Now offered through Broad Arrow Private Sales, this 1963 Shelby Cobra is one of just 75 early Cobras built with Ford’s 260-cubic-inch V8. Among the earliest examples completed at AC Cars’ High Street works in Thames Ditton, it retains a particularly rare factory specification: a louvered hood, one of only a handful fitted to Cobras and arguably the car’s defining visual feature.
AC Cars invoiced CSX 2058 to Shelby American Inc. on November 30, 1962, specifying a Black roadster with Black trim, top, and tonneau. The car left the Thames Ditton works on December 12 before being shipped to California for completion at Shelby American. Downtown Ford of Los Angeles subsequently invoiced the Cobra on February 22, 1963, at $4,995, with additional equipment bringing the total to $5,129.20. The $50 louvered hood was the most expensive option.
The Cobra’s first documented owner was Richard Feldheim, who acquired it secondhand in California in 1964 after spotting it in a Los Angeles Times classified advertisement. The unusual hood immediately attracted his attention. During his ownership, the car was used at drag strips in California and Arizona and received a high-rise aluminum intake, a 715-cfm Holley carburetor, and an engine rebuild. Its original leather interior was replaced with black vinyl, while the body was repainted Mosport Green.
Feldheim sold the Cobra through Philadelphia dealer Kirk F. White in 1971 to Dr. J. F. “Bill” Hancock, who retained it for approximately a decade before it passed to Steve Eubanks. Subsequent ownership included Paul Andrews and Henry B. Wilkinson before the car returned to England in 2004 with approximately 36,000 miles recorded.
British owner Robert “Bob” Jewers restored CSX 2058 to its original Black finish and used it regularly, including trips to Goodwood. The car later moved to Belgium, where its current ownership initiated an extensive mechanical recommissioning program.
Between 2018 and 2020, marque specialists comprehensively rebuilt the 260 V8, transmission, and differential. Rear hubs and bearings were renewed, the pedal box overhauled, and cooling improvements added for touring and occasional track use. These included an upgraded radiator fan, oil cooler, carburetor heat-insulating spacer, and LED lighting to reduce demand on the original dynamo.
Today, CSX 2058 presents in its original Black-over-Black specification and displays a believed-original 42,949 miles. Its exceptionally detailed history file includes factory invoices, ownership correspondence, SAAC registry documentation, registration records, restoration invoices, photographs, and a decade-long handwritten driving log.
With rare factory options, documented provenance, extensive mechanical work, and remarkably complete records, CSX 2058 represents a well-preserved example of the earliest 260-powered Cobras.
Source: Broad Arrow Private Sales
