Shelby Cobra

The Cobra was a sports car built by Shelby for grand tourer racing using the British AC Ace. The Cobra was a success in GT racing and became one of the most iconic American sports cars of all time. Cobra and Shelby editions of Ford products have since been made available, as well as Dodge when Shelby was working with Chrysler. The Dodge Viper was based on and named for the Cobra, and has since competed successfully in GT racing. The coupe version of the Viper was based on the Shelby Daytona which was also available. The Daytona was named for the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race held at Daytona International Speedway in Florida, site of the famous Daytona 500 NASCAR race (the endurance race uses the partial road course). Other attempted modern Cobras have been created, but never mass-produced. Shelby for years marketed the Series One, a modern sports coupe. The Ford Shelby GR-1 was created as a concept car, based on the Daytona. It was never mass-produced. The Cobra's fiftieth anniversary was tributed at the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca Raceway.