This Shelby Cobra Replica Is Ready to Offer All the Thrills Without Breaking the Bank

The car we are talking about today is a replica of the original Cobra, built by Factory Five Racing. I know, I already hear the "Well, it’s just a replica, it can’t match the original one" type of comments, but that’s not the case. Before getting to the car itself though, we should talk about how the Cobra came to be and what makes it so desirable.

The Cobra was born at the hands of a Texas chicken farmer, maybe you heard of him - Carroll Shelby. Kidding aside, after the war, the legend really was a chicken farmer, and he was quite a successful one. He used those funds to start racing. First of all, he was a driver and a pretty damn good one. He won Sebring and LeMans piloting for Aston Martin.

Carroll’s driving extravaganza was cut short, as he was suffering from a heart condition that kept him from competing as a driver. But he didn’t give up so easily, and he dreamt about winning at LeMans with a car of his own.

At first, to achieve that dream, he went to Aston Martin, but the answer was a definitive no. Then, he caught word that a small British company, called AC, lost their engine supplier for their Ace Bristol roadster. Great, he had the platform, now all that was left was finding what to power the thing with.

Mister Shelby went to Chevy, but they weren’t interested. So, he figured he would try his hand at Chevrolet's biggest competitor, Ford. The Blue Ovals reps loved his idea, and the AC Cobra was born. The combination of the British lightweight body and the American brute force made the Cobra quite a handful, especially on the narrow and twisty roads of LeMans.

So, the team got back to the drawing board with the goal of beating Ferrari. This feat was achieved with a new, aerodynamic design, called the Daytona Coupe. They took it over the pond and entered it in the GT-Class of the 1964 LeMans. There, not only did it win, but it destroyed Ferrari, finishing the race a whole lap faster than the closest Prancing Horse. Thus, Shelby achieved his dream. He won LeMans as a driver and also as a builder.

This skyrocketed the success of the Cobra, cementing it as one of the greats. This status and popularity are also available nowadays, with the original Cobras going easily for six and even seven figures.

Circling back to the beginning of this article, if you don’t have a stack of money laying around, there are some variants out there. Among the sea of replicas, some rise above the rest, specifically the ones made by Factory Five Racing. Today we are talking about one of their creations, an Mk3 Roadster.

This Cobra replica was built by its previous owner in 2017, because, yes, you get the parts, and the rest is up to you. It is as accurate as you can get to the original body lines without spending millions.

The car is finished in gray metallic with the classic dual stripes in black running down the middle. The exterior is complemented by 17-inch Hallybrand-style alloy wheels and two roll bars for each brave soul who steps inside.

The interior is pretty bare-bones, with two bucket seats holding you in place. If you are brave enough to sit in the said seats, you will be greeted by a three-spoke wooden steering wheel that fronts two gauges, with five others being located in the mid section of the dashboard.

Under the hood, the original Ford theme is kept, with a Windsor V8 sitting there, ready to tear your face off. While its origins might seem a little anemic, this 5.8-liter (351 ci) powerplant packs a punch in such a small and light body. An exact power figure isn’t known, but this engine was bored, it has a hefty camshaft, Holley four-barrel carburetor, and an Edelbrock intake. So whatever the numbers are, I’m sure they’re more than enough.

Sending power to the rear wheels is a Tremec five-speed manual transmission and a 3.55:1 rear differential. Making sure the beast rumbles freely are two side-exit exhaust pipes. Keeping it going somewhat in the right direction is independent suspension all around and a stiff aluminum and steel chassis. After the five seconds it takes to get scared following the mashing of the accelerator, you will go straight for the brakes. The good thing is that you’ll stop as fast as you started moving, courtesy of Wilwood disk brakes on all four corners.

This Cobra replica is up at auction in Oklahoma City. It has 350 miles shown on the dash and the price sits at 40,250 dollars. It comes with an assembly manual, spare parts, and a clean Oklahoma title describing the car as a 1965 Factory Five Racing.

Yes, this is a replica, and some people may scoff at that, but don’t be mistaken. It still is extremely fast. It still is dangerous. Just like the original creation, you have a lightweight body, a massive V8 in the front, and the only thing keeping you on the road is how good of a driver you are.