1965 Le Mans Daytona Cobra Coupes: '04 Shelby American Museum poster (18"x24") $ 31.95

Peter Brock's Autograph?: no thanks yes - add $25

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Each year in December, a holiday party is held at the Shelby American Museum in Boulder, CO. At that party, an annual ritual is held of introducing a new poster. By special arrangement, we are able to offer you these posters. In 2004, this rare color image by Jesse Alexander of the 1965 24 Hours of le Mans race, was chosen for the annual poster. This image was taken early in the race when these two Daytona Cobra Coupes were racing against each other. The lights on both cars are taped so they don't get broken prior to the fall of dusk. These two Coupes are probably the most dramatically different in shape of the 6 built. The #10 Coupe, CSX2287, driven by Bob Johnson and Tom Payne was the first Coupe. Built under the supervision of Peter Brock in the CA shop of Shelby American, this car shows off it's graceful and aerodynamic design. The roof extends upward from the windshield to create an air-hugging curve with the high point above the driver. The front of the hood also curves downward to split the air in exactly the right place so the car is not too light in the front. Coupe #11, CSX2299 was the second Coupe built and the first one built in Italy, without Brock's supervision. The Italians changed ("fixed" in their eyes) the roofline so the peak was in the front, where it met the windshield. The break in the front of the hood was higher and didn't curve down as far as the first Coupe and the shape of the headlights were changed for esthetic reasons. When Brock saw CSX2299 and its modifications he was taken aback. The reason the original car was designed the way it was were explained by Brock to the Italians and they agreed to build the remaining 4 cars with Brock's original roof design and front end. Brock agreed to leave the changed headlight design as the Italians had made them. It was later shown that the Brock-built coupe CSX2287 was faster than the CSX2299 car. At Le Mans 1965, coupe #11 seen here was driven by Dick Thompson and Jack Sears. It was the only Ford entry on an 11-car team to finish Le Mans that year. Ford's strategy of having all engines built identically failed horribly when a batch of bad head bolts were used in all the engines and all cars failed except CSX2299. It had crashed early in the race and was forced to drive the race at a reduced speed, which saved its head bolts from failing. This poster can be ordered with the option of Peter Brock's signature.