bitzman
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 395
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Current status of CSX2166?
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As I prepared to research a car to see if it was sufficiently significant in Cobra history to justify making a painting, I noticed that the status of the car is still muddled (yes, I don' t have the new SAAC Register, I don't even have the old one).
I speak of the Ferrari GTO hood vent-car, CSX2166. Here's what I know about it so far.
I tried to follow the tangled tale of CSX2166 but got lost on the curves. Does anyone know if it's been proved that the Daytona coupe replica running this chassis number in Europe is really the prototype test car from 1964? I guess the confusion results from someone wrote down 2196 as the chassis number at some point and from that point on the two cars always get confused. Here's what I found out so far, like to hear anyone's "proof" of what happened to it after Sebring in' 64---------------------------------------------------
A Potted History of The Leaf Sprung Big Block “GTO breathing vents” Cobra
There was one small block Cobra that ran with a big block and Ferrari 250GTO style air intakes. It was CSX2166, raced at Sebring, March 21, 1964 with John Morton driving. The car came about when Ken Miles, as Shelby’s chief engineer, had a discussion with the Hurlock brothers who owned A.C. Cars Ltd., Shelby’s supplier, and decided to see if Ford’s 390 aluminum block would fit and how the leaf sprung car would perform in racing conditions. The car was cobbled together. Ironically the car hit a tree in practice with Miles at the wheel. What a tree was doing on a race course takes too much explaining. Suffice to say the car was near uncontrollable. Miles stayed up all night long pounding the car out so it would be race ready the next day.
Though I have seen pictures of him in the forughly repaired car I think he must have turned it over early to Morton and gone off to tend his cracked or broken ribs (which he had taped up after the crash). Morton only lasted a few laps before the engine blew.
According to the website
http://www.sandcastlevi.com/racing/cobra-1.htm here are the Cobras that ran at Sebring in 1966
1 GT D.MacDonald/B.Holbert 10 Cobra Daytona CSX2287 CS
2 GT B.Bondurant/L.Spencer 12 Cobra Roadster ******* CS
3 GT J.Schlesser/P.Hill 14 Cobra Roadster ******* CS
5 GT S.Scott/H.Keck 80 Cobra Roadster CSX2127 Cust.
6 GT D.Gurney/B.Johnson 11 Cobra Roadster CSX2259 CS
7 GT T.Hitchcock/Tchkotoua 15 Cobra Roadster CSX2155 Cust.
12 GT E.Lowther/Wintersteen 18 Cobra Roadster CSX2153 Cust.
DNF J.Stevens/Noseda 16 Cobra Roadster CSX2137 Cust.
DNF Reed/D.Gerber/Lang 19 Cobra Roadster CSX2138 Cust.
DNF G.Shaw/DeWayne 24 Cobra Roadster CSX2129 Cust.
DNF K.Miles/J.Morton 1 Cobra 427 CSX2166 CS
I don't know why it is listed as a 427 on this list. At any rate, it must have been resurrected because, as improbable as it seems, it is possible that a historic car like CSX2166 was ignored for its contribution to Cobra history and later fitted out as a street car.The chassis number was last seen on a Swiss auto dealer’s website wearing a Daytona coupe body. The firm called Burgoi.Their e-mail info@burgol.ch. (it's not China, Switzerland is actually The Confederation of Helvetia)
And to the guy who, every time I bring up something historical, always asks why I don't look it up in the Register, I don't take any one source as gospel truth.
I think if this chassis number Cobra still exists, it would be worth more in its 1964 Sebring body style, complete with lumpy post-crash body and aluminum block 390 (must be rare on the ground...John Vermeersch might know. He's at Total Preformance , 44020 N. Groesbeck Hwy. , Mt. Clemens, MI 49043, 313/468-3673) Of course it still might be uncontrollable..but, hey, isn't that what authenticity is all about?
