The Story Behind This Weirdo’S Shelby Is As Incredible As The Car Itself.

The story behind this Shelby is almost as an incredible as the car itself is. Shelby’s Cobra was quite the force in racing, but they just couldn’t take on the best Ferrari had to offer.

They had the power and handling but lacked the aerodynamics to achieve the kind of speeds the Ferraris could. So, Shelby set out to building 6 coupes with the help of Peter Brock. The one you see here is car CSX2287, the very first one built. It was the only one that was built entirely by Shelby, the other 5 were built in Italy.

After dominating in the 1965 racing season, CSX2287 set a couple land speed records at the Salt Flats and was then retired. In late ’65, it was sold to the founder of Russkits, a slot-car manufacturer for $4,500.

A year later, it traded hands, this time to Phil Spector for around $12k. Spector drove it on the streets for a while, but it proved to be too uncomfortable for street use.

He eventually sold it to his bodyguard, George Brand, for just $1,000. And this is where the story begins to get interesting. No one knows why or exactly when, but as some point in the early ’70s, Brand gave the car to his daughter, Donna O’Hara.

Calling O’Hara eccentric might be an understatement. A close childhood friend got the opportunity to drive it on a handful of occasions, but shortly after taking ownership of this Coupe, she put it into storage.

No one knows why she took it off the road, but clearly, she didn’t want people to know she owned this history car.

There were many Shelby collectors that tracked Donna down to see if she still had the car and if so if she would sell it. Every time someone came knocking on her door, she would deny its very existence.

For whatever reason, Donna decided life wasn’t worth living, even after receiving some serious cash offers for the car. On October 22, 2000, Donna apparently lit herself on fire. With her passing, ownership of the car came into question and a legal battle between Donna’s parents, her childhood friend and Phil Spector ensued.

After a lengthy legal battle, it was decided the car legally belonged to Donna’s friend, Kurt Goss. Her mother had already sold the car to a neurosurgeon for $4 million, so she had to pay Goss $800k as part of the settlement, taking up much of what was left of the money.

Talk about a strange and dramatic story. The only bright side, if there is one, is that the lost Cobra is no long hidden from the world. Today you can see this incredible car at the Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.