The Shelby Daytona Coupe is the embodiment of classic American motorsports. The only problem is that putting a genuine Daytona Coupe in the garage is nearly impossible. There are only a handful in the world, and the price tag would be in the millions of dollars (if you could find an owner willing to part with one). A few years ago, Superformance and Peter Brock, the original designer of the Daytona Coupe, created a modern replica version that made owning the legendary race car much more affordable. Now, Shelby Distribution has announced it will offer an aluminum-bodied version of that same coupe. Like the Shelby CSX4000 and Commemorative GT40 continuation vehicles, the Daytona Coupe will be listed in the Shelby Registry. In addition to the new skin, the Daytona Coupe also features an updated suspension system that will be shared with the upcoming MkII version of the Superformance Coupe. You can check out a gallery of the aluminum bodied prototype under construction below, as well as the current Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe.
When the vintage racers hit the track for the 2008 Kohler International Challenge at Road America this weekend, the Shelby Automobiles Racing Team will be officially represented for the first time since the late 1960s. Ford is one of the event sponsors and is backing the Shelby effort, which will field four CSX4000 Shelby 427 Cobras in the event. To hear Carroll Shelby tell it, there's probably more to come. In Ford's official announcement (pasted after the jump), Shelby is quoted as saying, "My goal is to return us to professional racing and this is just the beginning." Does that mean we'll be seeing factory-backed Shelby Mustangs in other racing series as well? Who knows. Still, it's kinda cool that the team's official return is at a vintage event, driving brand-new continuation-series cars like the ones that started this whole thing way back when.
The Cobra formula was simple: small British roadster + American V8 drivetrain = racing success. Early Cobras sought balance by utilizing Ford's modest 260 cubic-inch small block V8, but all Hell broke loose when a hairy-chested 427 cubic inch FE big block was installed. As a piece of history, and an exciting way to tickle your adrenal gland, the Cobra is legendary. The perennial practice of plucking a significant car from the 1960s and rehashing it, rather than coming up with something entirely new, has struck again, and now it looks like a new spin on the Cobra might be coming. The Cobra Venom V8 will undoubtedly be more refined than the visceral glory of the original Shelby vehicles, and while the concept images show a derivative car, it's still good looking; classic proportions never go out of style
A supercharged Ford modular V8 spinning out 524 horsepower is the intended power source, squirting the aluminum and carbon fiber coupe around with authority. 0-62 will come up in 3.4 seconds, on the way to a top speed of 214 mph. While the concept renderings look good and the specs sound impressive, we're not sure whether this vehicle exists beyond its concept renderings. If it ever does see the light of day, we'll be sure to climb in, fasten the harness and put on our helmet before complaining that it's really time to move on from the 60s. Then we'll attempt to tear up some track, Shelby style.
Any automotive enthusiast can quote you the story of the Cobra; the British AC Ace stuffed with a Ford V8, a strategy that was equally successful for Sunbeam with its Tiger - right down to the Ford small-block V8 - though the Cobra later got the FE big block. Perhaps less well known are the GTs to come out of Jensen. We even featured one of these more obscure English muscle-machines as a Reader Ride a while back. The original Jensen Interceptor sported a body designed by Italy's Touring, and various flavors of Mopar V8 were nestled in the nose. Nearly 40 years on, V Eight LTD is engaging in some revisionist history.
The Jensen Interceptor S by V Eight is essentially a total rebuilding of an original Interceptor, with many key areas upgraded with modern components. A General Motors LS2 sends 414 horsepower to the independently sprung rear wheels through a modern five-speed automatic transmission. The stock chassis calibration has been upgraded as well, and 17-inch wheels couple tire to tarmac. £75,000 pounds will get you a hand-rebuilt and upgraded Jensen that's a significant improvement in quality over the original, while also benefitting from decades of advancement in engine management. Some might yawn at the small block and its virtual hotrodding ubiquity, and a more esoteric powertrain swap would be equally exciting. We'd be just as puppy-dog waggy over a twin-turbo VQ V6 smashed in there, but who can argue with a vintage sports car that never fails to light off instantly, idles demurely, and can snap the tendons in your neck when you flatten the pedal, all wrapped in an uncommon body shell?
We've all imagined what we would do with a winning lottery ticket or limitless amounts of money. For us here at Autoblog, that fantasy usually involves a large number of automobiles in a multi-car garage. Larry Miller is one of those guys who's living our dream. As the owner of the Utah Jazz, numerous car dealerships, radio and television stations, movie theaters, and a race track, money is not a problem for Mr. Miller. He's used those finances to amass quite a collection of automobiles, particularly historic Shelby and Fords, that are kept at a museum at Miller Motorsports Park. During our recent visit to the track to drive the Shelby GT500KR, we took a tour of the incredible collection. The museum includes several impressive Shelbys, including the second oldest Cobra, the 1966 Le Mans winning GT40 MkII, the MkIV GT40 that won the 1967 12 hours of Sebring, and one of the six Shelby Daytona Coupes. The museum houses only part of Miller's collection, the rest of which can be found at the Shelby museum in Boulder, CO. We know you'd never forgive us if we left the museum without taking photos, so enjoy the gallery below.
You might expect that Carroll Shelby has quite a collection of cars. He's even put up a few for sale recently, including his personal 1969 GT500 Convertible that he's owned since new at Barrett-Jackson this year and the unique Cobra Supersnake that sold for $5,000,000 at last year's auction. A few years ago Shelby also auctioned off one of the six original Daytona Coupes that he had owned for more than twenty years. He must have missed it in the garage, because he requested that Superformance build him one of their new Daytona Coupes. Designed by Peter Brock, the same man who penned the original, this modern version of the Cobra Coupe retains the wonderful shape of the original while offering some creature comforts not found in the race car. Carroll's personal car, which was delivered to him this week, features the "Guardsman Blue" paint scheme of the original cars as well as the #98 that on the car he previously owned. Unique to the car is a one-off paddle-shift transmission designed by MasterShift mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. Power comes from a 427SR Roush crate engine pushing out nearly 500 horsepower. Follow the jump for the press release and check out the gallery below of the car you wish you owned.
The next television spot for Jon Favreau's Iron Man will debut this weekend during (what else) the Super Bowl. Quint at Ain't It Cool News posted a screen capture released by the studio that shows our billionaire industrialist hero, Tony Stark, working in his garage on the armor's glove- and boot-mounted boosters. And what a nice garage it is, boasting not just Tony's R8, but a Shelby Cobra, a Saleen S7, a Tesla Roadster, and a pair of bikes we can't identify (weigh in if you can). Bruce Wayne, eat your heart out.
