I saw my first Cobra in 1966 at Alton Dragway, Alton Illinois ( RIP). All of us gear heads were thrilled to see a 289 Cobra entered in the B/Sports class along with about 14 327 Corvettes. We watched in awe as the lone Cobra waded through the field that day to take home the class trophy. That Cobra ran in the low 13s @ 105 mph or so, while the Vettes were in the high 13s to low 14s. I was 16 years old that day but the memory of my first look at a Cobra is as vivid today as it was in 1966. I later saw a 427 Cobra run low 11s @ 125 mph in ‘67. Hey Little Cobra ring true to my ears!
Brilliant early 60s Sthn Calif Hot Rod Song .. one of the very best examples from that fabulous musical era & of that all-time wonderful sound & genre. GREAT POST !!
I was a Ford salesman in 1965-the cars on the showroom floor were '66's.One of the cars on the floor was a grey Cobra with a 260 in it and one of our demos was a GT 350.I owned a Mustang Fastback with a 289 and a 4 speed then.I now own a 1995 Mustang GT convertible with a 302 and a 5 speed.Great song-thanks for posting it!
one day I was walking thru the Publix parking lot--heard this hum in the parking lot-goose bumps all over when I saw this beautiful COBRA slowly purring thru the lot-my neighbor had one so I knew that unique purr-got to hear him start it up EVERYDAY!!! nothing like it--thanks Cobra
The Cobra Carrol Conner bought is now located in Toole UT at the Larry Miller Motorsports museum. Along with 2 GT 40s that placed first and second at Le Mans the year they went 1,2,3
When I was four or five years old my dad and I stopped by a Ford dealer in Atlanta,GA. to check-out the used cars. There was a red '66 Cobra sitting on the show room floor. It had a dual-quad 427 engine,4 spd. transmission and tail pipes rather than side pipes. He could've bought it for $3300.00. Damn!
Had the great good fortune to drive a 289 Cobra in 1970 at Palm Beach International Speedway...managed to match an Elva/Porche lap time for lap time for several laps...a feat I attribute to the great speed and handling of the vehicle ...way more than my own skills. An experience that I carry in my self...and can pull up ...to recall a great ...GREAT... Saturday afternoon
Excellent montage, good sound quality too. Goes good next to 'Little GTO'. Long live Gary Usher, Jan Berry, and Brian Wilson - they produced the best car songs!
A Top 5 hit for The Rip Chords in February 1964. On February 1, 1964, this was the #5 song in the USA. The #1 song was I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles. Nothing more needs to be said.
First Cobra I ever saw, back around '70, Riding with my buddy in his MGB in some desolate part of Jersey and heard a LOUD, BBBRRRRRRAAPPP !!!!! going the other way. I turned around and looked and it was a Cobra, already just a little speck in the distance. Awesome experience.
I was once in a dodge with my dad on some random straigh flat 3000 mile long country road on our way to his old friend's farm to help him out and we passed by 2 lambos and a bugatti pulled over with the drivers chatting with each other and eating. about 15 mins later, we heard "VRR VRRR ROOOM VRRR RRRR" and then 2 lambos and a bugatti were passing us in the other lane doing approximately 300-400. within about 20 seconds they had disappeared beyond the horizon. And that was the first time I saw a lambo of a bugatti in person. It really made the drive less boring.
RIP Carroll Shelby. As a former owner of a 1968 Shelby GT 500, I can tell you, it was, "hang on and step on it." He never stopped innovating and improving.
I grew up with the Cobra predecessors racing at the Bridge, Limerock and Sebring. My Dad brought these cars to the US and my first car was an AC with the Coventry Climax engine. They were hot before Carrol Shelby added more muscle.
Lead singer on this is record producer Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day. Background vocals - including the "shut 'em down, shut 'em down" - is co-producer Bruce Johnston in his pre-Beach Boys days. The song is credited to the Rip Chords, but neither Bruce nor Terry is officially credited on the song.
I had a little 289 Snake back in the early70's. A '63 with 4 two barrel webbers and 4:56 rear. Coming off hard the rear would just walk back and forth searching for traction. I'd have one hand on the wheel sawing back and forth and the other shifting the gears all the while and unholy howl came out of the carbs kinda like an organ hitting some really high note.
Richard Heinrich Yeah...& you know you loved it & would love to have it back. I yearned for one of those small-block cobras myself. Can't beat the original with modern fixes!
Last Dec. 9 I was looking for something I never found but did find the Cobra spec sheet Shelby had signed for me 51 years and one day before, Dec. 8, 1965, when he was on his book signing tour.
We used to drag race on the public road that ran outside the north end of GMs Milford Proving Grounds back in the 60s.. One day we heard something nasty coming up the road that ran along the west side and listened as it made the right hand curve and came over the slight rise near the Start line. It was a 427 Cobra! He stopped and asked if anyone wanted to race..there weren't any takers so he took off and left us babbling about the experience for a few minutes...
I remember reading a road test, in Motor Trend magazine, on the 1967 AC Shelby Cobra powered by the 7 litre 427 "high rise" Ford engine with two 850cfm Holly carbs. They described how, on a full power shift, going into 4th gear at 100 miles an hour, they were able to break the rear wheels loose! Talk about a power-to-weight ratio!
Just a little bit of history. The Cobra is a bit like the reverse of a P51 Mustang fighter plane. US design + UK engine (Merlin) = superplane. The Cobra was a British design (AC Ace / Cobra) + US Engine / tweaks = supercar. Google it those who doubt. What a machine.
The 289 version was fun; when they slipped the big block 427 in, it took men like Ken Miles to handle it! When I see a "real" 427 Cobra, my blood momentarily turns to ice water! The Sunbeam Tiger II with the 289 was also a fun ride, 'tho not nearly as well known!
the ford 427 was most definitly used in the cobra, they are called " SC427 cobra" the chassis were compleatly rebuilt and the front radiator opening was enlarged. there are legit 428&429 cobras built in england at the end of the model run.
Carroll Summers wrote this song. Good friends with Mr Shelby. He said there all kinds of car songs but, not about my Cobra. If you write one, I'll give you one of my cars. She did and he did.
+Clubber Correction, The song writer is Carol Connors. Shelby was a bit reluctant to give her a Cobra as her driving record was less than exemplary at the time. I read that the first Cobra failed and he send another one. That one the engine failed when her sister was driving. The third she drove for years.
Bruce Johnston, with the Beach Boys for 50 years now and Grammy winner for composing "I Write The Songs". A little trivia about another musical genius.
No. 142 was CSX 2345. Most of the shots are with Phil Hill driving. Bondurant was the co-driver. Shots are at the 1964 Targa Florio. Drove the course last year. See cobraferrariwars.com.
I doubt that the current Cobra's being built will ever be worth what an original Cobra will be worth, especially those with a racing heritage, or celebrity owned, but will still be highly prized , just because they are genuine Shelby's. I am a Ford Tech and Ford fan, a Mustang addict. [also very hardheaded] LOL
I was born in 2000 so i've had shit music forced on me my whole life. The only way to listen to this is for me to turn on my playlist of around 350 50's 60's and early 70's songs while playing cs:go or call of duty.
Carrol Shelby bought Carrol Conner her Cobra for writing the song. She also wrote the theme to Rocky. Its in one of Colin Comer's books. In her youth she was like a Goodyear Blue Dot on the back end of any Cobra... smokin. hot.
I remember how when Carroll & the boys finished building the first small-block cobra, they took some 4 ought or 6 ought ( I forget which) steel wool & polished the aluminum body a bit. Then in true Judas Priest fashion, they headed out to the highway. A '63 Stingray was the first 'vette to get snake bit!
? I remember Shelby telling the story of the 1st cobra being hand-formed out of aluminum & polished with 4000 steel wool. He then hit the highway & the first vette got snake bit.
@DJP49 Of course. Your talking to a guy who was in Europe when the Cobras won the FIA World Champanship in 1965, I even have a newspaper when I was there and it has a little story about them winning, Got CS to autograph and it is hanging on my wall along with my Shelby American's 1964 Sebring Poster that you could get back then. Saw Dan Gurney get the Cobras first FIA points at Bridgehampton LI
What's the difference ? Each one produced is an "Original "Shelby, not a clone or kit. My only point is that some may think they are not still being made for sale. Todays Cobra is far better than the original due to advanced technology in chassis, gearing, and engine performance.
I built a 60 Corvette with a 327 and put a Z service package cam in the motor.on a test drive at 110 in 3rd gear I lost traction.off the throttle and quick resteer.back to straight.what a memory.
True, but the Shelby AC Cobras are the James Dean of the car world. Cobras were only made for a very short time, but their glory still shines like a supernova in the sky just like his fame from his all too brief life.
A 429 Ford engine in a lightweight AC Bristol car frame. This car was really giving Ferraris and Jaguars in the '60's a real Challenge; sometimes shutting them down altogether.
Jan and Dean met Carol one time and said,"we knew a woman wrote this song." How? Carol asked. "Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line!"
Terry Melcher - lead vocals, background vocal layers Bruce Johnston - co-lead vocals, background vocal layers The Wrecking Crew - instrumentation Carol Connors & Marshall H. Connors - songwriters Terry Melcher & Bruce Johnston - producers
"As Bruce and Terry"... as Bruce, as in Bruce Johnston (member of Beach Boys for more than a half-century and composer of "I Write the Songs" for Barry Manilow), and as Terry, as in Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son and early producer for Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc.), they were a non-stop music machine !
As Carol tells it, she met Caroll Shelby and he offered her a Cobra if she could write a #1 song about it. She did and he lived up to his word. Later Brian Wilson met her and said, "we knew a girl wrote that song." How? she asked. "Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line." Honey,you can if you're that far ahead, she replied.
![Led Zeppelin - Boogie With Stu [HD] [MP4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_wCZOm0k8WQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Led Zeppelin - Boogie With Stu [HD] [MP4]](/img/tr.png)
I saw my first Cobra in 1966 at Alton Dragway, Alton Illinois ( RIP). All of us gear heads were thrilled to see a 289 Cobra entered in the B/Sports class along with about 14 327 Corvettes. We watched in awe as the lone Cobra waded through the field that day to take home the class trophy. That Cobra ran in the low 13s @ 105 mph or so, while the Vettes were in the high 13s to low 14s. I was 16 years old that day but the memory of my first look at a Cobra is as vivid today as it was in 1966. I later saw a 427 Cobra run low 11s @ 125 mph in ‘67. Hey Little Cobra ring true to my ears!
Carrol Shelby- The only person to win Lemans as a driver,team owner and manufacturer. "Nuff said.
Brilliant early 60s Sthn Calif Hot Rod Song .. one of the very best examples from that fabulous musical era & of that all-time wonderful sound & genre. GREAT POST !!
I was a Ford salesman in 1965-the cars on the showroom floor were '66's.One of the cars on the floor was a grey Cobra with a 260 in it and one of our demos was a GT 350.I owned a Mustang Fastback with a 289 and a 4 speed then.I now own a 1995 Mustang GT convertible with a 302 and a 5 speed.Great song-thanks for posting it!
one day I was walking thru the Publix parking lot--heard this hum in the parking lot-goose bumps all over when I saw this beautiful COBRA slowly purring thru the lot-my neighbor had one so I knew that unique purr-got to hear him start it up EVERYDAY!!! nothing like it--thanks Cobra
The Cobra Carrol Conner bought is now located in Toole UT at the Larry Miller Motorsports museum. Along with 2 GT 40s that placed first and second at Le Mans the year they went 1,2,3
When I was four or five years old my dad and I stopped by a Ford dealer in Atlanta,GA. to check-out the used cars. There was a red '66 Cobra sitting on the show room floor. It had a dual-quad 427 engine,4 spd. transmission and tail pipes rather than side pipes. He could've bought it for $3300.00. Damn!
A Shelby creation that blew them all away. Heaven's race track got some competition when Mr. Shelby passed away.
Had this playing in my Cobra going to a show yesterday.. Perfect song for the Interstate at 5am in the morning!
My Dad bought me the 45; I was thrilled because I loved this song. I still do!
Had the great good fortune to drive a 289 Cobra in 1970 at Palm Beach International Speedway...managed to match an Elva/Porche lap time for lap time for several laps...a feat I attribute to the great speed and handling of the vehicle ...way more than my own skills. An experience that I carry in my self...and can pull up ...to recall a great ...GREAT... Saturday afternoon
That's great !
I'd drive a 289 than a 427. Give myself a fighting chance
lucky you
Excellent montage, good sound quality too. Goes good next to 'Little GTO'. Long live Gary Usher, Jan Berry, and Brian Wilson - they produced the best car songs!
A Top 5 hit for The Rip Chords in February 1964. On February 1, 1964, this was the #5 song in the USA. The #1 song was I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles. Nothing more needs to be said.
I still enjoy that good old pop music although back then I drove a 1964 Old... Super 88... lol :)
music by Wrecking Crew, including drummer Hal Blaine and Glen Campbell. thank you Mr. Shelby!
First Cobra I ever saw, back around '70, Riding with my buddy in his MGB in some desolate part of Jersey and heard a LOUD, BBBRRRRRRAAPPP !!!!! going the other way. I turned around and looked and it was a Cobra, already just a little speck in the distance. Awesome experience.
I was once in a dodge with my dad on some random straigh flat 3000 mile long country road on our way to his old friend's farm to help him out and we passed by 2 lambos and a bugatti pulled over with the drivers chatting with each other and eating. about 15 mins later, we heard "VRR VRRR ROOOM VRRR RRRR" and then 2 lambos and a bugatti were passing us in the other lane doing approximately 300-400. within about 20 seconds they had disappeared beyond the horizon. And that was the first time I saw a lambo of a bugatti in person. It really made the drive less boring.
Thank you for sharing this video...really cool racing pics from the 1960's...
I'm obsessed with that backing voice; bassey and beautiful
Real music.
Real cars.
Wow I miss those years.
George Vreeland Hill
this is the first record I ever bought. Cost me 79 cents. I played it to death
The Creator is Dead, but the legend lives on..!
Wish music and cars went hand in hand today as they were in the 50s/60s.
RIP Carroll Shelby. As a former owner of a 1968 Shelby GT 500, I can tell you, it was, "hang on and step on it." He never stopped innovating and improving.
I grew up with the Cobra predecessors racing at the Bridge, Limerock and Sebring. My Dad brought these cars to the US and my first car was an AC with the Coventry Climax engine. They were hot before Carrol Shelby added more muscle.
One of the coolest hotrod songs from the 60's!!! John Leon
Lead singer on this is record producer Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day. Background vocals - including the "shut 'em down, shut 'em down" - is co-producer Bruce Johnston in his pre-Beach Boys days. The song is credited to the Rip Chords, but neither Bruce nor Terry is officially credited on the song.
Very cool song. Well orchestrated. Veach Boy Bruce Johnstone is among the vocalists.
He also wrote Barry Manilow's huge hit,
'I Write The Songs'
Thank you Mr. Shelby!
I had a little 289 Snake back in the early70's. A '63 with 4 two barrel webbers and 4:56 rear. Coming off hard the rear would just walk back and forth searching for traction. I'd have one hand on the wheel sawing back and forth and the other shifting the gears all the while and unholy howl came out of the carbs kinda like an organ hitting some really high note.
Richard Heinrich Yeah...& you know you loved it & would love to have it back. I yearned for one of those small-block cobras myself. Can't beat the original with modern fixes!
A red on red '63 shelby cobra is my dream car..
Richard Heinrich that is ridiculously cool
Last Dec. 9 I was looking for something I never found but did find the Cobra spec sheet Shelby had signed for me 51 years and one day before, Dec. 8, 1965, when he was on his book signing tour.
The guitar work is done by the fabulously versatile studio ace Tommy Tedesco
We used to drag race on the public road that ran outside the north end of GMs Milford Proving Grounds back in the 60s.. One day we heard something nasty coming up the road that ran along the west side and listened as it made the right hand curve and came over the slight rise near the Start line.
It was a 427 Cobra! He stopped and asked if anyone wanted to race..there weren't any takers so he took off and left us babbling about the experience for a few minutes...
+ViperACR01 i would be a babbling too
I remember reading a road test, in Motor Trend magazine, on the 1967 AC Shelby Cobra powered by the 7 litre 427 "high rise" Ford engine with two 850cfm Holly carbs. They described how, on a full power shift, going into 4th gear at 100 miles an hour, they were able to break the rear wheels loose! Talk about a power-to-weight ratio!
Dick Rodkin was a long time emplyee of my father and part of the "Touring Band" for The Ripchords. Can never forget what the man did!
Just a little bit of history. The Cobra is a bit like the reverse of a P51 Mustang fighter plane. US design + UK engine (Merlin) = superplane. The Cobra was a British design (AC Ace / Cobra) + US Engine / tweaks = supercar. Google it those who doubt. What a machine.
The car this song was written for (actually a car Shelby gave the song writer for writing it) is now in the Shelby Museum. :)
Those were the days!!!!!!!!
Great music.
Nothing better.
George Vreeland Hill
The 289 version was fun; when they slipped the big block 427 in, it took men like Ken Miles to handle it! When I see a "real" 427 Cobra, my blood momentarily turns to ice water! The Sunbeam Tiger II with the 289 was also a fun ride, 'tho not nearly as well known!
i wish this song was longer
make a private playlist of just this song and set it on repeat. :P
Ultimate Lego Machines i already have :P
RIP CARROLL SHELBY this song brings a tear to my eye now
nothing badder than a cobra. when they are fully restored and shined up, they're like magnets. you can't help but stare.
the ford 427 was most definitly used in the cobra, they are called " SC427 cobra" the chassis were compleatly rebuilt and the front radiator opening was enlarged. there are legit 428&429 cobras built in england at the end of the model run.
1st LP I ever purchased, circa 1964.
Carroll Summers wrote this song. Good friends with Mr Shelby. He said there all kinds of car songs but, not about my Cobra. If you write one, I'll give you one of my cars. She did and he did.
+Clubber i would have made that trade
+Clubber Correction, The song writer is Carol Connors. Shelby was a bit reluctant to give her a Cobra as her driving record was less than exemplary at the time. I read that the first Cobra failed and he send another one. That one the engine failed when her sister was driving. The third she drove for years.
Found this on Donna Loren's page!
Awesome!!
Those were the days.
Admit it.
True Americana! Love it
Best music ever!
Shelby made a darn fine chili too !!!!!
This song makes that car really cute lol, i have a mustang cobra but hey shelby rules it all!
I'm a die hard corvette fan I have had 6 now I own a 1999 c5 but the cobras were and still badass cars
One of my favorite songs from that time period!!!!
Bruce Johnston, with the Beach Boys for 50 years now and Grammy winner for composing "I Write The Songs". A little trivia about another musical genius.
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME ......... I just love this video. Thank You!
No. 142 was CSX 2345. Most of the shots are with Phil Hill driving. Bondurant was the co-driver. Shots are at the 1964 Targa Florio. Drove the course last year. See cobraferrariwars.com.
Love this song.
THANK YOU MR SHELBY
I doubt that the current Cobra's being built will ever be worth what an original Cobra will be worth, especially those with a racing heritage, or celebrity owned, but will still be highly prized , just because they are genuine Shelby's. I am a Ford Tech and Ford fan, a Mustang addict. [also very hardheaded] LOL
timeless classic
great song perfect car!
Written by Carol Connors after buying her own Cobra from Shelby. Her biggest hit was "To Know Him Is To Love Him".
Actually they are "continuation cars" - only the ones that were built in the 1960's by Shelby can be called originals.
tat 1 dislike must be one of the prius drivers that disliked the "Little GTO" song too!!!!
The music today sucks!!!....this is the real music you'll never hear again....:(
I was born in 2000 so i've had shit music forced on me my whole life. The only way to listen to this is for me to turn on my playlist of around 350 50's 60's and early 70's songs while playing cs:go or call of duty.
Uh...aren't you listening to it right now?
AbsentWithoutLeaving
I think he means that it is the music that people will never produce again.
and in Monoral
Brian Powers ford payed the rip cords to do this song
Carrol Shelby bought Carrol Conner her Cobra for writing the song. She also wrote the theme to Rocky. Its in one of Colin Comer's books. In her youth she was like a Goodyear Blue Dot on the back end of any Cobra... smokin. hot.
the first one of these I ever saw was one Friday night in Madison, Tennessee at Shoneys...427, dual quad monster
I remember how when Carroll & the boys finished building the first small-block cobra, they took some 4 ought or 6 ought ( I forget which) steel wool & polished the aluminum body a bit. Then in true Judas Priest fashion, they headed out to the highway. A '63 Stingray was the first 'vette to get snake bit!
unionrdr the aluminum body cars were 427
The original 289 car was hand-formed from aluminum, not steel.
? I remember Shelby telling the story of the 1st cobra being hand-formed out of aluminum & polished with 4000 steel wool. He then hit the highway & the first vette got snake bit.
Savage burn...Just like the GT-40's burnin up Le Mans.....
Legendary song for a legendary car!
@DJP49
Of course. Your talking to a guy who was in Europe when the Cobras won the FIA World Champanship in 1965, I even have a newspaper when I was there and it has a little story about them winning, Got CS to autograph and it is hanging on my wall along with my Shelby American's 1964 Sebring Poster that you could get back then. Saw Dan Gurney get the Cobras first FIA points at Bridgehampton LI
What a damn COOL song!!!
True music...at it's best.
What's the difference ? Each one produced is an "Original "Shelby, not a clone or kit. My only point is that some may think they are not still being made for sale. Todays Cobra is far better than the original due to advanced technology in chassis, gearing, and engine performance.
R.I.P. Mr. Carroll Shelby...
I built a 60 Corvette with a 327 and put a Z service package cam in the motor.on a test drive at 110 in 3rd gear I lost traction.off the throttle and quick resteer.back to straight.what a memory.
Heard this in Shoppers Drugs yesterday ... now I know I'm a senior citizen.
B. Ross Ashley lol
me too
RIP Carroll Shelby!!!
True, but the Shelby AC Cobras are the James Dean of the car world. Cobras were only made for a very short time, but their glory still shines like a supernova in the sky just like his fame from his all too brief life.
Awesome song eh !
A 429 Ford engine in a lightweight AC Bristol car frame. This car was really giving Ferraris and Jaguars in the '60's a real Challenge; sometimes shutting them down altogether.
Carroll Shelby - Rest in Speed!
Jan and Dean met Carol one time and said,"we knew a woman wrote this song."
How? Carol asked.
"Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line!"
never drove an original but did a remake in Vegas with a 427 in it, it was a rocket on wheels
STILL my favorite muscle car of all time!!
RIP Sir You will be missed.
Wish I could afford an original, but I could and did afford a couple replicas. I have the coupe[Daytona rep] and a roadster.
RIP Carroll Shelby!
Car Club Classic!
Terry Melcher - lead vocals, background vocal layers
Bruce Johnston - co-lead vocals, background vocal layers
The Wrecking Crew - instrumentation
Carol Connors & Marshall H. Connors - songwriters
Terry Melcher & Bruce Johnston - producers
Great song, written by Carol Conner. Quite unusual for a '60s car song to be written by a woman.
Bruce and Terry!
this is my dream car!
Too bad these guys didn't do anything else like this. This was their one hit wonder song.
3 window coupe was a pretty good song, but i don't think it charted too well..
bonneville bonnie was amazing
As Bruce and Terry, they also did Summer Means Fun in the Summer!
axiomist produced Bryds and Paul Revere and Raiders
"As Bruce and Terry"... as Bruce, as in Bruce Johnston (member of Beach Boys for more than a half-century and composer of "I Write the Songs" for Barry Manilow), and as Terry, as in Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son and early producer for Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc.), they were a non-stop music machine !
As Carol tells it, she met Caroll Shelby and he offered her a Cobra if she could write a #1 song about it. She did and he lived up to his word. Later Brian Wilson met her and said, "we knew a girl wrote that song." How? she asked. "Because you don't take your Cobra out of gear and let it coast to the line." Honey,you can if you're that far ahead, she replied.
You got that right!!!
Doris Days son before he produced Paul Revere and Raiders and later got mixed up with the nut in LAwho I wont even mention
Thomas Ponzio , the "nut" died a couple of days ago. "Helter Skelter" had ended.
Thomas Ponzio , the "nut " DIED a couple of days ago.
Adding another oldies song to my buy-later-soon list.
Corvette history is amazing! Look it up!
Shelby still makes the original Cobra.