At next month’s Mecum auction event in Kissimmee, Florida, bidders will have the chance to come away with two very collectible Shelby Cobra roadsters: CSX2549, and CSX2588. Both are 1965 examples with Ford’s “HiPo” 289-cubic-inch V8 under the hood, and the latter – CSX2588 – is the very last Shelby Cobra 289 ever sold to the public.
In fact, in the entire production run of the Shelby Cobra 289, only Carroll Shelby’s personal car – CSX2589 – was produced after. That car shipped with a three-speed automatic.
PHoto: Mecum Auctions
No such tragedy ever befell CSX2588, which was built with a four-speed manual, making it the final manual-equipped Cobra 289 ever built. It’s being offered with its original chassis, body, engine, and drivetrain, although the Rouge Iris paint it wears now is the result of a respray, after the car spent some time in an unoriginal color. The car is being auctioned with a $1.1-million reserve, and Mecum anticipates it could fetch $1.25 to $1.5 million.
If that’s a bit too rich for you, Shelby Cobra CSX2549 is anticipated to bring in a bit less at $1 to $1.25 million. That car left the factory with Silver paint and a Red interior, with a C4 automatic transmission backing up the factory 289 HiPo. This makes it one of just 20 factory C4-equipped Shelby Cobra 289 examples and, Mecum says, one of the most original surviving automatic cars.
Photo: Mecum Auctions
Mecum Kissimmee will take place from January 5th through the 14th, and will be broadcast by NBCSN. For more on the second-to-last Cobra 289 publicly sold, CSX2588, click here. For more on CSX2549, one of the most original automatic examples left, click here.
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