Shelby Daytona

The Shelby Daytona (also referred to as the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe) was a coupé based loosely on the AC Cobra roadster. It was built for auto racing, specifically to take on Ferrari in the GT class. Just six Daytona coupes were built in 1964 and 1965, with Shelby reassigned to the Ford GT40 project after that. Pete Brock designed the car's bodywork, while Bob Negstad designed the car's suspension. Negstad also designed the chassis and suspension for the GT40.

Racing success

* 1964 12 Hours of Sebring (GT class win, Dave MacDonald/Bob Holbert)
* 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans (GT class win, Dan Gurney/Bob Bondurant)
* 1964 RAC Tourist Trophy
* 1965 24 Hours of Daytona
* 1965 12 Hours of Sebring
* 1965 World Manufacturers Championship
* 1965 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (GT class win)
* 1965 German Grand Prix at Nürburgring (GT class win)
* 1965 French Grand Prix at Reims (GT class win)
* 1965 Enna-Pergusa (GT class win)
* 1965 23 land speed records at Bonneville

The missing sixth car "CSX2287"

Five Shelby Daytona cars were constructed in Italy, one car, known to collectors as CSX2287, was manufactured in the United States. Ownership of the cars was recorded for five cars, however records for the sixth car were lost in the mid-1970's. For a long time car historians and collectors feared the sixth car was lost.

In 2001 the car was discovered in a rental storage unit in California. The owner Donna O'Hara had committed suicide by burning herself alive. [ [http://www.nvsaac.com/gallery/missing_daytona_coupe.htm Legend of the Cobra Car Takes a Twist Into Legal Quagmire] ] The car had remained undiscovered for about three decades. Due to its estimated worth of $4,000,000 the car was part of an extensive legal battle between her mother who sold the car to a collector in Pennsylvania, and a friend of Ms. O'Hara who was the recipient in her will of the contents of the storage unit. An earlier owner of the car appears to have been music producer Phil Spector who had been known to drive it on the streets of Los Angeles. [http://www.saac.com/articles.htm#Coupe Shelby American Auto Club]

The discovery of this car has been dubbed as the greatest find in the history of car collecting.Fact|date=June 2008

CSX2287 has been mechanically reconditioned and is now [http://www.simeonefoundation.org/site/?page_id=17 on display at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum] in Philadelphia. Jay Leno has been to the museum and video of him driving the car appears on his Web site:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=519722

Ford Shelby GR-1

In 2005, Ford and Shelby created a sports coupe dubbed "Ford Shelby GR-1", with a sleek body and the new V10 powering the new Shelby Cobra. Carroll Shelby has explained that he does not want it to be called a "Cobra", but it does bear resemblance to the Daytona.

List of Replicas

* Superformance Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe - "SPF Coupe"; Shelby Licensed Replica
* Borland Racing Development's Daytona Sportscar
* Factory Five Racing - Type 65 Coupe
* Shell Valley Companies - 1964 Daytona Coupe Series II

References

External links

* [http://www.nvsaac.com/gallery/missing_daytona_coupe.htm Nevada Shelby American Automobile Club, extensive page about the 6th car]
* [http://jalopnik.com/cars/jalopnik-fantasy-garage/shelby-cobra-daytona-coupe-281644.php Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe]