The 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster is one of the most exciting cars ever to be built. This was not the first car to bring together the most famous elements of race cars from the United Kingdom and the United States, but it was the one that did so with the most elegance, speed, and is certainly the most widely recognized of the cars that did so. The combination was of the chassis from the AC ace cars and the engine was provided by the Ford Company of America.

The 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 Roadster was of course one of the Shelby’s designed by Caroll Shelby. The bare bones of the car can be simplified to one sentence. It has British elegance and design on the outside, and American muscle on the inside. The interior had all the class and elegance of any British roadster, but underneath the hood their lie a 427 engine that Shelby along with Ford placed in the cars. The power provided by that engine combined with the extremely light weight of the car made it one of the most powerful cars in existence. Even today the list of cars that can outperform a 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster is a very short list. The corollary to its power combined with its lightness however is that the car is notoriously hard to handle for the average driver. There are several stories about well known or well to do people who have purchased cobras of this make and been unable to handle the car.

Carrol Shelby himself was a name to be reckoned with. A man with an impressive career, his car designs clearly stem from the fact that the first large portion of his life he made his living as a race car driver. From the point he retired from racing onward, he was designing cars. These cars were meant to drive like the race cars he once made his living driving, and so were not for the casual user. Among all the cars that Caroll Shelby designed though, the most famous, and the most valuable are the Shelby Cobra 427 roadsters.

The most rare and sought after of these cars were dubbed the mark III, which had more advanced rack and pinion steering. There was under a thousand of them produced, and are all worth extremely large amounts of money at auction.

The cobra is a unique combination for most car enthusiast. It appeals to collectors of the sleek, beautiful British roadsters, your Jaguar or AC enthusiasts. But then, it also has magnificent value to people who covet the great American race cars of that generation as it brings together the best of two worlds into something extremely rare and special. Shelby wanted a high end race car, that could be lighter, and more powerful than the already legendary Chevrolet corvette. With the 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster he achieved his mark perfectly, with a car that looms high in both American and British collectors consciousness.