Visit to the Cobra Experience; Martinez, CA

[JohnK]

I've known about the Cobra Experience for a while now, but have never had the opportunity to visit until today. For those that have never heard of it, the Cobra Experience is located in Martinez, CA and is a private museum dedicated to all things Shelby. It is only open to the public on the 3rd Sunday of every month, and also hosts a number of private events. Hagerty Insurance was hosting a small event today, and my insurance broker invited me to attend so I jumped at the chance to finally visit. It did not disappoint. Here are a few of the highlights:

How it all began. Here's an original 1957 AC Cars chassis:



Also on display were a 289 and 427 Cobra chassis for comparison:



Here's a lineup of 289 Cobras in the foreground, and some Shelby Mustangs in the next row:





This is CSX 2606, 1 of 16 "continuation" Daytona Coupes that was build by Mike McCluskey.



... and a few Sunbeam Tigers.




(cont.)

[JohnK]

One corner of the museum is dedicated to items from the Shelby American shop:



Here's the dyno that was used to break in race engines.



Another section was dedicated to all things "FE" engine-related:



Along with tons and tons of memorabilia, documentation, tooling, and drawings from Shelby American:





These are some of the earliest checks written by Shelby American. They were so new that they didn't have pre-printed check with the company name on them yet. Even the check numbers were hand-written. The first check is for the incorporation fees to create the Shelby American Corporation. The bottom check is a Phil Remington's paycheck for 7/16 - 7/31 1962. He earned $5/hr. and brought home a little over $300 for two weeks' work.



Here are some early drawings and tooling, along with the engraving tool that was used to engrave the serial numbers on the 427 cars.



(cont.)

[JohnK]

Some other notable cars on display:

CSX 3022. A 427 race Cobra:



CSX 2357: a 289 Cobra built for drag racing.



A couple of cars from the Ford vs. Ferrari movie. The first is a Superformance car that was wrapped in white for the movie. This the car from the scene where Ken Miles isn't allowed to race because the suitcase won't fit in the trunk of the car. Since it's a Superformance car, the body is obviously fiberglass, but they fabricated and installed an aluminum trunk lid for the car so Ken Miles could bang on it to fit the suitcase. You never see them open the doors of this car in the movie because the insides of the doors aren't wrapped and the fiberglass body is black.

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Sitting next to it was one of the GT40 replicas used in the movie:



Also on display were several real GT40's including this yellow MkIV J-15. In the background you can see a white flat-tail GT40. That one is J-1, the first MkIV prototype with the honeycomb panel construction. J-2, the second MkIV made, is the car Ken Miles crashed in at Riverside. Following Ken's death, the design of the J cars was re-assessed and significant design changes were made. The result of those redesigns was the yellow car seen here. This car is still vintage raced, and was clocked going 180mph at Sebring in 2022.



Sadly, we only had a couple of hours to explore so I didn't get a chance to check out all the cool exhibits. I will definitely have to make another trip to this amazing museum. If you ever get the opportunity to visit, I would highly recommend it.

[JohnK]

Here's a little fun fact to finish off with. We know that the Shelby Cobras were all numbered with a "CSX" number but I never knew what this stood for. The "C" represents the C-series chassis that AC Cars had developed to support Ford V-8 engines. The "S" stands for Shelby, and the "X" stands for export. There were also about 60 cars that AC Cars assembled in the UK with ford V-8's for UK domestic market. These were sold as AC Cobras rather than Shelby Cobras and carried a "COB" serial number indicating that they were right-hand drive and not exports. There were also left-hand drive export Cobra's that carried a "COX" serial number.

[Jetfuel]

I will like to say thanks for taking the time to document your experience and sharing it with the group.

Jet

[Alan_C]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like another Museum I need to add to my bucket list to visit one day.
I was fortunate to have attended the 50th anniversary gathering at the NHRA museum in Pomona CA. That was quite a treat as there were 50 or so original Cobras in attendance and on display. The cars in the museum alone were worth seeing not to mention all the privately owned cars in attendance. The only thing, or person, missing at the show was Carol himself.
I will have to say the the fastest way to shut down a conversation with an owner of an original was to mention that I was building a replica.

[Cutter 54]

"I will have to say the fastest way to shut down a conversation with an owner of an original was to mention that I was building a replica."

To Alan: OUCH! You have to know the company you are in.

To John: Thank you ever so much for this summary and great photos. A worthwhile trip.

[Alan_C]

"I will have to say the fastest way to shut down a conversation with an owner of an original was to mention that I was building a replica."

To Alan: OUCH! You have to know the company you are in.

To John: Thank you ever so much for this summary and great photos. A worthwhile trip.

I had no idea that owners of originals had such a big chip on their shoulders. I thought building a replica would be flattering, but noooo, just the opposite.