something of a problem for Shelby. They were parked outside of Shelby’s Los Angeles warehouse and proved difficult to sell. Seeing the cars prompted Shelby’s East Coast representative, Charles Beidler, to suggest that they be painted and completed as street cars and then marketed as the fastest street car ever built. The idea worked, and the 427 S/C, or Semi-Competition, was born.
The cars were brutally fast, and driving one was an exhilarating experience.
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Robert Myrick Photography