CSX2287 is the prototype Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, and the only one of the six Daytona Coupes built in the United States. The car raced at Daytona, Sebring, Spa, Reims, and the Bonneville Salt Flats before falling into Phil Spector’s brief ownership in 1966, then disappeared from the public record by the mid-1970s. It reemerged in 2001 in a California rental storage unit and now resides in the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Fast facts
- The prototype of the six Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes. The only one built in the United States; the other five were finished by Carrozzeria Gran Sport in Italy.
- Raced internationally at Daytona, Sebring, Spa, Reims, and the Bonneville Salt Flats.
- Bought by music producer Phil Spector in 1966 for $7,500. Spector painted slogans on the body, including “Winner 33 grand prix,” “Land speed record 227 mph,” and “427 cu in engine.”
- Filmed in the December 18 to 20, 1967 production of The Monkees episode “The Monkees Race Again” (also titled “Leave the Driving to Us”), aired February 12, 1968.
- Lost from public record by the mid-1970s.
- Rediscovered in 2001 in a California rental storage unit belonging to Donna O’Hara, with an estimated worth of over $4 million at the time.
- Sold by O’Hara’s mother to Dr. Frederick A. Simeone after an extensive legal battle.
- Now in the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, Philadelphia.
History
CSX2287 was the first of the six Daytona Coupes the Shelby American team produced for the 1964 racing season, and the only one built in the United States. The remaining five Daytona Coupe chassis were finished by Carrozzeria Gran Sport in Italy after the program scaled. The car raced internationally during its competition life, with documented runs at Daytona, Sebring, Spa, and Reims, plus a top-speed program at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
In 1966, music producer Phil Spector bought CSX2287 for $7,500. Spector painted slogans across the body during his ownership: “Winner 33 grand prix,” “Land speed record 227 mph,” and “427 cu in engine” among them. Carroll Shelby’s later assessment of CSX2287 as a road car was direct. “It wasn’t a street car; it was a race car,” Shelby said. The legend within the Shelby community is that Spector accumulated so many speeding tickets driving CSX2287 in Los Angeles that his attorney recommended he sell the car before he lost his license.
The car’s most public appearance during the Spector era came on television. CSX2287 was filmed in the December 18 to 20, 1967 production of The Monkees episode “The Monkees Race Again” (also titled “Leave the Driving to Us”), which aired February 12, 1968. After that appearance, CSX2287 dropped out of the public record by the mid-1970s. Cobra historians and collectors believed for decades that the car had been destroyed.
The rediscovery came in 2001. CSX2287 was found intact in a rental storage unit in California belonging to Donna O’Hara. O’Hara had committed suicide by self-immolation, and the car had sat in the storage unit for nearly thirty years without public knowledge. Estimated worth at the time of the rediscovery exceeded $4 million, which set off a legal battle between O’Hara’s mother and a friend named as beneficiary of the storage unit’s contents in O’Hara’s will. The mother prevailed and sold CSX2287 to Dr. Frederick A. Simeone.
Simeone undertook a restoration that returned the car to running condition while preserving the racing-era patina. CSX2287 is now part of the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, where it sits alongside other significant racing prototypes from the same era.
Television appearance
The Monkees episode filmed in December 1967 paired CSX2287 with The Monkeemobile, a modified Pontiac GTO designed and built by Dean Jeffries for the band’s television program. The Monkeemobile was a custom build, not a Cobra and not related to CSX2287’s chassis lineage. It carried a split two-piece windshield, a touring-car convertible top, modified rear quarter panels and front fenders, exaggerated tail lamps, four bucket seats with an extra third-row bench replacing the trunk, a rear-mounted parachute, and a GTO emblem on the front grille. The pairing in the episode treated CSX2287 as the racing reference point against which The Monkeemobile’s custom-car character was framed. CSX2287’s appearance in the episode is the most-cited piece of pop-culture context for the chassis.
Sales history
- 1966: Phil Spector private purchase. $7,500.
- (mid-1970s through 2001): Ownership chain not documented. Car held in O’Hara family storage in California.
- 2001-2003: Sold from Donna O’Hara’s estate by her mother to Dr. Frederick A. Simeone after litigation. Exact sale price not documented in source; the contemporaneous estimated value exceeded $4 million.
Authenticity and current configuration
CSX2287 has been mechanically reconditioned to running condition and preserved. The body, slogans aside, remains the prototype US-built Daytona Coupe shell. The car is on permanent display at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it is shown as part of the museum’s prototype-and-racing collection.
For wider context, the broader Cobra encyclopedia covers chassis-prefix and program conventions for the Shelby originals. CSX2208 documents a standard Mark II 289 road car from the same era, and CSX2427 is the documented Stage III Dragonsnake from the racing variant program. CSX2287 sits in the Mark II 289 Cobra chassis range as the platform variant taken to closed-body racing specification, distinct from the open Cobra roadsters.
Last updated: May 16, 2026
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