Shelby Cobra 427
Source: Shutterstock
The name Carroll Shelby is the most iconic name in American motorsport. There are others that can be brought up, but when a company was struggling with a sports or racing car and needed a fresh set of eyes, it was Shelby they brought in. However the very best of the cars he helped create bear his name. The ultimate and most sought after is the Shelby Cobra 427.
From England With Love
The Shelby Cobra wasn’t fully created in America. It was the British company AC that used to create the car the Cobra. It used a fairly mundane inline 6 cylinder engine that was used in many different English cars at the time. Carroll Shelby was a fan of the car and the look and asked if they could send him some cars that featured room for a V8 engine. They obliged. Shelby went to Chevrolet looking for engines, but he was turned down since they didn’t want to artificially create competition for their own sports car (Corvette). Thankfully for Shelby, Ford caught wind and was more than happy to provide engines. The Mark 3 of the Shelby Cobra actually had Ford provide other assistance with altering the chassis to better support one of the best engines to ever exist.
Source: Shutterstock
So Much Power!
The Shelby Cobra 427 is on the list mainly because it wasn’t the first Cobra Shelby tinkered with. Carroll Shelby excelled at modifying and making things better. He didn’t have the resources to create his own engines, so he formed partnerships on his collaborations. The Cobra 427 had the third of three engines Shelby had worked with in his Cobras. It was a behemoth 7.0L V8 that produced an absurd 425 horsepower. That’s absurd for a car at that time. What’s even crazier is anyone who thought that was underpowered could get themselves the competition model instead. Thanks to some extra tinkering, that brought the power up to a beefy 485 horsepower. The top speed also rose from 164 mph to 185 mph when choosing the competition model.
