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The Last 289 Cobra Sold to the Public being Auctioned at Mecum


David Hawkins
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If that auction description was meant to confuse folks it sure worked, at least it worked on me.

Exactly what is meant by "The last Shelby 289 Cobra sold to the public" ?

CSX2588 was apparently sold on 01/23/1965 at a California Ford dealership. Are they trying to say that no other dealership had a 289 Cobra for sale on their lot after 01/23/65 and if so wouldn't that mean Mecum or the cars owner would have to have documents showing when every other 289 Cobra was sold? Sales documents that Shelby American nor SAAC have and probably don't exist.

If thats what they are trying to say I'm not sure how they can back up that claim. How do they know another dealership didn't have a 289 Cobra for sale after that date?

Steve

 

 

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4 hours ago, SAI-Steven said:

If that auction description was meant to confuse folks it sure worked, at least it worked on me.

Exactly what is meant by "The last Shelby 289 Cobra sold to the public" ?

CSX2588 was apparently sold on 01/23/1965 at a California Ford dealership. Are they trying to say that no other dealership had a 289 Cobra for sale on their lot after 01/23/65 and if so wouldn't that mean Mecum or the cars owner would have to have documents showing when every other 289 Cobra was sold? Sales documents that Shelby American nor SAAC have and probably don't exist.

If thats what they are trying to say I'm not sure how they can back up that claim. How do they know another dealership didn't have a 289 Cobra for sale after that date?

Steve

 

 

When I read the first news article about this, it stated that it was the last one that was built and sold to the Public because Carroll owned the last one built which makes this Cobra the second to last one built.

Both the first and last small-block Cobras built, CSX2000 and CSX2589 respectively, remained in the Shelby family’s ownership for decades until the prototype, CSX2000, was sold at auction in August 2016 for $13.75 million. Since then, the family has made it clear they have no plans to sell CSX2589, making its immediate predecessor, CSX2588, serially the last small-block Cobra available to the public.

 

Edited by tesgt350
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41 minutes ago, tesgt350 said:

When I read the first news article about this, it stated that it was the last one that was built and sold to the Public because Carroll owned the last one built which makes this Cobra the second to last one built.

Both the first and last small-block Cobras built, CSX2000 and CSX2589 respectively, remained in the Shelby family’s ownership for decades until the prototype, CSX2000, was sold at auction in August 2016 for $13.75 million. Since then, the family has made it clear they have no plans to sell CSX2589, making its immediate predecessor, CSX2588, serially the last small-block Cobra available to the public.

 

I think Steve’s point was that how can they prove it was the second to last one built. There are no records, so how can they prove it was built “in sequence”. CSM/CSX numbers were not all built sequentially so it’s a bit of a stretch to say it is the last or second to last cobra available to the public…….but they did sort of say “serially”………which insinuates that it is the second to last serial number………….auction semantics………it will be interesting to see what it sells for.

Edited by mhr1961
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23 hours ago, tesgt350 said:

When I read the first news article about this, it stated that it was the last one that was built and sold to the Public because Carroll owned the last one built which makes this Cobra the second to last one built.

Both the first and last small-block Cobras built, CSX2000 and CSX2589 respectively, remained in the Shelby family’s ownership for decades until the prototype, CSX2000, was sold at auction in August 2016 for $13.75 million. Since then, the family has made it clear they have no plans to sell CSX2589, making its immediate predecessor, CSX2588, serially the last small-block Cobra available to the public.

 

 

22 hours ago, mhr1961 said:

I think Steve’s point was that how can they prove it was the second to last one built. There are no records, so how can they prove it was built “in sequence”. CSM/CSX numbers were not all built sequentially so it’s a bit of a stretch to say it is the last or second to last cobra available to the public…….but they did sort of say “serially”………which insinuates that it is the second to last serial number………….auction semantics………it will be interesting to see what it sells for.

In my opinion the seller can only claim that this Cobra has the second to last serialized CSX number for a 289 Cobra.

I suspect, but have no proof, that 1960's Cobra production was not in sequence meaning that a lower number car could have been built after a higher number car. For example how do we know that CSX2587 was not built hours or the next day after CSX2588 ? Its not like SAI had a single assembly line popping Cobra's out, they were hand built cars just like the current continuation Cobra's.

The point I'm making is that the owner/auction house can not back up their claim of last 289 Cobra blah, blah, blah. and yes definitely auction semantics.

Steve

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51 minutes ago, SAI-Steven said:

 

In my opinion the seller can only claim that this Cobra has the second to last serialized CSX number for a 289 Cobra.

I suspect, but have no proof, that 1960's Cobra production was not in sequence meaning that a lower number car could have been built after a higher number car. For example how do we know that CSX2587 was not built hours or the next day after CSX2588 ? Its not like SAI had a single assembly line popping Cobra's out, they were hand built cars just like the current continuation Cobra's.

The point I'm making is that the owner/auction house can not back up their claim of last 289 Cobra blah, blah, blah. and yes definitely auction semantics.

Steve

 

Hi  Steve,  I agree with your comments and I wan't to be clear that I wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth. We always appreciate your input on TS. I think it was pretty clear that most likely the original Cobras were not built in any kind of sequence. While there is probably no proof of this in ‘Shelby” records, there are some books and internet info that prove that most likely they were not built in sequence. There is an individual who was very instrumental in helping Carroll get his dreams of the Cobra up and running. That individual is Ed Hugus. There is eveidence that he helped build the first half dozen to one dozen cobras because Shelby himself didn’t have the financing to do so. Here is a picture of Ed by a car labeled CSX 2033 in or around  mid 1962. So If he is credited with only building the first half dozen or so Cobras,  then having chassis number CSX 2033 would be indicative of the cars not being bult in sequence. See cardboard inside of Cobra grill below, it is labeled CSX#2033.

image.png.5c37405133ee1b779de8bd03affff378.png

 

Shelby was allowed by Ford to display CSX 2000 in April of 1962 at the New York auto show. CSX 2001 arrived in New York in May and was immediately sent not to Shelby but to Pittsburg, PA to Ed Hugus’s shop. CSX 2002 then went to Shelby’s Shop. At that time Ed Hugus had also already ordered the next 5 cobras and within weeks they were scheduled to ship to Pittsbug to Ed Hugus’s shop for completion. So while Ed Hugus had the first handful of Cobras, Shelby was still sorting out CSX 2000 and trying to order other cars and get his operation up and running. Also in or around October of  1962 Ed Hugus received CSX 2142, within that time CSX 2003 and CSX 2004 were at Ford for Testing. CSX 2006 and CSX 2007 were sent to Tasca around the same time. So I think it is pretty safe to say that original Cobras were definitely not built in any kind of sequence……….and yeah auction semantics, they should retract their claim………

 

 

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22 hours ago, mhr1961 said:

 

Hi  Steve,  I agree with your comments and I wan't to be clear that I wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth.

 

 

mhr1961, I never thought that and believe we are on the same page. I also wish there was more written about the east coast built Shelby Cobra's as that is a part of Shelby history rarely acknowledged. Like many start-up businesses Carroll did what it took to get the Cobra into production. While we all love the story of Iaccoca giving Carroll some money before he bites someone,  it's not like Ford gave Carroll a blank check so Carroll took any opportunity he found to get the early cars built. The sooner Carroll could get them built, the sooner they could be sold and money would come in.

Imagine trying to sell a Cobra in 1962-63, a Shelby what? And how much again?

Steve

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On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 2:53 PM, SAI-Steven said:

 

In my opinion the seller can only claim that this Cobra has the second to last serialized CSX number for a 289 Cobra.

I suspect, but have no proof, that 1960's Cobra production was not in sequence meaning that a lower number car could have been built after a higher number car. For example how do we know that CSX2587 was not built hours or the next day after CSX2588 ? Its not like SAI had a single assembly line popping Cobra's out, they were hand built cars just like the current continuation Cobra's.

The point I'm making is that the owner/auction house can not back up their claim of last 289 Cobra blah, blah, blah. and yes definitely auction semantics.

Steve

Yeah, since the Cobras were hand built, I think the Cars were given their CSX# when they arrived and some people work faster than others, I am sure they some higher Numbers were finished before some lower Numbers.

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The reality of the situation is that the hype won't really matter and that someone about to drop close to a million (one way or the other) will have done his homework.  They buyer will be well informed.    Which really makes me wonder why people try to draw conclusions like this to begin with.  Mecum didn't write this, the seller did. 

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6 hours ago, twobjshelbys said:

   Which really makes me wonder why people try to draw conclusions like this to begin with.  

Kind of like when a seller writes in their description that "one of these recently sold for $xyz" (xyz =lots of money) and leave out the fact that the car they are referring to was a CHARITY auction.

Cars like CSX2588 can stand on its own merit so why sellers feel the need to add all this fluffery makes no sense to me.

Steve

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