I've been a Shelby fan since I first read about the Shelby story at 15 years old. Of course coming from a family of Fords where my dad was a former Ford mechanic only helped encourage me to support the brand Shelby used to build his legacy upon. For me the 289 COBRA was something magical to look at and I always yearned to own one. Not having deep pockets and coming from a working class background and already a generation younger than most owners and coming along at a time when the COBRAs were steadily climbing in value, it became clear to me that the prospect one would mean years of sweat equity climbing the ever-changing ladder of the Shelby owners "food chain" as many have come to know it. Through all of this I've found the SAAC
community here tremendous in their support and so generous in extending knowledge and even parts to me as I've worked to restore cars through the years. So in Decemeber of 2019 Santa came early and I gave up my 65 for a "project" 289. It's not a perfectly restored 289, but it's a perfect for what I wanted. A mostly unrestored car with competition history. The action was a life event in a 25+ year wait to become a cobra owner. I'm blessed to have made it when for many years it seemed like it would never happen. I'm not sure how long I'll have the privilege of owning it, but I hope it's awhile.
Enter CSX2177 - When I took possession, the car looked amazing at 5 feet; great paint and beautiful competition cues added over decades of use. If you're a sucker for the USRRC/FIA look like me...this car rings the bell. When I got the car it was clear the car hadn't seen the street for decades. The 450+ hp engine isn't period correct, but it'll work until I build a correct '64 engine to go back. Luckily the correct and original T10 remains with the rear in the car looking largely untouched. All of the road equipment had been removed - lights, horns, wipers and heater, etc. were removed to lighten the car and flip switches added to the dash to run the fuel pump, fan and other items on demand. According to the registry CSX2177 began as a demo from SAI to Ford and then was returned one year later and sold "as is" to Taylor American a reseller (they purchased several COBRAs from SAI over months) sometime in June of 1965. The earliest reports of the car come from it's first owner Greg Bynum. It looks like by '69 the competition added items were hood scoop, 4" side exhausts, Mag wheels and a roll bar. The car seems to have been auto crossed and raced in the SF Bay area before Bynum drove the car home to Bakersfield where it would spend the 70s between two other owners. Then we find by the mid 70's it had morphed again to a more aggressive trim having an oil cooler grafted to the front chin and brake cooling ducts added to the car. The factory Ivy Green had given way to Wimbledon White paint and larger flares were added to the side to allow 7.5" wheels. By the mid 80's a new owner Ronald O'Connor had received the car and decided it was time to go one step further. He had the doors cut back to FIA specs with larger flares added to accommodate 8.5" wheels. I have no idea who did this work and when, but it's beautifully done. In short the street car was in USRRC style trim by '85 having started as a weekend street racer 20 years earlier. While it's no secret the car has spent a lot of time on tracks, since Mr. O'Connor passed away and his estate sold the car in 2014 much of the log books and race history is unknown and undocumented and the trail grows cold. As well, the registry notes that the original engine was in the car by the 1980's when O'Connor bought it, but once the engine was swapped out for the track engine in it today, we don't know what was done with it or other parts removed. I also have no period photos of the car 60's or 70's. I'd love to fill in these gaps, so I'm once again looking to see if you wonderful group of folks might be able to sleuth some. Can you take a look at your old photos you have in the shoe box to see if you might have a pic of CSX2177 anywhere? Even old SAAC convention photos would be great. of course any leads on the engine is yet another good thing. I would appreciate all help as I begin to wind the clock back to the mid 60's competition look and get this beast back on the road as a comp car with it's 1964 street safety devices.
Where am I now? Well let's see...the wiring was old and brittle if not cut and modified to support newer race devices. I have since acquired an OEM style concours harness. I was advised early on that it's a "early" Lucas wired cobra. Apparently less is known about these fewer Lucas wired with Ford generator cars. While 90% of the wiring is in place I'm still working on finishing up. Some devices like the horns I'm still working on how they attach to the chassis. If you have an early Lucas/Ford wired car I'd love to hear from you! Any help would be greatly appreciated in supporting this wiring getting completed and the car fired back up!
Congrats on the purchase and good luck!
Wayne, Congratulations on a great car and look forward to seeing it! Greg
Good luck
Not meaning to hijack your thread and will seperate it if requested.
There are reproduction wiring harnesses made for CSX cars. The notes say CSX 2127 to 2702. These are OEM style and high quality US made reproductions. Great for a kit car too, not cheap at $3k, but a great option from the non OEM appearance wires
Congratulations and thanks for sharing a great story that is continuing daily!
Congratulations on turning a new page, getting a new project and opening up a whole new chapter of experiences
Congratulations ! getting away a 65 for the Cobra ...I Have sometime that kind of thought too but i m so scared too regret it after !...
well done , please share some pictures !
Congrats! A story we all hope to emulate.
M.
Congratulations, Wayne. I really enjoyed your story and wish you well. It has to be an exciting time for you.
This was 2177 around 2006:
I really enjoy reading stories like this when someone holds on to a dream and then one day makes it come true. Congratulations to you!
Great story - congrat's on the purchase & thanks for sharing your story!
Congratulations! Try reaching out to the San Francisco Region of SCCA for history on your car. The picture of
2177 with #98 is probably a vintage race event, so you might also reach out to SVRA (Sports Car Vintage Racing Assoc.) & HSR (Historic Sports car Racing) VARA (Vintage Auto Racing Assoc.) for any info. they may have on it. These organizations can supply you with data on the cars history, drivers and races entered.
Great story and there is so much I can relate to. I just need to convince the wife to sell the house and we can live in the Cobra. Congrats on a dream fulfilled!
Jeff
Congrats, and great story. Please post pictures and keep us updated with your progress.
Quote from: JWH on June 17, 2020, 11:38:23 PM
Great story and there is so much I can relate to. I just need to convince the wife to sell the house and we can live in the Cobra. Congrats on a dream fulfilled!
Jeff
Probably not enough in the house sale and just a deposit on the car. ;)
x2 :-[
" If you're a sucker for the USRRC/FIA look like me.."
Me to.
Quote from: wcampbell on June 17, 2020, 01:28:13 PM
Where am I now? Well let's see...the wiring was old and brittle if not cut and modified to support newer race devices. I have since acquired an OEM style concours harness. I was advised early on that it's a "early" Lucas wired cobra. Apparently less is known about these fewer Lucas wired with Ford generator cars. While 90% of the wiring is in place I'm still working on finishing up. Some devices like the horns I'm still working on how they attach to the chassis. If you have an early Lucas/Ford wired car I'd love to hear from you! Any help would be greatly appreciated in supporting this wiring getting completed and the car fired back up!
I owned CSX2188 for 36 years and back in the 1980's I worked with a company called Rhode Island Wiring. I loaned the harnesses out of it to them to make correct reproductions. They did a beautiful job and I installed their new harnesses into the car at restoration.
Their web site is http://www.riwire.com/ Go onto the site and click on "foreign vehicles" then "AC". It will give you a drop down to various AC models including Cobra. They list variations by chassis number, including the Lucas/Ford hybrid harness such as was in my car. They have the main harness plus five subharnesses available, so if you need only a lighting or other subharness you can buy that separately.
Good luck with CSX2177 and I hope this helps you out!
Jeff - You're an amazing resource and true expert for the GT350 and you know I couldn't be here without the great help of your vast knowledge helping navigate the early GT350 world
Ned - Awesome pic of 2177 at the track! Jim Cowles tells me he had seen it many times at Elkhart Lake events (O'Connor lived in WI not far from there). I have a series of race event decals that where on a plaque accompanying the car - maybe one of these will help folks identify place and times for the later vintage events in which O'Connor ran. I suspect the bigger challenge will be west coast events from the 60's and 70's showing the car in it's early competition days.
Steven - I've already reached out to SVRA and they said they couldn't find anything looking through their event records, but they said pre-2000's material on record gets sketchy and doubtfully they'd have much west coast 60's/70's stuff on record.
Bill - You probably don't remember this, but I visited your shop in the early 2000's where you showed me 2188 as well as Brewbaker's 289. I recall both were in pieces and I expressed looking for a project "like this". Glad to see both got restored and definitely were beautiful when I saw 2188 years later with you driving it. I also have you to thank for the wiring harness! Rhode Island wire is the only place I could find a OEM concours correct pre-2200 harness scratch built for 2177. SO you paid it forward to me for 2020!
Quote from: sfm5 on June 17, 2020, 09:18:47 PM
Great story - congrats on the purchase & thanks for sharing your story!
+1It's also great to read of the help and encouragement from the SAAC folks
good luck with the project, it will will be fun to follow along.
Mark
Quote from: Coralsnake on June 17, 2020, 02:18:40 PM
Good luck
Not meaning to hijack your thread and will seperate it if requested.
There are reproduction wiring harnesses made for CSX cars. The notes say CSX 2127 to 2702. These are OEM style and high quality US made reproductions. Great for a kit car too, not cheap at $3k, but a great option from the non OEM appearance wires
I saw on some TV show there is a company in England that is making wiring harnesses for English cars. They have all the old equipment that was originally made to produce the terminals etc. They can even do the old cloth wrapped wiring with the correct colors and patterns. I googled and found several here is one of them - https://www.autosparks.co.uk/finder - about $500.