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The Shelby Daytona Coupe (also referred to as the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe, incorrectly) is an American sports-coupé. It is related to the Shelby Cobra roadster, loosely based on its chassis and drive-train developed and built as an advanced evolution.
The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé was a result of incredible talent, dedication, experience and a tiny bit of luck. Read on to learn more about its incredible story.
With its small-block engine, the Daytona hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, 100 mph in a just 10.5 seconds, and tore through the quarter in 12.7 seconds at 111 mph. Today, the storied blue Cobra Coupe, one of only six ever built, survives in the collection of Rob Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune.
The Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe’s extraordinary story includes beating Ferrari, bursting up in flames, and spending three decades in a storage unit.
During 1964 and 1965, CSX2299 had run in 10 of the 25 races that the Daytona Coupes participated in, more than any other example. It scored four GT class wins, plus three second places and two DNFs, setting lap records at five of its races.
In 1964, Ferrari barely won the GT Championship over the Cobra Daytona Coupe, but, in 1965, Shelby won the Constructor’s GT World Championship. In addition, the Daytona Coupes had class victories in the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1964 and 1965, and a variety of other important races.
The two Cobra Daytona Coupes faced stiff competition from the GTO Ferraris at Le Mans. Despite mechanical issues, John Ohlsen, Shelby’s crew chief, pulled the team to victory. Photograph Courtesy Peter Brock Collection
The Shelby Daytona Coupe is great simply because it was built out of the pure drive to win the FIA World Championship. From 1964-65 the Dayton Coupes were campaigned by the British Alan Mann Racing Ford factory team, as well as temporarily selling or leasing to other racing teams such as “Tri-Colore” of France and Scuderia Filipinetti of ...
1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe: King Cobra. Max Howard. 18 May 2009. Carroll Shelby wasn’t the first man to drop a brutish American V8 into a lithe European chassis. Frank Kurtis did it. Sydney Allard did it. And each proved successful to varying degrees.
Fifty years ago, on July 4, 1965, a car created by a handful of California hot-rodders won America its first FIA manufacturers' road-racing championship. That machine, the 1964 Shelby Cobra...