1964 Shelby Cobra 289 Roadster

Ex-racer Carroll Shelby created the legendary Cobra in 1962 by installing Ford's lightweight V-8 engine in a slightly lengthened nose of the AC Ace. AC's Thames-Ditton facility shipped the body and chassis to California, where Shelby American dropped the engine and completed assembly. The first 75 production models used a 260 cubic-inch V8, while later models, like this car, used a 289 CID, 306 horsepower V-8. Beginning in 1965, the engine was upsized again to the Ford 427 CID V8. A total of 654 units were produced from 1962 through 1968, of which 453 feature the 289. Today Cobras are one of the most collectible of all postwar American cars.

This AC Cobra 289 was billed to Shelby American on August 28, 1963, and left the United Kingdom bound for the United States on September 12, 1963, aboard the SS Dongedyk. Chassis 2171 was billed to Marion Willey & Son Ford of Bountiful, Utah, on November 15, 1963, with all Class 'A' accessories, including a luggage rack and WSW tires. It was purchased new by E.U. Jacobs of Utah and remained in his possession until August of 1969 when it was sold to Dr. Brent Christiansen of Salt Lake City. He drove the car sparingly until the late 1970s when he decided to take it off the road. Tired of people trying to buy the car from him every time the garage door was left open, Christiansen enclosed the car behind a wall under a suspended Model A Ford in his garage. It remained behind the wall until early 2007 when it was pulled from the garage by Christiansen's son and sold to the current owner.