As you’ll learn in this article, Shelby was a successful race driver who turned automotive entrepreneur when a heart condition curtailed his time behind the wheel. In September 1961, Shelby learned that England’s AC cars was losing the engine supplier for its open two-seater and seized an opportunity.
Shelby talked AC into providing him cars, then convinced Ford to supply its new small-block V-8. The first result, the AC Shelby Cobra of 1962, was a sensation. It combined the spot-on proportions and clean lines of a classic British roadster with the stout heart and one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch punch of a 260-cube American V-8. This car soon gave way to the 289-cubic-inch power behemoth known as the AC Shelby Cobra 427.
 The Shelby Cobra 427 was on of the most powerful and formidable sports cars every made. See more pictures of Shelby cars. |
Its fenders bulging around fatter tires and its engine bay stuffed with brutal big-cube power, the 427 Cobra bowed in 1965. It was a menacing presence on the street, and like its 260 and 289 predecessors, a winner on the racetrack. This Shelby magic extended that same year to the Ford Mustang and turned that tame pony car into another road and track triumph.
Thoughtfully modified into a sharp-handling, sharp-looking fastback, the Shelby Mustang GT-350 put that 289-cubic-inch V-8 to fine use and established a race-winning reputation. Shelby honed the bigger-must-be-better principle by employing ever-larger V-8s, more body scoops, taller spoilers, stouter suspensions, and fatter tires to create such cars as the 427-cubic-inch Shelby Mustang GT-500 and the 428-cubic-inch Shelby Mustang GT-500KR.
Shelby created some of the most exciting sporting cars of all time, so let's get started on the next page with the Shelby Cobra 260/289.To learn more about Shelby and other sports cars, see:
