When you're out to beat the wheels off the rest of the racing world, what else would you build? With a slippery shape, robust V8 and a bit of luck, the Cobra-based Daytona coupe ousted Ferrari from its perch as the undisputed king of long-distance racing.
If there was ever a more unlikely sports-car constructor, it was Carroll Shelby. The curly haired Texan had been a successful driver who, in the 1950s and early 1960s, competed in exotic European racing machinery while frequently wearing his trademark bib overalls.After ill health forced his retirement, Shelby was determined to build his own racers to compete against his arch-enemy Ferrari and prove once and for all that you didn't need dual overhead cams and exotic bodywork to win races. The only problem was that he lacked the necessary money to turn his passion into reality.But Shelby was a clever entrepreneur who made friends -- influential friends, that is -- easily. After attempting, and ultimately failing, to woo Chevrolet, Shelby convinced Ford, a company anxious to expand its racing horizons, to bankroll a sports car that could succeed on the street and on the track.In 1962, his efforts evolved into the Cobra, a name that, Shelby says, came to him in a dream. The small, lightweight hybrid consisted of a British-built frame and body (supplied by AC cars of England) combined with a small-block Ford V8 courtesy of his new corporate patron. The merging of these key English and American components took place at Shelby's shop in southern California.The initial 75 (out of an eventual 1,000) Cobras used Ford's 164-horsepower 260 cubic-inch V8, but the cars were soon upgraded with the larger 289-cube engines that made up to 306 horsepower.