GTP Cool Wall: 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake

  • Thread starter Thread starter GranTurismo916
  • 69 comments
  • 5,531 views

1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake

  • Total voters
    131
  • Poll closed .
Sometimes the type of people who own them does play a part in how "cool" a car is.

Taking the average owner out of the question, the Honda Civic is a handy little runaround car that, admittedly, you probably won't look twice at. Add in the tuner culture, and it's been destroyed by "yo yo yo, this aluminum spoiler adds like 50 horsepower homie!".

With that in mind, I kinda wonder if people would be singing a different tune if this car wasn't owned by Bill Cosby, but Steve McQueen instead.
 
I actually like Bill Cosby.

And the car is just radical, 800 hp with a weight of 939 kg. That is so unnecessary yet so awesome.

Cool.
 
GTRacer22
The coolness of the car. Not the coolness of the person(s) who owned it.
Click to expand...

People who own the car contribute to the coolness of it for many people.

Even if you took Bill Cosby out of the equation, I'd still think this is uncool.
 
Joey D
People who own the car contribute to the coolness of it for many people.

Even if you took Bill Cosby out of the equation, I'd still think this is uncool.
Click to expand...
I understand that. It just confuses me because it's just about the car. I see why people would contribute, though.
 
800hp in 1966.

Sub zero. Also this was Shelby's personal car at one point.
 
There's only 1 left so chances are the distance it gets driven every year can probably be measured in yards.

Uncool.
 
Coolness is about what people think of the car. If two of a car were built and one of the owners was a serial rapist, that's going to have a big impact on people's view of the car.
 
Seriously uncool because automatic transmission!


Coolness is about WHAT I think of the car…Other peoples opinions mean nothing..#ThingsGTPwillneverunderstand


;)
 
Roger the Horse
If two of a car were built and one of the owners was a serial rapist
Click to expand...

Does he really count though? He drove it once, scared the 🤬 out of himself and subsequently sold it.

That car is also long gone because of the owner after Mr. Cosby, if anything we're essentially voting on a one-off.
 
Coolness is just coolness. If people perceive something to be cool, it's cool, however cramped, slow, cheap or etcetera it is (ref. original Mini Cooper... which is Beatles and Clapton cool).

If they don't, whether it's because it's ugly, slow, or because Charles Manson or Floyd Mo' Money Wife-whomper Mayweather owned one... then they don't.

That's the loveliness of the cool wall. The votes speak for themselves. The rest of the threads are just meaningless banter between bored auto enthusiasts with nothing better to do with their time during their lunch breaks. :D
 
One of the most insane things I've ever seen. SZ all day long.

Don't care about the Cosby connection. Wouldn't have ever crossed my mind had it not been brought up in this thread.
 
playnthru
Seriously uncool because automatic transmission!


Coolness is about WHAT I think of the car…Other peoples opinions mean nothing..#ThingsGTPwillneverunderstand


;)
Click to expand...
Good luck finding a manual back then that could hold it :lol: :p
 
800 bhp? That would really have put the zippidy-zip into the zappidy-zoop and really make a pinplepop of the jello pudding.

Cant decide if I love the insanity, like one would a TVR Speed 12, or if I should run away from it, like one would a TVR Speed 12.
 
Slash
Good luck finding a manual back then that could hold it :lol: :p
Click to expand...
Is that why this thing has an auto? I never realised that Shelby's engineers were so lazy!
 
Beeblebrox237
Is that why this thing has an auto? I never realised that Shelby's engineers were so lazy!
Click to expand...
Pretty much exactly why. The auto that's in it to this day is one of the best autos as far as autos go for the fact it can hold an ungodly amount of power in stock form and its ratios. No manual back then could hold more than (transmission depending of course) 500 without serious work. This was also a one of one car iirc. Dont think Shelby cared.
 
Slash
Pretty much exactly why. The auto that's in it to this day is one of the best autos as far as autos go for the fact it can hold an ungodly amount of power in stock form and its ratios. No manual back then could hold more than (transmission depending of course) 500 without serious work. This was also a one of one car iirc. Dont think Shelby cared.
Click to expand...
Seems odd to me, as an engineer I would have cared more about the challenge of designing and building the gearbox than the driving experience of the car.
 
Beeblebrox237
Seems odd to me, as an engineer I would have cared more about the challenge of designing and building the gearbox than the driving experience of the car.
Click to expand...
Technology hadn't come that far yet. Remember that everything back then was limited to 4 gears or less. Having autos that could hold it at all was a feature in itself.
 
Slash
Technology hadn't come that far yet. Remember that everything back then was limited to 4 gears or less. Having autos that could hold it at all was a feature in itself.
Click to expand...
Limiting it to four gears makes it easier since you have fewer moving parts, less space required, and a generally simpler mechanism. You'd have to mill most of the parts from forged steel, but I think it would still be doable. The shafts could be made on a lathe and any non-rotating components (bearings, the housing, etc.) could be sand cast at a reasonable thickness. It wouldn't be cheap but could potentially have helped Ford to develop a more robust manual for other applications and likely would have made the Super Snake easier to control on the track.
 
Beeblebrox237
Limiting it to four gears makes it easier since you have fewer moving parts, less space required, and a generally simpler mechanism. You'd have to mill most of the parts from forged steel, but I think it would still be doable. The shafts could be made on a lathe and any non-rotating components (bearings, the housing, etc.) could be sand cast at a reasonable thickness. It wouldn't be cheap but could potentially have helped Ford to develop a more robust manual for other applications and likely would have made the Super Snake easier to control on the track.
Click to expand...
With the power it has I'm sure it was already more than a handful :lol:

I see what your saying however. I'm not saying it couldn't have been done but the car was mostly thrown together with already built off the shelf Ford parts more so than individual engineering for a one off.
 
Indeed. It does sound like Shelby went and made the car himself rather than going to his team and saying "hey guys, let's make this car" which makes sense since it was his personal vehicle rather than a product they sold.
 
It would have been an interesting engineering challenge... but a challenge nobody else had bothered to tackle, back then, in street cars.
 
Beeblebrox237
Indeed. It does sound like Shelby went and made the car himself rather than going to his team and saying "hey guys, let's make this car" which makes sense since it was his personal vehicle rather than a product they sold.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was his car first and I think he just went all out.
niky
It would have been an interesting engineering challenge... but a challenge nobody else had bothered to tackle, back then, in street cars.
Click to expand...
This is probably why it didn't happen.
 
Let's see.

Car makes more power than anything that isn't on slicks at a drag strip.

2 examples will be produced.

Shelby, a tuning/racing shop decides not to design a high torque capacity transmission from the ground up... For two cars that will never be sold or raced.

Yeah... How lazy...

Actually, can I get a list of stick shift road legal production cars with more than 800hp?
 
Beeblebrox237
Is that why this thing has an auto? I never realised that Shelby's engineers were so lazy!
Click to expand...

So, if you're going to call Shelby engineers lazy for using an auto to to survive 800hp in 1966, are you going to call the engineers at Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc. lazy for basically doing the same today with 700+hp?
 
Seriously Uncool, because it was owned by Bill Cosby. It would be pretty cool otherwise.
 
It's worth noting that basically no car manufacturers actually build their own transmissions. They buy units from companies like ZF or Tremec.

This is why the 6 speed stick shift in a Mustang is more or less the same unit that's in a Viper, Camaro, Challenger, Corvette, or Aston Martin DB7. The more exotic cars tend to share ZF transmissions for their DCT's as well. Changing shifters, software, or minor components? Easy. Raising torque capacity by double? Not easy.
 
Meh from me. 427 Cobras are already hairy enough cars, adding this amount of power is pointless and it would seem dangerous, not in a cool way. To me this is no different to the countless overtuned GTRs and Gallardos and whatnot you see on Youtube all the time. Proportionately only a bit faster in a straight line, useless for much else, and the lifespan of a housefly.
 
Back