Mystery of super rare Shelby Cobra that vanished for 30 years

A super rare Shelby Cobra Daytona Coup sparked a decades-long mystery after it completely disappeared for 30 years. 

The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe prototype – or CSX2287 – was a very special motor. 

Built in 1963 – and one of only six ever made – it quickly earned itself a spot in the history books after it became the first American car to beat Ferrari on its home soil.

Fast-forward to 1965 and CSX2287 raced for the final time where it went on to set several speed records – hitting a top speed of 187 miles per hour.

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The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coup had an interesting history

It was a fitting end to the car’s impressive racing career, and soon after, Shelby decided to sell the Cobra to the founder of a toy car company named Jim Russell for  $4,500, which was big money at the time but an awful lot less than what the ‘scary’ Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake sold for recently.

It didn’t stay with Russell for very long; he sold it to former music producer Phil Spector, who began to rack up so many tickets flying around Los Angeles in the Cobra that his lawyer urged him to sell up. 

He took the advice and sold it on to his bodyguard – a man named George Brand – for $1,000 who then passed it on to his daughter Donna O’Hara. 

This is where things get interesting because, unlike its previous owners, O’Hara appeared to have no interest in driving the car. 

Instead, she stashed it away in a storage unit in California, where it spent the next 30 years. 

In the decades that followed, several people attempted to buy the car from O’Hara but she wasn’t interested in selling up. 

The car was stashed away for decades

“She would rebuff anybody who presented themselves as interested in the car,” Fred Simeone who now owns CSX2287 told CNN. 

“Carroll Shelby himself went to visit her to see the car, and she wouldn’t even open her screen door to talk to him.”

So, from 1971 to 2001 the car remained untouched, with some car enthusiasts convinced the car was lost and gone forever. 

However, in 2001 Simeone – who owns the Simeone Automotive Museum – enlisted the help of a lawyer and finally managed to convince O’Hara to sell the car. 

Simeone told CNN he didn’t want to disclose how much he paid, but says it was a ‘very realistic offer’. 

Tragically, after selling the car O’Hara died by suicide – leaving the proceeds of the sale to her mother in a will. 

The CSX2287 has been taken to Simeone Museum where it made history once again, by becoming the very first car to be included in the National Historic Vehicle Register alongside US icons such as the Statue of Liberty and the Space Shuttle.