I saw my first Cobra in 1966 at Alton Dragway, Alton Illinois ( RIP). All of us gear heads were thrilled to see a 289 Cobra entered in the B/Sports class along with about 14 327 Corvettes. We watched in awe as the lone Cobra waded through the field that day to take home the class trophy. That Cobra ran in the low 13s @ 105 mph or so, while the Vettes were in the high 13s to low 14s. I was 16 years old that day but the memory of my first look at a Cobra is as vivid today as it was in 1966. I later saw a 427 Cobra run low 11s @ 125 mph in ‘67. Hey Little Cobra ring true to my ears!
I was a Ford salesman in 1965-the cars on the showroom floor were '66's.One of the cars on the floor was a grey Cobra with a 260 in it and one of our demos was a GT 350.I owned a Mustang Fastback with a 289 and a 4 speed then.I now own a 1995 Mustang GT convertible with a 302 and a 5 speed.Great song-thanks for posting it!
When I was four or five years old my dad and I stopped by a Ford dealer in Atlanta,GA. to check-out the used cars. There was a red '66 Cobra sitting on the show room floor. It had a dual-quad 427 engine,4 spd. transmission and tail pipes rather than side pipes. He could've bought it for $3300.00. Damn!
As Carol tells it, she met Carrol Shelby and he offered her a Cobra if she could write a #1 song about it. She did and he lived up to his word. Later Brian Wilson met her and said, "we knew a girl wrote that song." How? she asked. "Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line." Honey,you can if you're that far ahead, she replied.
Carol Connors also sang back up on the record. That is her singing "Shut 'em down" in the back ground. Carol sang lead on the 1958 one hit wonder "To Know Him Is To Love Him" with The Teddy Bears under the name Annette Kleinbard.
RIP Carroll Shelby. As a former owner of a 1968 Shelby GT 500, I can tell you, it was, "hang on and step on it." He never stopped innovating and improving.
A Top 5 hit for The Rip Chords in February 1964. On February 1, 1964, this was the #5 song in the USA. The #1 song was I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles. Nothing more needs to be said.
one day I was walking thru the Publix parking lot--heard this hum in the parking lot-goose bumps all over when I saw this beautiful COBRA slowly purring thru the lot-my neighbor had one so I knew that unique purr-got to hear him start it up EVERYDAY!!! nothing like it--thanks Cobra
First Cobra I ever saw, back around '70, Riding with my buddy in his MGB in some desolate part of Jersey and heard a LOUD, BBBRRRRRRAAPPP !!!!! going the other way. I turned around and looked and it was a Cobra, already just a little speck in the distance. Awesome experience.
I was once in a dodge with my dad on some random straigh flat 3000 mile long country road on our way to his old friend's farm to help him out and we passed by 2 lambos and a bugatti pulled over with the drivers chatting with each other and eating. about 15 mins later, we heard "VRR VRRR ROOOM VRRR RRRR" and then 2 lambos and a bugatti were passing us in the other lane doing approximately 300-400. within about 20 seconds they had disappeared beyond the horizon. And that was the first time I saw a lambo of a bugatti in person. It really made the drive less boring.
Had the great good fortune to drive a 289 Cobra in 1970 at Palm Beach International Speedway...managed to match an Elva/Porche lap time for lap time for several laps...a feat I attribute to the great speed and handling of the vehicle ...way more than my own skills. An experience that I carry in my self...and can pull up ...to recall a great ...GREAT... Saturday afternoon
Terry Melcher - lead vocals, background vocal layers Bruce Johnston - co-lead vocals, background vocal layers The Wrecking Crew - instrumentation Carol Connors & Marshall H. Connors - songwriters Terry Melcher & Bruce Johnston - producers
Brilliant early 60s Sthn Calif Hot Rod Song .. one of the very best examples from that fabulous musical era & of that all-time wonderful sound & genre. GREAT POST !!
Excellent montage, good sound quality too. Goes good next to 'Little GTO'. Long live Gary Usher, Jan Berry, and Brian Wilson - they produced the best car songs!
I grew up with the Cobra predecessors racing at the Bridge, Limerock and Sebring. My Dad brought these cars to the US and my first car was an AC with the Coventry Climax engine. They were hot before Carrol Shelby added more muscle.
The Cobra Carrol Conner bought is now located in Toole UT at the Larry Miller Motorsports museum. Along with 2 GT 40s that placed first and second at Le Mans the year they went 1,2,3
The 289 version was fun; when they slipped the big block 427 in, it took men like Ken Miles to handle it! When I see a "real" 427 Cobra, my blood momentarily turns to ice water! The Sunbeam Tiger II with the 289 was also a fun ride, 'tho not nearly as well known!
I had a little 289 Snake back in the early70's. A '63 with 4 two barrel webbers and 4:56 rear. Coming off hard the rear would just walk back and forth searching for traction. I'd have one hand on the wheel sawing back and forth and the other shifting the gears all the while and unholy howl came out of the carbs kinda like an organ hitting some really high note.
Richard Heinrich Yeah...& you know you loved it & would love to have it back. I yearned for one of those small-block cobras myself. Can't beat the original with modern fixes!
I remember reading a road test, in Motor Trend magazine, on the 1967 AC Shelby Cobra powered by the 7 litre 427 "high rise" Ford engine with two 850cfm Holly carbs. They described how, on a full power shift, going into 4th gear at 100 miles an hour, they were able to break the rear wheels loose! Talk about a power-to-weight ratio!
Just a little bit of history. The Cobra is a bit like the reverse of a P51 Mustang fighter plane. US design + UK engine (Merlin) = superplane. The Cobra was a British design (AC Ace / Cobra) + US Engine / tweaks = supercar. Google it those who doubt. What a machine.
Lead singer on this is record producer Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day. Background vocals - including the "shut 'em down, shut 'em down" - is co-producer Bruce Johnston in his pre-Beach Boys days. The song is credited to the Rip Chords, but neither Bruce nor Terry is officially credited on the song.
Bruce Johnston, with the Beach Boys for 50 years now and Grammy winner for composing "I Write The Songs". A little trivia about another musical genius.
We used to drag race on the public road that ran outside the north end of GMs Milford Proving Grounds back in the 60s.. One day we heard something nasty coming up the road that ran along the west side and listened as it made the right hand curve and came over the slight rise near the Start line. It was a 427 Cobra! He stopped and asked if anyone wanted to race..there weren't any takers so he took off and left us babbling about the experience for a few minutes...
Last Dec. 9 I was looking for something I never found but did find the Cobra spec sheet Shelby had signed for me 51 years and one day before, Dec. 8, 1965, when he was on his book signing tour.
I was born in 2000 so i've had shit music forced on me my whole life. The only way to listen to this is for me to turn on my playlist of around 350 50's 60's and early 70's songs while playing cs:go or call of duty.
the ford 427 was most definitly used in the cobra, they are called " SC427 cobra" the chassis were compleatly rebuilt and the front radiator opening was enlarged. there are legit 428&429 cobras built in england at the end of the model run.
I doubt that the current Cobra's being built will ever be worth what an original Cobra will be worth, especially those with a racing heritage, or celebrity owned, but will still be highly prized , just because they are genuine Shelby's. I am a Ford Tech and Ford fan, a Mustang addict. [also very hardheaded] LOL
Carroll Summers wrote this song. Good friends with Mr Shelby. He said there all kinds of car songs but, not about my Cobra. If you write one, I'll give you one of my cars. She did and he did.
+Clubber Correction, The song writer is Carol Connors. Shelby was a bit reluctant to give her a Cobra as her driving record was less than exemplary at the time. I read that the first Cobra failed and he send another one. That one the engine failed when her sister was driving. The third she drove for years.
Carrol Shelby bought Carrol Conner her Cobra for writing the song. She also wrote the theme to Rocky. Its in one of Colin Comer's books. In her youth she was like a Goodyear Blue Dot on the back end of any Cobra... smokin. hot.
I remember how when Carroll & the boys finished building the first small-block cobra, they took some 4 ought or 6 ought ( I forget which) steel wool & polished the aluminum body a bit. Then in true Judas Priest fashion, they headed out to the highway. A '63 Stingray was the first 'vette to get snake bit!
? I remember Shelby telling the story of the 1st cobra being hand-formed out of aluminum & polished with 4000 steel wool. He then hit the highway & the first vette got snake bit.
No. 142 was CSX 2345. Most of the shots are with Phil Hill driving. Bondurant was the co-driver. Shots are at the 1964 Targa Florio. Drove the course last year. See cobraferrariwars.com.
True, but the Shelby AC Cobras are the James Dean of the car world. Cobras were only made for a very short time, but their glory still shines like a supernova in the sky just like his fame from his all too brief life.
it was wonderful when the European Ferarri snobs faced bitter defeat from the Cobras and Ford GT'S in the mid sixties. to see the crushing shock of anguish at their realization that their automotive legends were blown away by American V8 Engines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A 429 Ford engine in a lightweight AC Bristol car frame. This car was really giving Ferraris and Jaguars in the '60's a real Challenge; sometimes shutting them down altogether.
Jan and Dean met Carol one time and said,"we knew a woman wrote this song." How? Carol asked. "Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line!"
What's the difference ? Each one produced is an "Original "Shelby, not a clone or kit. My only point is that some may think they are not still being made for sale. Todays Cobra is far better than the original due to advanced technology in chassis, gearing, and engine performance.
I built a 60 Corvette with a 327 and put a Z service package cam in the motor.on a test drive at 110 in 3rd gear I lost traction.off the throttle and quick resteer.back to straight.what a memory.
"As Bruce and Terry"... as Bruce, as in Bruce Johnston (member of Beach Boys for more than a half-century and composer of "I Write the Songs" for Barry Manilow), and as Terry, as in Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son and early producer for Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc.), they were a non-stop music machine !
