Beschreibung:

Encouraged by the Ford Motor Company, Carroll Shelby used his Cobra brainchild to challenge the might of Ferrari in international GT racing, and succeeded in wresting the World Championship from the Italian manufacturer in 1965. Chassis number 'CSK2301' started life as one of the handful of works cars deployed by Shelby in support of his 1964 World Sportscar Championship campaign, during which it was driven by some of the sport's foremost stars. AC Cars Ltd correspondence on file reveals that '2301' was originally completed at its Thames Ditton factory on 20th January 1964 as a race car with special wide rear wings. Unpainted and trimmed in black, the Cobra was exported to Carroll Shelby in Los Angeles, USA where it was completed to FIA competition specification with cut-back doors and painted in the team's Viking Blue livery, plus identifying maroon nose stripe. Entered by Shelby American Incorporated, the Cobra's first competitive outing was at the '64 Sebring 12 Hours endurance race (the World Sportscar Championship's 2nd round) where it was co-driven by Bob Bondurant and Lew Spencer, finishing 5th overall and 2nd in the GT class behind another works Cobra, 'CSX2287' piloted by Bob Holbert and Dave MacDonald. After competing at a USRRC event at Pensacola, Florida, '2301' was shipped to Europe where it was entered by Shelby American Inc in the Targa Florio for Vincenzo Arena/Vito Coco. The car retired on the 7th lap with a broken oil pipe. Seeking to counter the Cobra threat, Ferrari attempted to get its 250/275LM prototypes homologated in the GT class for the World Championship's 4th round at Monza. The FIA refused so the organisers cancelled the race, which was run for the smaller classes only. After this unscheduled layoff '2301' was back in action at the Spa 500km where it was driven by Jo Schlesser to 11th place overall and 3rd in class. Schlesser was paired with Dickie Attwood at the Nürburgring 1000km, where '2301' came home in 23rd place and 1st in class. There would be no more World Championship outings for '2301' that year but the car did take part in the Freiburg-Schauinsland and Sierre Montana Crans rounds of the European Hill Climb Championship with Jochen Neerpasch at the wheel, finishing in 9th and 11th places respectively. At the season's end '2301 and its sister car '2260' were sold by team manager John Wyer to Radford Racing, a consortium made up of Chris McLaren, Harry Digby, John Sparrow and Neil Dangerfield. Radford Racing continued to campaign '2301' with some success, the highlight of the team's 1965 season being McLaren's 2nd-in-class finish at the Spa 500km. '2301' raced on into 1966 but at the Ilford Films 500km at Brand Hatch, new driver Tony Flory crashed the Cobra at Paddock Hill Bend and was killed. What remained of the car was scrapped, the only salvageable parts being relatively minor items such as the driveshafts, shock absorbers, instruments, etc. When Radford Racing sold their other Cobra, '2260', the car was misidentified as '2301' for the sake of administrative convenience, its carnet having expired. '2260' was purchased from Radford by Stanley L Falor of Pittsburgh, PA and shipped to the USA where it was correctly identified and rebuilt by a subsequent owner. However, the car's paperwork misidentifying it as '2301' still existed and this was later used to title another Cobra, which was built using a new chassis. Meanwhile, back in England, Radford Racing had sold the remains of the original '2301' to Brian Angliss, proprietor of the Brooklands-based Autokraft company that would later acquire the rights to manufacture the Cobra from AC Cars (see letter on file dated 3rd October 1977). Using these parts and a new chassis and body, Angliss built the car offered here, which was first registered in the UK on 1st September 1980 with the number 'FPG 542B' (copy old-style Swansea V5 document available). Some time later the Cobra was sold to a Swiss gentleman, Mr Werner Oswald, whose name appears