This 50-Cobra Collection Is the Single Greatest Tribute Ever Paid to Carroll Shelby

Shelby gave the world plenty, but one thing stands supreme above all else: the Cobra. The man’s ability to devise the legendary machine brought him righteous fame, even if the name Shelby is seldom thought of outside the Ford orbit.

Indeed, Carroll Shelby made one extraordinary car from the Mustang. Still, before that, he drew attention to his work with a very American approach to a most European automotive concept. The history of the little British AC body stuffed with the American heart is too well-known to lay down here, but…

That 1962 moment when a 289 CID (4.7-liter) Ford V8 dropped under the hood of the AC was immortalized on the cover of Road and Track magazine. One day, one issue of the publication fell into the hands of a young man named Lynn, and everything would take a turn for the (automotive) better.

Fast-forward six decades, and Lynn Park is the undisputed legend among Cobra hotheads. This is partly due to his dedication to the brand – he has built, bought, refurbished, and de-furbished (he explains in detail in the video) numerous V8 snakes.

Top that with a life-long friendship with Carroll Shelby, add a collection of fifty Cobras in the mix, and it becomes clear why the “Mr. Cobra” moniker is Lynn’s gearhead name. And one very lucky YouTuber got a once-in-a-lifetime treat from the legendary collector.

Nicole Johnson’s Detour made a pitstop to Pasadena, California, right at Mr. Park’s residence – or should we say “at the Cobra sanctuary”? – for a unique experience. All fifty of the Cobras in the Lynn Park collection run and drive – despite some of those deceptive looks – but not too many people got the chance to drive them.

Apart from Lynn and his two sons, no one has sat in the driver’s seat of the Cobras – not after the cars entered the collection, anyway. So, as in a monumental show of gratitude toward Carroll Shelby’s memory, Lynn Park agreed to hand over the keys to some of his most beloved cars to the YouTuber for a quick touch of the heavenly piston snake.

The collection is a history encyclopedia in its own right, as each car has a story to tell – some of them bear the marks of legend, in fact. For example, remember the Ford V Ferrari sequence where Ken Miles hammers the trunk lid of a Cobra to fall inside the FIA Rules and Regulations book?

That episode is not a piece of Hollywood scripting, but it happened. When Shelby sent his five roadsters to Europe in ’65, the rules said that a wooden box of a specific size had to fit inside the trunk. So the team put the hammer down and “adjusted” the Cobras. One of those cars is in the Shelby American Collection, and the other belongs to Lynn Park.

But one of the most prized possessions in the collection is Cobra no. 10. Or, to be accurate, Chassis no. 2010 – the tenth car built by Shelby American. A 289 original, the car runs and drives beautifully – and the YouTuber – overwhelmed and aghast – got a hands-on ride with the historic vehicle. You can listen to the burble of the V8 as it goes up and down the hill at pace.

The legendary status of Lynn Park among the Cobra’s innermost circles is undeniable. The autographed photo of him sitting next to no. 2010 Cobra (with Carroll Shelby at the wheel) is proof enough for anyone that Mr. Cobra earned his reputation fair and square.

Perhaps one of the most coveted Cobras of all is the “El Cid” Dragon Snake – the drag racer that Shelby himself owned, one of just five ever built. Lynn got the car from Carroll with the express interdiction to have it resold – something to which Mr. Park immediately agreed. And if you slide the timeline marker on the video to around 26:00, I strongly suggest you turn down the volume. After all, there’s a reason it’s called Dragon…

Apart from the second shock of her YouTubing – and driver – career (which is turning on the engine of the black drag champion of ’64 Winternationals), the car vlogger gets the final treat. The utmost courtesy, the bucket list white elephant – driving an original 427 Cobra.

Not just any Cobra with the mighty 500-hp V8 in it, but one that has never been driven by anyone except Lynn Park himself and The First Lady of Motorsports herself, Linda Vaughn. Not that it would be a difficult car to drive – as the video shows, the Cobra is every bit of a driver’s car on public roads as it is a racer on the track.

The greatest homage paid to Carroll Shelby is to drive his cars precisely as he dreamt them to be driven, as pure and unconstrained by technology as he made them. And, to all extents, Lynn Park is the perfect example of what Shelby cars were all about from 1962 onwards.