Did early Cobras come with a cast iron 4v intake with road draft tube and a pair of painted non emission valve covers ? No PCV holes-
Yes for XHP-260 and HP260 engines, both used in early Cobras (and a few other cars) were set up with road draft crankcase ventilation systems. Stock covers were painted steel ones with no ports in them. The first optional covers were the chrome plated version of the same thing. The next three covers available at different times as factory installed or dealer installed were three different versions of sand cast aluminum COBRA POWERED BY FORD covers.
The sand cast no port covers were also used on 1963½ HP289 engines which had PCV systems attached to the bosses at the rear of their intakes.
There was a series of cast aluminum low rise 4V intakes available but one a few were ever ordered. They could be used on the 260s with road draft systems, with 1963½ HP289 engines with rear mount PCV like the iron intakes, or the rear boss blocked off for 1964 engines with ventilation through rocker arm covers.