1966 Shelby Cobra 427 “Super Snake” CSX3015

CSX3015 Vehicle Information and History:

The Cobra To End All Cobras.
CSX 3015 is one of only 23 427 competition roadsters built.

On September 7, 1965, CSX 3015 was shipped and invoiced to Ford Advanced Vehicles, England, as a 427 Cobra Competition roadster together with CSX 3014 (another 427 Cobra Competition) and two R-model Shelby’s (5R107 and 5R209) for a European promotional tour. It returned back from Europe in late 1966 still as a 427 Cobra Competition.

Sometime early to mid-1967, CSX 3015 was transformed into the “Super Snake” and reclassified as 427 Cobra Semi-Competition (S/C).

The reason was quite simple; a 427 Cobra Competition didn’t have mufflers, windshield, bumpers, etc. It was a race car only and not street legal. Although many S/C’s were raced and never saw a public road – all 427 Cobra S/C’s had titles and were legal to drive on public roads. 427 competition and S/C Cobras have different hips and noses. The February 1968 Road & Track pictures clearly show the hips and nose of a 427 competition roadster, not an S/C.

As history shows, CSX 3015 is one of two Super Snake Cobras built. The other being CSX 3303 built for Bill Cosby. CSX 3303 was a 1967 427 street car retained by Shelby American as a PR car and then made into a “Super Snake” for Bill Cosby. Cosby’s record album titled “200 MPH” attests to the fact of why he only drove it once before returning it to Shelby American.

Shelby American sold it to S and C Motors in San Francisco, who then sold it to their customer, Tony Maxey. Maxey destroyed himself and CSX 3303 by driving off of a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean.

CSX 3015 is a full Competition Roadster, still retaining its original body with its 1967 aluminum ‘Super Snake’ hood. It has its original date coded 1965 Competition Girling CR and BR calipers. It still has its 427 Competition 377 rear end with its original rear end oil cooler and pumps. Unbelievably, it still has its original 1965 date coded engine block, 5M17, December 17, 1965.

Why is CSX 3015 so historically significant? Carroll Shelby. He built at a time when Americans were just Americans and proud to be Americans. He told me he built it just to see how fast it was and he told me it was a Monster that threw belts off on a regular basis.

This vehicle was sold at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale 2007 auction for $5,500,000 as Lot #1301.