The Cobra-Ferrari Wars

£150.00

Author: Michael L Shoen
Date of Publication: 1988

In stock

SKU: BB5683 Categories: ,

Description

This is the true story of Carroll Shelby’s war against Enzo Ferrari, the cars and the men who made racing history.

In Carroll Shelby’s own words: “I didn’t do it to make history. You do something that you want to do or feel you have to do, because you like it and love it. And if it turns out to be history, well, so what? The reason I built the cars was to kick Corvette’s ass and Ferrari’s ass. And the odds were so much against it that it was probably an impossible job. But thank God for the Phil Remingtons and the Pete Brocks and the Ken Mileses and the hundreds of other people involved in the thing. It was just California hot rodders trying to prove that they weren’t the dips**** that everybody in the world thought they were.

It made history, but I don’t think that’s what everybody’s so proud of. I think that everybody’s proud of the fact that we all pretty well worked together. We could fight together, but we were all fighting for the same end result. I’m not an engineer. I’m not a good businessman. I’m not a good anything. But if you can pick a few good people and let them do what they’re good at, and just keep the ship afloat and upright, then amazing things happen. To me, that’s the American way.” Carroll Shelby May 11, 1988

Mike Shoen has produced a wonderful book. He spent 20 years getting to know all the people that were involved, recording a vast amount of information which has been brought into this one volume. He recalls from the very beginning of the project, the AC chassis which was to be the back bone of the Cobra, he looks at the competition – Ferrari, and studies the development of the Aerodynamic Coupe, then goes onto follow the racing events around the world: Daytona, Sebring, Targa Florio, Spa, Nurburgring, Le Mans, Goodwood, Monza, Bridgehampton, Reims, Freiburg, Sierre-Montana, Oulton Park, Spa, Rossfeid, Enna and Montlhery, in which these cars were entered during the period 1963-1965.

The book is full of iconic images not only of the cars, but also the personalities and characters involved, and offers a wonderful recollection of that era. In the Appendices are listed Cobra works crews in FIA Competition, serial numbers of Cobras in FIA Competition, FIA Racing Cobra Chassis List: Lost, Altered or Destroyed, and Cobra chassis numbers built to racing specification.

Hardback and dust jacket in excellent condition, the latter in protective clear sleeve.

Additional information

Weight1.7 kg
Dimensions28 × 22 × 3 cm