How many $$$ you think are sitting in this picture

[AlanCasida]

Remember, at one time these were just race cars. 

[thatdarncat]

And not just old race cars, but hard to sell old race cars lol. I see 4 of the 6 Cobra Daytona Coupes in that picture, I can't really tell for sure what the back 2 cars are ( maybe GT-40's ? ). There is a good chance one of those Daytona Coupes is CSX2601 which sold in 2009 ( while the economy was still down ) for $7.2 million ( third highest for any American car ). And if those are GT-40's back there, well, there's 2 of those on the list, including the top spot. Any of those cars if they came up for auction now could easily top the most expensive American car list. By the way, there are 5 Fords on the top 10 most expensive American cars list, including the top spot ( I'm counting the Batmobile as a Ford too ), only 3 Duesenbergs. What about that Hemi Joel - any Duesenbergs waiting in the wings to take back the top spot? ( just teasing ) Great picture Alan.

[machoneman]

Yep, nice pic and thanks for posting it!

I don't think the cars in the back are GT-40's as I've blown up the pic a few times. Think they are also Cobras. One of these coupes btw must have been the one that made some headlines juts a few years ago. Not really a barn find but the gal who owned it after her husband passed was hounded by one guy in particular who just knew it was buried under garage junk for decades.....and he was right! 

Here's the story:  https://jimsgarage.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/the-missing-daytona-coupe-mystery/

Now to answer the question: I'd say $45-$50 million at least and possibly up to $100 miilion, no kidding! JMO

[FERoadster]

Just looking at the numbering on the doors. 10,12,14,15,16  That accounts for 5  cars. Could # 11 & 13 be missing/unaccounted for?

FERoadster

[thatdarncat]

I believe the Daytona Coupe you are talking about is CSX2287 - the first coupe built and the only car completed in the U.S. It is the car that was famously used at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1965 also. It's history is indeed bizarre. I remember reading about the car and it's story in the Shelby club magazine, probably around 2002, shortly after it was uncovered. The article you provided the link to only barely covers the story of it's history and discovery, and isn't totally accurate, but it's close ( Kurt Goss mentioned in the article never was declared the legal owner, the money he received was part of a multi-person settlement of many legal issues surrounding the car ). Without knowing where and when that picture was taken it's hard to know which car is which, since the racing numbers were frequently changed from race to race. But it really doesn't matter since none of the cars have what could be called a sketchy past like some of the Cobra roadsters have, where whole cars have been "restored" starting with nothing more than a stray door or a trunk latch, and they all have racing history. Any one of them could bring a record sale.

[thatdarncat]

Just looking at the numbering on the doors. 10,12,14,15,16  That accounts for 5  cars. Could # 11 & 13 be missing/unaccounted for?

FERoadster

Forgive me, I don't know if you mean missing historically or just missing at that pictured race - There were only 6 small block Daytona Coupes and all have documented histories, and even the one mentioned above - CSX2287 - although out of sight for many years, was known and followed by a few serious Cobra collectors. It's just that no one could get the woman to ever consider selling it, and it didn't change hands until after her suicide.

The numbering on the cars did not stay the same from race to race, what was car #12 at one race could easily be #14 or #48 or #29 at the next. My guess would be that the cars were repainted after each event and new numbers applied. The Shelby American Auto Club has all the race history documented for each car and much of it is in the registry book, including a nice graphic with the door numbers run at each event. I see only one instance where a car was run with #13, probably for obvious superstitious reasons. And no instance where all 6 cars were run at any one one event. The most at one race I see was LeMans in 1965 where 5 cars were entered, although they could all have been on hand, in case a spare was needed, I don't know.

[thatdarncat]

Doing a little more looking in the SAAC registry book, I see Cobra Daytona Coupes #12, 14, 15, 16 ( the cars pictured at the front of the above photo ) all raced at Sebring in March 1965. Also at Sebring March 1965 were GT-40's #10 and #11. I'm still guessing those are the GT-40's at the back of the photo, but I've enlarged the picture as well and I can't tell for sure. To me the car in the back doesn't look like it has a rear body attached and a slightly different windshield post. I'm just having fun trying to do some detective work with the photo lol.

[MeanGene]

The whereabouts of that car were indeed known for a long time, I can remember my Cobra buds talking about it in the late 70's, and there had even been semi-serious discussions about "engineering a rip-off" as the owner wouldn't budge. I still have all my old Sports Car Graphics and such from the period with the race coverages, pretty sure that car wore #10 at the Daytona Continental, but the number went to the GT40 for Sebring. It was also used in Red Line 7000, where it was posed in a ditch, ran at Bonneville, and was listed in the magazine's For Sale section for quite a while for $10K. seems like it was in a shunt with front end damage, and maybe an engine fire. Lots of drama around that one. I would bet it's the #10 in the picture, as the Coupe has a rounded roofline with the GT40 pretty flat, and the "GT" class emblems are a giveaway, Coupes ran GT, GT40 was in Prototype at that time

[Hemi Joel]

What about that Hemi Joel - any Duesenbergs waiting in the wings to take back the top spot? ( just teasing ) Great picture Alan.

I don't know of any. The top of the heap, big dollar Dueseys rarely change hands. If the Mormon Metior ever went back on the auction block, maybe. It sold for 4.5 mill 12 years ago...

[cammerfe]

Back in the day, Sports Car Graphic Magazine had an extended classified for sale section in the back pages. Some enterprising soul bought several of the now-redundant Ford race cars, did some amount of refurbishing and, after installing air conditioning, had them for sale as daily drivers for the un-heard-of expensive price of $10,000 each. There was talk at the time that some inventive college senior tried to do a deal by offering a significant percentage of his not-yet-settled next year's salary. The offer was turned down although, as I remember, what he was offering was reliably estimated as being more than the $10 K.

As another comment on dollars from the long-ago era, I knew the guy who bought, for some small sum, Dave Lyall's A/F/X Falcon. Some months later he came to me after his engine deal fell through, and suggested that we go partners by using the 427 engine and Top Loader I had in my garage. I turned him down due to a lack of the money necessary to campaign the car after it was put together. A couple of months later, having got no-where with his project, he offered me the car for free if I'd only come and get it from his back yard. I didn't even have a place to put it and turned it down.

Several years later, with a non-descript FE in it (maybe a 390) it sold for several hundred thousand dollars. I wonder where it is now and how much it's now worth.

KS

[Qikbbstang]

What I find amusing is, as Allan mentioned (American Cars) .. When the top dog FERRARI'$ come up to auction all bets are off. Ferrari nut$ sail past the dollar figures of the top-dog American Cars and keep going like the ENERGIZER RABBIT.  One Ferrari in particular went for $52 MILLION!
   Then you have dozens of FERRARI'$ going for $10s, 20s, 30s of million$ of dollars
                 So strange RICH FORD GUYS compared to RICH FERRARI GUYS?...............Let's not forget the FORD's shown and of course the FORD GTs were built with beating Enzo's cars as the goal




https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-02/ferrari-gto-becomes-most-expensive-car-at-52-million

http://www.bing.com/search?q=highest+ferrari+auction+price&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IENTSR&pc=EUPP_