With a documented history back to the original purchase, Keith Martin’s Sports Car Market reported Sept. 7 that a Shelby Cobra “DragonSnake” sold for a whopping $1.3 million at Worldwide Auctioneers‘ Sept. 5 Auburn Collection auction. With only four owners since new, it recently underwent a complete restoration back to showroom quality.
Carroll Shelby’s passion was road racing, but his formula of installing a powerful V8 in a light car also translates well to drag racing. Cars for meant for road racing and drag racing are very different, with each requiring their own suspension tuning and components. As such, cars that are good at one are not typically well suited for the other.
To appease his fans that enjoy a quick quarter mile drag race, Mr. Shelby developed the “DragonSnake.” This drag-racing-focused model’s name is a play on the term “Dragging Snake.” To make this model suitable for the strip, he moved the battery from under the hood to behind the passenger seat. This promoted faster weight transfer at launch, which also required the addition of stronger axle shafts.
Only four of these Cobras were built with the 289ci, and this one was slated to be used by Shelby American as a member of Team Cobra’s racing fleet. But now, it’s been sold for an unbelievable amount.
For more info on this rare car, our friends at Hemmings have compiled a complete history. Stay tuned to Autofluence for more auction news and results.
(Sources: Keith Martin’s Sports Car Market, Hemmings Daily, Worldwide Auctioneers)
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