1967 Shelby T-10 Can-Am Cobra

Group 7 competition for 1966 followed the FIA's Appendix J regulations for two-seater racing cars. The cars were required to wear fenders, have two seats and two doors, a roll bar, a self-starter, a dual braking system, taillights and headlights, and run on commercial gasoline. This series was attractive for many reasons, as it did not stipulate dimensions, aerodynamics, tires, and there were no limitations on engine size and no homologation requirements. Just two seats and enclosed bodywork.

The Group 7 category was in existence for ten years, from 1966 to 1975, and would be picked up by several series around the world, including the Sports Car Club of America for its United States Road Racing Championship for Group 7 cars from 1966 to 1968. The Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) raced Group 7 cars from 1966 to 1974, and in Europe, the Nordic Challenge Cup raced in 1969, replaced the following year by Interserie before the series later switched to the Formula Libre format. Group 7 also had a presence in Japan, with several Japanese manufacturers building cars to compete in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Many of the legendary manufacturer names that competed in the Group 7 competition include Porsche, McLaren, Lola, BRM, Shadow, and Chaparral. Nissan, Isuzu, and Toyota built Group 7 cars, with many manufacturers favoring the big-block engines built by Chevrolet and Ford.

By the mid-1960s, Carroll Shelby's talents as a race car driver and as a builder of high-performance vehicles were legendary and continuing to grow. By the close of the 1964 season, Ford had enlisted his expertise for their GT40 program, eventually leading to victory at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1966.

The limited restrictions of the CanAm program were too much to resist, and with demand for capable race cars in high demand, Shelby dabbled with the notion of building a car of his own. Unfortunately, Shelby and his engineers were completely committed to other projects and did not have the time to devote to this endeavor. Instead, they outsourced the design work to Len Terry of England who had previously designed the first Gurney Eagle singer seater and the Lotus that had won the Indy 500 in 1965. Terry, along with Frank Nichols of Elva, owned Transatlantic Automotive Consultants.

In only a short period of time, Terry had designed an aerodynamic design based on an aluminum monocoque center structure with an innovative suspension setup comprised of a single transversely mounted coil spring compressed by rocker arms on the upper suspension control arms. If this setup proved troublesome, conventional tubular shock absorbers controlled suspension movement and allowed coil springs to be mounted over them. The system was adjustable and adaptable, allowing body roll to be controlled by anti-sway bars independent of the effect of the stiffness of the suspension springs.

With Shelby's involvement with Ford, the Ford V8 power was a natural selection. Shelby received a prototype V8 engine that was based on the 289 small-block but cast entirely in aluminum and with a 351 cubic-inch displacement. This engine would form the basis for the future Windsor and Cleveland engines. With the help of four Weber carburetors and Gurney Weslake heads, the engines were capable of producing upwards of 500 horsepower.

Three examples were eventually built, with the first example completed mid-way through the 1967 season. Having been built in England (Terry's Transatlantic Automotive Consultants constructed the chassis, suspension, and the aluminum bodywork), the rolling-chassis and bodywork were sent to Shelby's shop in California, where it was disassembled, rebuilt to Shelby standards, and equipped with the Ford V8.

The new Shelby T-10 (in reference to designer Len Terry, however, it was known as the King Cobra) missed the opening rounds of the season, and its inaugural outing was a Riverside where it was piloted by Jerry Titus. The car began in the 13th position and completed three laps before it retired due to a fuel pump failure. Two weeks later, it was scheduled to race at Las Vegas but crashed during practice due to suspension failure. Although the suspension was innovative, it would continue to lean to one side following cornering.

Following the crash, the running gear was pulled from the car and fitted to the second tub. The crashed car was not rebuilt.

Ford suspended motorsport activities at the close of the season which meant its support of Shelby's motorsport ventures was withdrawn. This left one crashed T-10, one complete T-10, and a spare T-10 tub. The complete T-10 and the spare were sold to Mike Koslosky who raced it in SCCA A/Sports Racing with some success during 1968 and 1969 and then sold it to Hull Dobbs Ford in Tennessee, where it rested in the dealership's showroom for a decade. At some point, a long-term restoration began using a Ford Cleveland-based engine built by Jim Hall. The restoration was completed in 1988 and the car was sold to Ed Cudahy in Denver and vintage race-prepared by Mike Dopudja.

The vehicle made its restoration debut in the 1989 vintage Group 7 race at Elkhart Lake.

by Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2021