Friday, March 11, 2011
Barn find Cobra is top seller at the Collector Cars of Fort Lauderdale auction
It was an amusing sight: a pair of guys who looked like they may have been extras on the set of Jersey Shore, circling the little red sports car. One would point at a certain detail on the car and the other would screw up his face in disdain. The constipated looks continued as they worked their way around the car, commenting about the faded and cracked paint. The look on the gold chain and black wife beater wearing guy’s face when he saw the sections of paint that had flaked off near the right headlight practically screamed WTF. These guys clearly had no idea what they were looking at, nor did they have any interest in learning.
It is every car enthusiast’s dream: The barn find. While any barn find is cool, the Shelby Cobra is the Holy Grail of barn cars. So much so that author Tom Cotter wrote a wonderful book entitled The Cobra in the Barn that is a must read compilation of barn find stories.
CSX 2080 was the 5th 289 powered 1963 Shelby Cobra built. It was purchased in October of 1964 by David Goodsen from Mallon Motors in Tacoma, Washington. During his time with the car, Goodsen added a hood scoop and headers from Shelby Automotive and side louvers from AC Cars to aid with cooling. As evidenced by the dash plaque from the Pacific Raceways Autocross Championships in September, 1965, Goodsen put these breathing mods to good use. The car was also repainted and then in 1978, Goodsen sold CSX 2080 to Cobra dealer Jim Southard along with his very complete records.
In 1981, Carl Lee Windham “borrowed” $30,000 in gold coins from his father and became the second owner of CSX 2080. The story I heard on the show floor was that Windham drove the car once, pinched his arm between the low slung door and the body and parked it. It was only recently, 30 years later, that the car was discovered.
The car was an incredibly original barn find, complete with original wiring, carpets, seats, dash, hard top and tonneau cover. Even things that were typically swapped out in favor of performance, like the original carburetor, intake manifold and even the air filter – remain on the car. A gentle mechanical restoration has been performed to allow the car to be driven, with careful attention being payed to preserving the original condition. The car has just 68,000 miles.
Despite the pained faces of the two party boys, this is one of the most complete Cobra’s ever to be found in a barn and that makes it more than a little bit sought after. When it crossed the auction block on Saturday afternoon, the gavel dropped at a whopping $467,500.
CSX 2080 may in fact be one of the last barn find Cobras in existence.
