This 1967 Shelby Cobra Is a Hollywood Star That’s up for Grabs

Best car movie ever? The shortlist has to include the likes of Bullitt, The Italian Job, Ronin, Vanishing Point, Grand Prix, and Gone in 60 Seconds. The jury’s still out on Smokey and the Bandit. Lovers of American automotive muscle would no doubt also nominate that quirky 1976 comedy The Gumball Rally, simply for its action hero, a thundering Shelby Cobra 427. The shots of it locking horns with a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider along the Los Angeles River storm canal are still cinematic magic.

The film follows the madcap antics of a group of sports-car fans racing coast-to-coast from New York to California. Now, almost 50 years to the day from the film’s release, that iconic Shelby Cobra 427, chassis No. CSX3243, is crossing the online auction block. It’s currently on the Bring a Trailer website, with biding coming to a close on August 26. It’s being offered by Illinois-based Blackdog Performance Cars, which has owned the vehicle since 2018.

“It is, without doubt, the most-seen Cobra ever, and the most influential. So many people remember this car from their youth with so much affection and passion,” Chris Davis, manager at Blackdog Performance, tells Robb Report. “It’s been in our collection for the past eight years, we’ve had a blast with it, we’ve enjoyed bringing it back to its Gumball Rally original spec. But with this being the 50th anniversary of the movie, it seems a good time for someone else to enjoy it,” he adds.

Built in 1967, the car is one of approximately 260 examples of the street-spec Mark III Shelby Cobra produced. It was delivered to its first owner through top Los Angeles Shelby dealer Hi-Performance Motors. By the mid-1970s, it was in the hands of Cobra and Ford GT40 collector Les Lindley who, in 1975, got a call from the Warner Bros. studio asking to lease the car for its upcoming film, which was titled The Gumball Rally.

For its screen debut, the car was repainted dark blue from its original red, fitted with French Cibie fog lamps—Cibie was a film sponsor—and a CB radio with a towering, rear-mounted antenna. The original, hand-typed lease agreement from Warner Bros. (included in the auction lot) lists the lease terms, such as the $375 weekly rate and the $1,000 to have the car repainted at the end of production.

No doubt the $25,000 insurance coverage from the film studio paid for the damage to the Cobra’s nose when actor Michael Sarrazin, playing driver Michael Bannon, slammed into one of the Los Angeles River’s concrete bridge supports towards the end of filming. After shooting wrapped, it seems the Cobra’s nose was repaired and the car repainted a lighter blue, rather than its original red, before being returned to its owner. But rather than using it and capitalizing on its movie fame, Lindley simply parked it in storage, where it stayed for over 30 years.

In 2010, the car was bought by amateur racer Greg Johnson. He commissioned a mechanical refurbishment with California-based Cobra specialist Mike McCluskey. This included preserving the original 427 ci Ford FE big-block side-oiler V-8, and replacing it with a rebuilt version. Johnson exercised the car during his ownership, competing at the 2011 Coronado Speed Festival in San Diego, and the 2012 Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca. He sold the Cobra to fellow amateur racer and the owner of Blackdog Performance Cars, Tony Gaples, in 2018.

Wanting to return the car to the way it appeared in the film, Gaples commissioned a refresh from San Diego specialist David Nutley Automotive, a project that took over two years. It included a full re-paint in a lighter, metallic blue, to match the way Warner Bros. had it after filming ended. He also added back those rectangular fog lights and Cibie covers, the rear-mounted CB whip antenna, and the front and rear chrome bumperettes. New staggered-width, 15-inch Hallibrand-style alloys shod with Goodyear Blue Streak tires were also fitted, along with a new side exhaust system.

Also during the restoration, the race-style, roll-over hoop behind the driver was removed, and rear chrome nudge bars were added. What was left untouched was the glovebox door with the inside signed by well-known racer John Morton, who was a stunt driver and driving instructor during the movie’s production.

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After the restoration was completed in 2023, Gaples loaned the car to the Petersen Automotive Museum for its “Cars of Film & Television” exhibit, where it stayed for two years. Today, the Cobra shows just 21,000 miles on its odometer, of which only 1,000 have been added by the team at Blackdog during the past eight years.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have spent time driving the car, and it is spectacular,” adds Davis. “It feels so alive, from the mind-blowing performance, the incredible big-block sound from those side pipes, the precision of the gear shift, and all those vibrations. It is amazing.”

What’s it worth? Says Davis: “We have no idea. In true Bring a Trailer style, it will be whatever someone is willing to pay. But this is a true movie icon and simply a stunning example of an original, authenticated 427 Cobra.”

Click here for more photos of this 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 from The Gumball Rally movie.