This next video is spreading like wildfire and shows a Shelby Daytona Cobra coupe in shiny chrome doing a horrible U-turn and getting smashed into by a normal sedan. It happened in Los Angeles over the weekend, and you can even see the famous Beverly Hills Hotel in the background.
The Shelby Daytona is one of the most beautiful American cars ever. It’s also super-rare with six of them being made. Ironically, crash incidents aren’t rare because they participate in all kinds of motorsport recreation events.
But this is probably not one of the six original Daytona coupes because it’s got a third brake light; it’s a replica. So, cheap fiberglass knock-off wrecked, no big deal, right?
Actually, that might not be the case. Like with the Cobra, replicas are varied and if they’re called “recreations” they can cost a pretty penny too. It’s not surprising, considering some of these are better built and more powerful than the originals.
While Daytonas can be kit cars, replicas, or recreations, you almost never see them in chrome. And that’s actually bad news. From this distance, the crashed Shelby looks just like CSX 9950 which is supposed to be in the Carroll Shelby Museum in Las Vegas. Maybe they took it out to show off at Monterey and Pebble Beach.
As with Cobras, the CSX name indicates this is the real deal, a continuation with a Shelby serial number and everything. A few years back, they announced that 50 of them were being built to celebrate the original Daytona Cobra Coupe’s 1965 FIA World Sportscar Championship GT III Class victory.
VIN CSX 9950 (see video at the bottom) is supposed to be just like a real 60s race car with a tubular chassis, leaf-spring suspension, and an all-aluminum body that is polished but left unpainted. Power comes from a 289 stroked to 347, in case you’re wondering. Its price tag is $750,000… or more.
The base aluminum Shelby Daytona Coupe in that series is $350,000, while the fiberglass version starts at $180,000, not including the engines. There are older 9000 series continuations made from 2007, but those aren’t aluminum-bodied I believe. I’ve also found a replica in chrome selling for $285,000, and there are six “Secret Weapon” CSX2XXX models in this silver look, but those have domed hoods to cover a 427 aluminum big-block, and we don’t see that here.
At worst, this could be a Factory Five or Superformance replica, but if that’s the case, it’s pretty well built, and even those replicas might cost around $100,000. Ouch! Careful where you make those U-turns, boys!
It’s a Kirkham