Petersen Automotive Museum “Cobra Day” 2000

January 20, 2018 /   /  Articles

Cobra Day 2000
Cobra Day

The Legend and The Late Night Host!

Carroll shared the klieg lights with North American TV celebrity, Cobra owner and “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno at Cobra.Day.2000. Jay informed me that he’s installed a 427 ‘cammer’ into his snake since I last enjoyed a spin in it.

Cobra Day

Above: This was the biggest & best-est “Cobra Day” ever, with (at Lynn Park’s last count) 82 original Cobra roadsters and 3 Daytona Coupes on display (85 total Cobras), plus dozens of GT350s and GT500s, the original Gulf Blue #6 GT40, and 2 or 3 very nice Sunbeam Tigers. Odds are you’ll never witness this much Shelby metal in one place in your lifetime. On the 2nd deck of the show (whence I shot this image), was a serious lineup of Dodge Vipers and dozens of fine Cobra replicas. With the assemblage of Cobras and Vipers alone, the two parking decks closely resembled the snakepit scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Cobra Day

Above & below: The 2nd deck was reserved for Cobra replicas, Mustangs and Dodge Vipers (8 Vipers in the photo below alone). That’s Bob Shaw’s (Operations Plus) #33 car in the foreground above (it’s a Unique Motorcars 289FIA).

Cobra Day
Cobra Day

Above: That’s all original 427 and 289 roadster metal.

Cobra Day

That gorgeous blue/red leather slabside 289 is the proud possession of Tom Hansen of Los Angeles. The license plate reads “REAL 65”.

An aluminium AC MkIV Cobra; note the triple wipers, lack of sidepipes.

Cobra Day

Lineup of three Mike McCluskey Daytona Coupes, each built upon an original 289 chassis.

The #6 Gulf Blue GT40.

In the foreground, an original 289 USRRC racing machine; just above it on the passenger side is Hank Williams’ one-owner 289 slabside. Hank purchased it in November, 1964! 

Jason Len’s (San Luis Obispo) exquisitely outfitted 4000-Series 427SC.

 

Here’s an engine-compartment shot I took of a very nice blue 289 roadster. Note the array of Webers, the spit & polished underhood appearance. It’s the proud possession of Drew& Janet Serb from Orinda, California.

…A few fotos with Leno…

Shelby Cobra Day 2000 at Petersen Museum, photo of Jay Leno with John & Janet Marshall

Hank Williams (along with his one-owner 289 roadster,) enjoying a moment of talkin’ Cobra. You can count on Hank to show up with his well-known Cobra at every major Cobra get-together.

Janet & John Marshall of Newport Beach, with Jay.

Superformance owner Dwight Van Horne (of Santa Clarita) with Jay.

Carroll posing alongside Lynn Park’s original 289FIA racing machine (one of the five original FIAs); that’s Lynn in his trademark Smokey-da-Bear campaign hat, at the far left. The California Virtual Tours’ camera/tripod setup you see in the foreground is outfitted with a parabolic reflector (which you can see clearly in the hi-rez hotlinked image), within moments scheduled to capture the entire 360° image of Cobra owners surrounding Carroll.

Shelby Cobra Day 2000 at Petersen Museum, photo of George Petrus and Curt Scott
Shelby Cobra Day 2000 at Petersen Museum, portrait of Carroll & Cleo Shelby, shot by Steve Huete

On your left that’s AMP’s president and Cobra owner/racer George Petrus, maker of fine Jaguar IRS assemblies; me on the right. Photo by Steve Huete.

Team Shelby: Cleo and Carroll during the autograph session. Photo by Steve Huete.

Cobra Day

Carroll’s Series 1 car was there. Image by Steve Huete.

A magnificent black 427SC; we didn’t ascertain who the owner is, but it proved to be a certified crowd-stopper.

…and the Shelby ‘Stangs were there in force…

One of the cleanest and straightest GT350s at the event; this ’66 Shelby ‘Stang is the property of Jeff Wombacher of Irvine, California. License plate number is “1.RARE.66.”

A fine lineup of 1965 & ’66 GT350s.

Cobra Day

 

 

Left: This event (and each of the Petersen Automotive Museum’s Cobra Day events preceding it) wouldn’t have happened without the extraordinary toil and choreography of COCOA (Cobra Owners Club of America) mover ‘n’ shaker Lynn Park.

Curt Scott’s standard CobraCountry signature

back to the Feature Articles

—Copyright Notice—

*****

Sidewinder Tip#1: you can instantly find/return to this Petersen Automotive Museum’s Cobra Day 2000 coverage by just using Sidewinder. For example, type <Cobra Day>  or <Jay Leno> or even <Sunbeam Tiger> into the ‘Sidewinder’ search box.

Tip#2: If you type the words <feature articles> or <photo features> or <events coverage> into Sidewinder, you’ll get a scrolling roster of hotlinks to every one of CobraCountry’s photo-feature articles.

Back to the Articles articles