> Well, it is nice to stir the pot now & then, it makes life more
> interesting.
> Steve I certainly am not the historian you are, and I am not aware of
> any Cobra's SOLD with the 221, but I have heard from several sources that
> the first Cobra built, the car that was painted a different color for each
> magazine, and possibly one or two more, were originally fitted with the
> 221,
> as Shelby was not able to get his hands on 260's at that time. I guess
> that
> would mean the 260 was current production at that time and I happily
> retract
> my statement the 260 was obsolete.
> I do not mean to make light of the racing record of the Cobra or
> badmouth the car, but rather point out that the origins of the Cobra & the
> Tiger are indeed very similar. Both were an old British chassis in search
> of
> an engine, and both got the small block Ford stuffed in with as little
> modification as possible. It appears the Alpine got more modification to
> become a Tiger than the Ace initially did to become the Cobra.
> Although the Cobra won on the racetrack the Tiger appears to have won in
> the showroom, as only about 632 small block Cobra's were built.(per
> www.motorbase.com)
>
> Happy Motoring!
> Doug Leithauser
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Laifman" <SLaifman@SoCal.rr.com>
> To: "Doug Leithauser" <dleit@worldnet.att.net>; "Tiger's Den"
> <tigers@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 5:57 PM
> Subject: Re: Subject: FW: carroll Shelby
>
>>>
>> Sorry, Doug, but you did not do your research. It was AC that knew the
>> BMW derived Bristol engine had seen it's day, and was looking for an
>> alternate. They hired a number of people to make proposals, including
>> Lister and Shelby. The 260 was NOT obsolete when the first Cobra was
>> marketed, as it was the standard for Ford. There was no 289 as yet.
>> Same
>> with Tiger. All early Cobra's were 260, as were all US Fords using the
>> "small block" design, rather than the 400 CID. As a matter of fact they
>> used the late model 260, which had 3 core plug holes in both. It was
>> current, not "obsolete"
>>
>> It was AC Cars, England that knew their Bristol copy of a pre-war BMW
>> engine was just too small. They were actively searching designers from
>> all
>> over (inclucing Lister, of Tiger Le Man's "fame" (weren't his fault,
>> blame Lord Rootes rulings) for design and production proposals. AC chose
>> Shelby-America's proposal. They were contractual partners, and Ford
>> funded a lot of the efforts - in a more open role - for the
>> sales/advertising promotion for the rest of it's line. Think how many
>> Alpines were sold due to the Tiger connection, and the lower price for a
>> look alike.
>>
>> Steve Laifman
>> Editor
>> TigersUnited.com
>> Member Shelby SoCal
>> STOA
>> etc.
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