Shelby Cobra Daytona, FIA, Bob Bondurant history.

This car was built from the chassis up with incredible attention to detail under the guidance of Bob Bondurant (1965 Shelby American world champion, Le Mans winner Cobra Daytona & hall of famer) by marque specialist. Correspondence in the history file spans over 5 months which contains fascinating insights applied to the car and information personal to the build from Bob and Shelby American staff about the original build and period competition information applied to this car.

This spec represents a no limit build to acheive an accurate example of the cobra coupe capable of taking on FIA events of Europe as it would have in period.

Engine : Period Ford V8 289 FIA spec. Rebuilt by Cobra specialist containing ARP, Knight & Tilton components. Original 48 IDA Cobra carburettors. Braided fuel lines & aero fittings.
Differential : FIA high spec, rebuilt by Simply Performance. Cobra specialist.
Gearbox : Period top loader 4 speed, rebuilt with Hurst competition shifter & mechanism.
Dash & wiring : Stewart Warner gauges. Smiths 8k rpm gauge with tell tale.
Wheels : New original Shelby Halibrands with Shelby embossed spinners.
Brakes : Aeroquip hose system. Tilton master cylinders. Period calipers and correct discs.
Suspension : Bespoke competition Daytona front and rear leaf springs. Correct uprights & mounts.
Prop & half shafts : Bespoke balanced and made.
Exhaust system : Bespoke custom system, tubular with integrated silencing. Beautiful welding.
Fuelling system : ATL fuel cell with Holley fuel pump. Original 48 IDA Cobra carburettors.
Paint : Painted in correct guardsman blue using a period chart to source original colours for the body & stripe colours. 1965 twin stripes as run at Monza 1965 by Bob Bondurant.

The car wears the twin stripe on the O/ S nose as it would have in Monza 1965 in tribute to Bob Bondurant and will always affectionately be known as “Bobs car”. It was an honour to have Bob involved in this build, the stories and knowledge shared and shown in the history file will forever be with this car to ensure his legacy remains. 

Bob was an inspiration behind this car, sadly we lost Bob towards the end of the project which makes his involvement all the more important, notably Bob sent his signature & other items to be applied to the car as he was impressed with the attention to detail and wanted to put, in his words “ seal of approval “ on it making this car unique in many ways.
 
This car is eligible to race in events such as Peter Auto & Le Mans Classic, HSCC & Goodwood Members meeting. Ready for June 2025. Road registration an option. For viewings or more photos please get in touch. P/ x a possibility. The story of Peter Brock designing his coupe and essentially risking his career at Shelby American Inc is well known. The aim in 1964 was to match the speed of Ferrari in Europe. Shelby with his team including Ken miles, Peter Brock and Bob Bondurant set about this task by creating the cobra coupe. Changes included the aerodynamic body, triangulated subframe added over the gearbox. The v8 engine lowered by an inch vs the roadsters. Radiator tilted forward to boost cooling. The transverse leaf springs had to also be modified to reduce the camber angle.
This wasn’t just a roadster in an Italian suit, but a new animal all together, and this showed with Ken Miles clocking 180 + miles per hour and even more with the right gearing. In fact Bob recalls achieving 212 mph on the mulsanne with no testing in period, which is documented in the history file.