RM Sotheby’s has set an auction record for the most expensive American car ever sold: the first Shelby Cobra.
The Carroll Hall Shelby Trust parted ways Friday with a 1962 Shelby 260 Cobra CSX 2000 in Monterrey, California. One deep-pocketed car lover took control of the vehicle for $13.75 million.
The previous record was a Ford GT40 that sold for $11 million in 2012.
“The creation of CSX 2000 is the stuff of pure entrepreneurialism and vision,” RM Sotheby’s says on its website. “In 1962, only 10 years had elapsed since Carroll Shelby first stepped into a race car. … Race after race, win after win, Shelby developed a gentleman’s hobby into a full-blown career, circumnavigating the globe and piloting the most exclusive machinery in the world. … At 37 years old and with little money to his name, within five years, Shelby built his company to employ over 500 people with a World Manufacturer’s Championship title to its credit.”
Mashable’s automotive writer, Nick Jaynes, concurred Monday, noting that without Mr. Shelby’s decision to drop a Ford V8 under the hood of a British AC ACE, there would be “no GT350 and GT500 Mustangs.”
“Likely, in turn, that means no cars like the Corvette Grand Sport or Camaro Z28 from Chevrolet to compete with Ford,” Mr. Jaynes wrote. “Heck, the American muscle wars started in the 1960s that continues to this day may not have been ignited at all without this car.”
“Is it worth $13.75 million? Yeah, I’d say so,” the reporter wrote.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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