SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 Le Mans roadster |
| Years Produced: | 1963-64 |
| Original List Price: | $2,700 (to Shelby less engine and transmission) |
| SCM Valuation: | $650k |
| Tune Up Cost: | $400 |
| Distributor Caps: | $20 |
| Chassis Number Location: | Tag in engine compartment, bonnet latch, inside door |
| Club Info: | Shelby American Automobile Club, PO Box 788, Sharon CT 06069 |
| Website: | http://www.saac.com |
| Alternatives: | 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, 1964-65 Ferrari 250LM, 1950-53 Jaguar C-Type |
| Investment Grade: | A |
This car sold for $1,010,694 against an estimate of $950k-$1.2m at RM Auctions in Monaco on May 1, 2010.
Ah yes, the wacky and wonderful world of vintage race cars and their complicated life stories. Let’s start at the beginning. First, in the nomenclature of the Cobra world, CSX2136 is not a Le Mans Cobra. It is what both Shelby and AC Cars called a “Le Mans Replica”- one of the 6 such cars Shelby built following their success with the two actual Le Mans cars.
As the catalog chronicles, 2136 was indeed an incredibly successful Shelby – and later privateer – team car. Like almost any winning race car, it had its fair share of bumps and bruises from 1964-1966. In 1967, Stan Bennett purchased it with a blown motor, fixed it up, and raced it. Somewhere along the way it was crashed to the extent it needed a new nose.
Bennett sold the repaired car to John Bachnover during September 1967. Bachnover later sold it to David Greenblatt. Greenblatt continued to race the car – until significantly damaging 2136 in the early 1970’s during a race.
To add insult to injury, the heavily damaged 2136 later caught on fire on Greenblatt’s trailer and burned to the ground. Greenblatt was paid for the loss by his insurance carrier, who then took the remains of 2136 and placed them into storage. By 1975, the insurance company lost track of the remains, the owner of the storage facility passed away, and what remained of 2136 was scrapped.
Wait! There’s more!
Grab some popcorn because now the tale gets better:
In 1977, Michael Leicester met Greenblatt, and the conversation turned to 2136. Greenblatt ended up selling Leicester two spare wheels and his 1969 bill of sale from Bachnover for 2136 for the sum of $1 and a sports racing car valued at $3600.
In 1978, Leicester commissioned Brian Angliss – who later bought AC Cars – of England to build him a new Cobra body and chassis, oddly enough also wearing the identifier “CSX2136.”
In 1979, SAAC received a letter from Leicester explaining how he owns the lost Cobra 2136 and how it was undergoing a “ground-up restoration.”
July 1980 saw the new Angliss 2136 Le Mans Replica delivered to Leicester.
In December 1980, Gilles Dubuc stumbled upon – and purchased – the earthly remains of the real CSX2136 in a Canadian junkyard. He later sold them to Ken Eber.
Of course, a legal battle soon erupted between Eber, the rightful owner of the only bits of CSX2136 DNA left, and Leicester, who owned the carefully crafted “new” CSX2136.
Call in the Mounties
Eventually the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called in to examine Leicester’s ownership documents and his car, and they determined it to be a recreation. The original paperwork for the real 2136 in Leicester’s possession was transferred to Eber, and Leicester was somehow allowed to re-number and call his car “CSX2136R.”
After Chris Cox purchased the car in 1997, he soon sold it to Richard Scaife. Scaife later consigned it to RM Auction’s 2006 Amelia Island sale, where the late John O’Quinn purchased 2136 for $1,650,000.
So, in the case of our subject car, CSX2136, we need to examine the age-old question: Is it possible to crash (and sometimes burn) the history out of a winning race car? Was it a good buy at just over $1m – just a few years after SCM declared it a fair deal at $1.65m?
It all depends on your views on race history versus originality. There is no question that the car in question is all that remains of the original car that won the races and was piloted by some of the best Cobra drivers of all time.
Washington’s axe
A Le Mans Replica Cobra is among the most desirable of all Comp Cobras, and unless you are a blood relative, Cobra restorer/racer extraordinaire Bill Murray won’t restore your Comp Cobra- ever. So, we know 2136 is well restored and well-sorted.
If you are the type that feels George Washington’s axe is still the same axe he used in spite of three new handles and two new heads – and you have been looking for a Comp Cobra that will get you in the door at any vintage event on the planet, then CSX2136 was a great buy.
If you don’t care about racing, but you want to know that the aluminum on your Cobra was hammered out and installed at AC Cars in 1964, then CSX2136 would be considered more sizzle than steak.
The sale price reflects roughly a 100 percent premium over a decent 289 Street Cobra today, but I suspect it also represents at least a 50 percent discount from what 2136 would be worth if Ed Leslie had parked it in a garage in 1965 and it had been dragged out, dust, dents and all, and run over the same RM Monaco auction block.
I guess the answer to my above question, at least on this day in Monaco, is that you can’t crash and burn the history out of a great old race car – but you can crash and burn out a significant part of its value. And in an atypical SCM split judgment on a sale, we believe that 2136 was well bought for an end user who wants to race, and it was well sold if you base a car’s value on how many original bits it retains.
If nothing else, the new owner of 2136 has a great story to tell his buddies about his new car over a few beers.