Rare 1966 Cobra with multiple championships to its name expected to sell for £2m

Last updated: 2025/09/03 at 5:52 PM

Sam Coffey

3 Min Read

The 1966 AC Shelby Cobra 4.7-Liter Two-Seat Competition Hardtop Coupé, nicknamed the 13 COB. (Jam Press/Bonhams Cars)

A rare AC/Shelby Cobra from 1966 is hitting the auction market and is expected to sell for up to £2m.

Through the late 1970s and well into the early ’80s, driven by Martin Colvill, the ’13 COB’ completed more than 100 races.

In those 100 races, the Cobra managed to snag 12 outright victories, 44 class wins and championship titles in the “Historic Sports Car Club Classic Sportscar Class A Championship” in 1978, 1980 and 1981.

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Martin Colvill at the wheel also set class lap records across the UK, with records set at Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Oulton Park and Mallory Park.

Rare 1966 AC Shelby Cobra ‘13 COB’ heads to Goodwood auction valued at £2m - historic racing car with 100+ races and multiple titles remains in original condition. — The 1966 AC Shelby Cobra 4.7-Liter Two-Seat Competition Hardtop Coupé, nicknamed the 13 COB. (Jam Press/Bonhams Cars)

Today the car – nicknamed the 13 COB – remains one of the most original of all surviving competition AC/Shelby American Cobras, retaining the original chassis around which it was first constructed.

It also has its original body which has survived effectively intact throughout its life and competition career having only ever sustained light body damage which was repaired without resort to much in the way of fresh metal.

The 13 COB is a genuine historic racing artefact, being one of only five early pre-November 1963 right-hand drive AC Cobra chassis known to have been built, and one of just two sent to race at Le Mans in 1963.

The 1963/’65 Cobra Hardtop Coupe Roaster was based upon the original chassis frame of the very first Carroll Shelby-conceived Cobra ever to contest the Le Mans 24-Hour race, 62 years ago.