Cleverly Proportioned & Intuitively Perfect
Let’s be clear about one thing. The Shelby Cobra is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time. Since its release, the Cobra’s popularity has continued in version after version, as kit cars, “continuation cars” and tribute cars. Both Ford and Shelby have recently revisited this iconic car with the potential of making new versions, but the classic persists. It’s the one everyone wants. What is it about this car that makes it so enticing, so desirable and so beautifully balanced as a design?
In 1961, Carroll Shelby asked AC Motors to build an AC Ace powered by a Ford 260 V8 engine. The UK-built Ace had been in low-volume production using aluminum body panels over a steel chassis. When modifications to the suspension and drivetrain were completed, the production Cobra became an immediate success but, more critically, it became a media darling, featured in songs, movies and races all over the U.S. Car magazines loved the Cobra, offering a bounty of editorial coverage. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Shelby himself was quite the showman, a natural sales and marketing genius—a combination of Southern charm and Hollywood bravado.
The Cobra too was very much like Carroll Shelby—brash and unapologetic with just a hint of refinement. When the Cobra was released, the most prominent British sports cars featured 4-cylinder engines and small, tidy coachwork. These cars largely served the more buttoned-up English sportsmen. The Cobra featured a handmade body with a sinewy front fender line that undulated from the front to the rear of the car, but visually separated from the main hood and trunk. The new Jaguar E-Type was draped in a more uniformed design, combining unibody construction and partially enclosed wheels. The stately Aston-Martin was upright and refined, but also more of a single body envelope. Though both of these cars used potent inline 6-cylinder engines, neither contained the raspy thumping American V8 engine. Going 0-60 in the Cobra took an astonishing 4.9 seconds, besting both the Jaguar and Aston by two seconds. Even the production V8 Corvette was a full three seconds slower to 60.
With V8 power and open roadster coachwork, the 289 Cobra was truly a rogue of the roadway. Only the American Corvette (itself just beginning to break into performance arenas only a few years after introduction with the V8 engine) served as the competition. By 1962, however, the new Corvette was shifting design to a more bladed and chiseled look. The new Cobra, although an older design by British standards, became a purposeful and fresh look for Americans who wanted something more raw and powerful. Overnight, the performance legend built up, as racing victories mounted. Although only 700 Cobras were built with the small block 260 and 289 engines (compared with 14,000 Corvettes), the low production numbers only added to the mystique and desirability of these cars. Let’s take a look at the three main design features that make the Cobra so visually unique.
Perfect Wheel Arches – The first thing that strikes you when seeing the 289 Cobra is its purposeful nature. The wider wheels and tires (required to handle the additional power) increased the front and rear track dimensions. Because full body changes were costly, clean and simple wheel arch accents were added to the existing bodywork. The effect, while primarily functional, resulted in accenting the larger wheels and tires, making them the focal point of the car, drawing your eyes toward the lowest part of the car. The enhanced musculature made the entire body appear more taught and energetic.
Visual Length Despite Short Wheelbase – Although a short wheelbase car, the Cobra is lengthened in side view by the expanse between the front wheel center and the cowl. This dimension (uncommonly longer than the length of the short door) not only positions the engine in a front-mid bias (allowing for better cornering capability due to weight distribution), it visually lowers the seating position of the driver and passenger even though you sit rather high in the car.
Tall Cowl and Deck Lid – While none of the main body dimensions were altered to make the Cobra, the results of the wider wheels and tires and flared fenders greatly accentuated the cowl and rear deck height. With the main body mass swelled up at the middle and peaking at the cowl, the front fenders appear like claws, surging forward of the hood line, crowning slightly forward of the front wheel center. The fenders all drop below the tall cowl and deck, but your eyes are raised back up by the reflections in the wheel arches. While much of this was likely unplanned or directed, one has to admire the resultant car as a triumph of dedicated yet intuitive engineering and design. Of course all this came at a cost, the Cobra landed in the U.S. for nearly $6,000, a third more than the capable Corvette, and slightly more than the XKE. But the die had been cast—racing and sports cars would never be the same. The Cobra had made its mark, a mark that would last for half a century, continuing to delight collectors and enthusiasts for years to come.
