This was the world's fastest car in the 1960s over a quarter-mile

The honor of being responsible for the world’s fastest car is an incredibly prestigious one.

It is a crown for which the world’s premier supercar brands frequently compete and fight.

But have you ever wondered what the world’s fastest car was back in the 1960s?

Well, this right here is the answer – and it is a truly iconic piece of four-wheeled history.

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The 1960s represent a special time in the car world

The 1960s are often considered the golden era of the American car industry.

Everybody was tussling and competing for domination and control over performance on the street.

Add to that the fact that the early 1960s saw the birth of the muscle car as well.

In short – every brand wanted in on the need for speed, and it resulted in some legendary cars.

But one legendary car stands above them all when it comes to pure, quarter-mile performance.

And it turns out that the world’s fastest car in the 1960s wasn’t actually an American car.

Okay, it was American-powered, but the car itself actually came from across the Atlantic.

Shelby Cobra 427 becomes an icon among icons

We are, of course, talking about the legendary Shelby Cobra 427.

Much like their American counterparts, the British enjoyed a golden era in the 1960s.

The ‘Swinging Sixties’ saw the Beatles and the Rolling Stones kick off the American invasion.

And the British car industry had giants such as Jaguar and Aston Martin leading the charge.

But it was British marque AC that was responsible for this legendary beast of a car.

You don’t need us to tell you who Carroll Shelby is or what his name means to the car world.

But Carroll Shelby had a long-held belief in pairing lightweight, British chassis with American engines.

So Shelby did just that, getting a supply of chassis units from British car company AC.

The chassis units at hand were from the AC Ace sports car, so they were perfect.

Now that he had the chassis, Shelby needed the engine – and Ford was the brand to give it to him.

Dave Evans of the Ford Motor Company agreed to supply two different engines to Carroll Shelby.

Evans originally agreed to supply the 221 cubic-inch (3.6 liter) and 260 cubic-inch (4.3 liter) V8 engines.

But by 1965, Shelby got his hands on Ford’s pièce de résistance – the 427 FE big block V8.

Carroll Shelby, like some sort of automotive Frankenstein, successfully fused American power with British engineering.

Shelby’s creation results in the world’s fastest car

And the end result was the world’s fastest car of the 1960s in a straight quarter mile.

Shelby’s creation produced 485hp and 480lb-ft of torque from the 7.0-liter powerplant, and it was routed through a four-speed manual transmission.

In case you were wondering, the performance numbers were absolutely staggering.

The Cobra could sprint from zero to 100 mph and brake back to a complete stop in just 14.5 seconds.

Legendary test driver Ken Miles even managed to get that down to a scarcely-believable 13.8 seconds.

It was also able to hit 0-60 in just 4.3 seconds – a number that would still be pretty damn respectable today.

The Shelby Cobra 427 blasted through the quarter-mile in just 12.2 seconds, before hitting a frightening top speed of 165mph.