AC Shelby Cobra (replica)

AC Cobra: A car with bite

The name Carroll Shelby is instantly recognisable to anyone in the auto industry, particularly those with an interest in high-performance vehicles.

The Shelby name is one that is synonymous with power and speed, and when stuck next to the word Mustang – the vehicle with which it is most closely associated –  it immediately brings to mind the image of the brutally powerful Ford monsters that have torn up and down highways across the world for decades.

But it is not with the Mustang that the Shelby legend begins. In fact, it goes back a few years before the first Shelby Mustang GT350 appeared in 1965.

Back in 1959, a 36-year-old Shelby, by then a seasoned racing competitor, reached the pinnacle of his on-track career by co-driving an Aston Martin DB1 to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The story goes that Shelby was very impressed with the performance of another car on the track – a six-cylinder roadster called the AC Ace, a car that had been around since 1953 and was a product of AC Cars, a small English manufacturer.

He never forgot the little car and in 1961, following his retirement from racing, Shelby’s genius for modification came to the fore when he began shipping the Ace to his workshop in California and cramming Ford V8’s into the engine bay.

What resulted was a stunningly powerful vehicle known as the AC Cobra. Originally fitted with a 3.6-litre V8, the Cobra would get more and more powerful and, in its most famous guise, be known as the 427 Cobra thanks to an enormous 7-litre V8 providing the grunt. At the time, the Cobra was the world’s fastest production car, capable of 265km/h and 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds. Not bad for 1965!

The original Cobra had a short lifespan and when production finished in 1967, less than 1000 had been made. Not surprisingly, the legendary car is now in high demand and you’d have to pay a pretty penny to get one. How much? Last year, the very first Shelby Cobra sold for $AU18 million . . . yep, $AU18 million!

So, how do you get your hands on one if you don’t have a wallet the size of Bill Gates’ bank vault? The answer: build a replica.

And that is just what Iain Kippen did.

The UK-born entrepreneur and owner of Bissell’s Paint & Panel in Noosaville, loved the Cobra as a kid, and getting one was always likely for a man for whom classic cars are something of a passion.

Iain ordered his Cobra from renowned Gold Coast-based manufacturer DRB Sportscars, and DRB supplied Iain with the body and chassis while he sourced all the components and parts required to make something as close to the real thing as possible.

“I think there are only three or four original 427 Cobras left, so you have to go to these continuation or remake models,” says Iain. “There are a few companies out there doing them but DRB are about the best and this car is about the closest to the original that you can get.

“Every part of the vehicle has been fabricated,” he adds. “When I put in the order, it was basically a pile of steel and from that they built the monocoque chassis. I also asked that it be built with the running gear and we sourced the suspension and braking came from Jaguar. Lots of people use the Jaguar stuff – it is just brilliant.

“So what I got from DRB was a rolling chassis and we put in the engine, gearbox, wiring and completed the finishing.

“We did the build over about 18 months and every time a new component – be it dials, dash, seats – was required, I would do the research. It had to meet the Australian Design Rules (ADR) so there was plenty of work and a few hurdles to overcome.”

Trying to keep the Cobra as close to the original as possible, in spirit at least, saw Iain and the Bissell’s team make further physical alterations and search for a modern engine appropriate for a car with such a power-laden heritage.

“This car has been built as close to original as we could get it,” says Iain. “For example, on the original Cobra they had a different offset on the rear wheel – it had a bigger dish. We shortened the rear axle so we could get the original dish onto that wheel so the car would have the same look. We changed the profile of the tyres though because, obviously, modern tyres are far better on a car like this.

“As for the engine, it had to be modern to keep up with ADR rules, and I wanted a Ford because that was what powered the original car. I sourced a 5.4-litre V8 quad cam which produces over 500bhp. It was hard to fit but we managed to squeeze it in!”

The look of the car was very important and after an 18-month build, Iain chose a vibrant translucent candy PPG paint to give it a stunning finish. Though Iain was not the owner of Bissell’s at the time (he bought the business in 2011) it’s a finish that makes the Cobra a fine advertisement for the company.

And it is as a showpiece for the work done at Bissell’s that the Cobra is most often utilised.

“Quite honestly, that car has done less than 1000kms,” says Iain. “It’s a two-seater, old-style car which isn’t completely practical. It is extremely light for the power it has and while great to drive, when you put your foot down it is an absolute beast!

“When we do take it out, it does get admiring looks,” he adds. “Everyone wants to talk about it and they love the look and the sound of it. But it is finished in our colours and lives in the showroom where it is a great showpiece for us.”

The Cobra is not alone in the Bissell’s showroom. Not only does Iain own the Cobra, there’s a beautiful Rover P4 and some classic bikes there too. The star, however, is his other ‘Shelby’ vehicle, a Mustang GT500 ‘Eleanor’ licensed version of the car made famous in the film Gone In 60 Seconds. Only 70 of these official versions were built and . . . well, that’s a story for another time. But be assured, we will be back to tell it.