CSX3012

" CSX3012. Unpainted/black interior. Invoiced to Shelby American on 1/11/65. Work order #15067 was opened on 2/4/65 to build the car, which was completed on 4/23/65. It was invoiced on 4/20/65 to Valley Mercedes Benz Service, 14104 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, CA as “1 427 Cobra, Chassis No. CSX3012” at a cost of $9,700.00. Painted silver, a color often used on Mercedes racing cars, 3012 was picked up at Shelby American by Lothar Motschenbacher, the owner of Valley Mercedes Benz. Following a debut race at Riverside on 5/2/65, as #1, in which the car was a DNF, 3012 was returned to Shelby American to have the original Armstrong shocks replaced with Konis. At Laguna Seca on 5/9/65, Motschenbacher placed 7th OA in a USRRC event, and competed at an SCCA regional race in Santa Barbara on 5/29/65 as #1A. 3012 went back to Shelby American in June, with a repair order to: “Check engine bearings - replace if necessary; Tune engine; Repair oil leak at at manifold breather; Adjust shocks to stiffer action; Repair support straps on fuel tank; Enlarge rear wheel wells to accept 12.40 x 15” Indy tires on 9.5” rim; Install knee pad on door hinge; Repair brakes - low pedal; and Install 3.54 diff. assembly.” The car was crashed by Lothar Motschenbacher at an SCCA race at Pomona on 6/20/65, following which it was returned to Shelby American for repairs. (A photo of 3012 at this time appeared in the Shelby American #32, p. 29.) Motschenbacher entered the car at the Mid-Ohio USRRC event in early August but did not finish. He later said that the car had been poorly repaired by the factory, with improper suspension settings and even some crossed plug wires. Thoroughly disappointed, Motsenbacher traded the car back to Shelby American, taking a 1965 Ford Country Squire station wagon and $7000 in return for the Cobra. (He went on to compete in the Can Am racing series.) Porter & Hooper, Shelby American’s insurance company, was invoiced for $2,271.48 on 12/29/65 for “damage and material to repair Cobra (Race) CSX3012, damaged 12/5/65 during testing: Labor, 157.8 straight time hours at $10.50 per hour ($1,656.90); Material: $614.58.” After a thorough clean -up, the car was sold on 12/7/65 to J. D. Hurt (Indianapolis, IN) as “1 Used Race Cobra 427, CSX3012, As-Is condition, with equipment as fitted” for $8,200.00. Hurt, however, did not wish to take delivery until the following spring, and allowed Shelby American to rent 3012 to MGM Studios for use in the Elvis Presley movie “Spinout.” MGM was charged $2,240.00 for five weeks use of the car, between 2/7/66 and 3/16/66, following which it was returned to Shelby American. An internal memo dated 5/11/66 noted, “This car was sold to Hurt but loaned to MGM prior to delivery. MGM wrecked the car.” Hurt’s payment for 3012 was then made into a deposit for another Cobra (CSX3028). 3012 was re-purchased by Shelby American, and was invoiced on 4/5/66 to Donald Peckham (Torrance, CA) as “CSX3012, Used Cobra, As-Is condition” at a cost of $3,000.00 plus sales tax ($120.). By this time, 3012 had been fitted with 7.5”/9.5” Cobra II Halibrands. Peckham rebuilt the car and raced it during the ‘66 season, painted white with a thin blue stripe down the center of the car. At the ARRC in Riverside, Peckham finished 2nd in A/P, and was featured, along with 3012, in a 2-page FoMoCo ad which appeared, among other places, in the 2/67 issue of Car and Driver on pp. 18-19. 3012 appeared in the classifieds in 2/67: “1965 Cobra 427 - Best prepared, best appearing and fastest Cobra at 1966 ARRC. Set fastest lap time and and finished 2nd, driven by an inexperienced driver. Fully prepared including Holman-Moody cam, 4 month old engine with one hour since overhaul, $8200 including many spares and nearly new tires. Some of the spare parts included are: new differential, new engine, 2 brake calipers, plus many more.” Charles T. Oseid (Rockford, IL) purchased 3012 in the name of his company, Sterling Automotive Mfg. Co., and continued to race the car, offering it for sale in 8/67:” Cobra 427...Set track record at Wilmot 1st time out. Race prepped. Holman-Moody heads and cam.” The car was not sold, however, and Oseid continued to race it until it was destroyed in an accident, while being transported on a trailer, in the early ‘70’s. After the wreck, 3012 was dismantled, with Oseid scrapping the bulk of the car while keeping some salvaged parts. Legal ownership of the car, as represented by the MSO he obtained from Peckham, remained with Oseid. In 1985, a long-time acquaintance, George Stauffer (Blue Mounds, WI), purchased the MSO and various parts to 3012, and had a new vehicle created in England by Brian Angliss of Autokraft (Surrey, ENG). The finished car, painted dark green, was sold prior to its actual completion in the summer of ‘88 to George Gillett (Denver, CO). Acquired in ‘92 by Jim Philion (CA), 3012 was offered for sale at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona in 1/93, but a reported high bid of $325K was refused. Philion elected, instead, to keep the car in order to vintage race it. At the Wine Country Classic held at Sears Point in 6/95, the car was driven by Rick Titus to 4th place, and won the Group 9 Cup for “Performance and Presentation.” It followed with a 1st place award in the popular vote 427 Cobra competition class at SAAC-20 (Atlanta) 7/95. Driven in 8/95 once again by Rick Titus at the Monterey Historics, 3012 was given the Thomas W. Senter Memorial Award for representing “the most significant Ford or Ford powered vehicle” at the event. 3012 has been pictured in the Shelby American, #64, on pp. 20 and 32 (#1); Friedman and Christy’s Racing Cobra, p. 172; Shelby, by Steve Statham, p. 33 (top); and Wyss’ Shelby’s Wildlife, p. 113. Available for sale in the 1/97 duPont Registry, 3012 was selected as the “Publisher’s Choice” for that issue. [It was fairly well known in the late ‘70’s that 3012 had been wrecked and possibly parted out. This resulted in the creation of one or more air-cars claiming to be CSX3012. One was advertised in 1980 by Andre Fiejo (CA and MI); another was claimed by Richard Pierce (CA); and a third was said to be owned by Gary Gressinger (CA), but the source later claimed to have been creating a foil to diminish the credibility of Fiejo’s car.