As great as Shelby's Cobra roadster was in competition, it was aerodynamically atrocious, and there was no way it could be competitive against Ferrari in international sports car competition-and Ferrari was the only competition that mattered. So in the spring of 1963, the Shelby brain trust started scheming to make the Cobra a car that could dominate the world.
This called for an all-new aerodynamic body for the otherwise stellar Cobra chassis, and It was designed by Pete Brock using instinct and eyeballs instead of a wind tunnel. The Cobra Daytona Coupe was significantly slicker than the roadster thanks to a shape that started with a shark-like front prow that melded into slick flanks and abruptly ended with a large Plexiglass-covered fastback. It would gain the name "Daytona" because the first race it entered was the Daytona Continental in February, 1964.
The first 289-powered Daytona Coupe was built at Shelby's California facility and trucked to Riverside Raceway, where it was instantly 20-mph faster on the long straight than the Cobra roadster. More importantly, with it's strong Ford V-8 doing the pulling out of corners, it was potentially quicker than the Ferrari GTOs, even though the Ferraris had a higher top speed.
Shelby built a total of six Daytona Coupes (with much of the construction subcontracted), and they were intimidating enough during the '64 racing season that Enzo Ferrari decided that his championship-winning factory team didn't need to participate in the '65 season.
During 1965, the Daytona Coupes thoroughly dominated the GT class, winning their class in six of the eight major races and challenging the more exotic prototype racers (where Ford's own GT40 was running) on occasion. However, it didn't win at Le Mans, with four of the five entered Daytonas dropping out and the fifth finishing eighth overall and second in GT. The 1965 FIA World GT Championship was Shelby's.
The Daytona Coupe project was abruptly dropped when Ford asked Shelby to take over much of its floundering GT40 program, but the six Daytona Coupes are still clearly the greatest Shelby products of all time.
Top10 List
Reasons Why You Should Have Been At The 1974 WinternationalsWas the world better 30 years ago? The musclecar era was clearly over by 1974. New cars sported big, ugly bumpers and had an interlock that wouldn't allow them to start unless the seat belt was buckled. The engines were down on power and the whole world was still freaked by the first OPEC oil embargo. But all that didn't matter in the land of NHRA professional drag racing, because racing was still good. You really should have been at the 1974 Winternationals because.
Facts & Rumors
Rumor: Warner Brothers is looking to produce a big-screen version of The Dukes of Hazzard, and supposedly Ashton Kuchar (of TV's That '70s Show and Demi Moore's current flame) and The Fast And The Furious star Paul Walker are looking to star. Sounds hideous. Fortunately, Britney Spears has already turned down the role of Daisy Duke.
Fact: The Chicago-based band Chevelle has released a live bootleg CD. "Live From the Road" will be available exclusively on the band's Web site, www.chevelleinc.com.
Fact: Ford will offer an onboard fire-suppression system on the '05 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
Fact: According to a report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), thieves have been taking Cadillac Escalades at a higher rate than any other vehicle. In fact, five of the ten most stolen vehicles are high-end SUVs.
Fact: Our favorite band name this year? "Camaro Hair" out of Oregon plays "energetic, engaging power pop, harking back to early-'80s New Wave" according to the Portland Oregonian newspaper. Their new album is entitle "Far From OK," which we guess means they're still nowhere near Oklahoma.