The ‘Most Raced’ Shelby Cobra Ever Can Now Be Yours

Multiple race victories and lap records make this heavily campaigned Cobra roadster a collector’s dream.

Carroll Shelby, who won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver before designing the Shelby Cobra and then the the four-time Le Mans-winning Ford GT, is a legend of American automotive history. But this 4.7-liter V8-powered 1963/1965 Cobra Hardtop Coupe Roadster, headed to a Bonhams auction this September, is most famous for its role in British racing lore.

Build on the original chassis of the very first Cobra to compete in Le Mans, the vehicle was heavily campaigned by Martin Colvill, owner of the Horsely, England’s Bell & Colvill dealership. Over 100 races ran in the 1970s and 1980s, it earned 12 outright victories, 44 class wins, three Historic Sports Car Club Classic Sportscar Class A Championships, and two Aston Martin Owners Club’s Inter-Marque Challenge/Championships. Not to mention, Colvill piloted it to multiple class lap records at Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Oulton Park and Mallory Park.

“I recall as a boy seeing the Bell & Colvill Cobra in action,” said Bonhams vice president and head of motorsport Mark Osborne. “It’s been a part of British motor racing lore for as long as I can remember. A recent test at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex revived those rip-roaring memories. To be a part of this famous racing car’s illustrious history is a thrill and an honor—and one that my younger self would have been giddy even to think of.”

And that’s only scratches the surface of what’s being billed as “most raced” Cobra ever—Bonhams has more on its provenance:

Although this potent Cobra was not completed until early 1966, it is now proven that its chassis–serial ‘CS 2131’–began life as AC Cars Ltd’s works entry in the 1963 Le Mans 24-Hours. At that time, it underpinned Cobra ’39 PH’ which, driven by 1957 24-Hour race winner Ninian Sanderson and Peter Bolton, would finish seventh overall and first in class.

Then acquired direct from AC Cars by John Willment Automobiles, 39 PH was successfully campaigned, most often driven by Jack Sears, at Goodwood, Oulton Park and Aintree. However, in practice for the May 1964, Nürburgring 1,000Kms race, Australian co-driver Frank Gardner crashed it at well over 100mph, distorting the chassis frame’s front chassis tower. To expedite repair in time to fulfil its Ilford Films Trophy race entry at Brands Hatch just six weeks later, 39 PH’s original chassis was replaced with a new, later 1964-made frame. Its damaged chassis was subsequently repaired and retained until sold by Willment as a rebuilt rolling chassis plus new body, on the team’s closure in early 1966.

Bought by the Duke of Hamilton and passing through four subsequent owners before Martin Colvill’s acquisition in 1975, chassis ‘”CS 2131A,” as it was later designated by the AC Owners Club in recognition of its chassis’ origin, was acquired by the present vendor in 2005.

Subsequently campaigned in major historic race events, including the Le Mans Classic and Modena Cento Ore, “13 COB” has also run regularly in such renowned Goodwood events as the Shelby Cup, Revival Meeting’s RAC TT Celebration and the Members’ Meeting’s Graham Hill Trophy races. There it has consistently finished in the top ten, driven in more recent years by Anthony Reid, Nick Minassian and Murray Shepherd with Shepherd finishing fourth overall in 2024’s Graham Hill Trophy. In February 2019, ‘COB 13’ was displayed in the Royal Automobile Club’s Rotunda in Pall Mall, London—the first Cobra ever to be so honored. Overall, “13 COB” remains one of the most original surviving competition AC Cobras, retaining not only its original chassis but also its original body throughout its life and competition career. Indeed “13 COB” remains a genuinely historic racing artefact. It has been, and continues to be, fastidiously maintained to the correct FIA homologation specification and FIA Appendix K regulations, without recourse to non-period modifications.

On top off all that, this is still one of fewer than 1,000 original Shelby Cobras, which featured British AC Ace roadster bodies and Ford V8s. One of the most competitive American race cars ever conceived, examples of these Anglo-American classics routinely sell for seven figures. With its rich history, expect this one to sell for $2 to $2.7 million at Bonhams’ Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia auction on September 13 at Goodwood Revival, where these BMW Art Cars designed by Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons and Frank Stella will be on display.