Car of the Week: This Shelby Cobra Is One of the Winningest Cars Ever. Now It’s Heading to Auction.

Whether called the “Essex Wire Cobra” or “Ollie the Dragon,” the car being referred to is revered as the winningest Shelby Cobra of all time. This legendary racer tore up America’s racetracks for over four decades, taking three major championships and a multitude of first-place finishes. As for its latter nickname, that was reportedly coined by one of the car’s most successful drivers, Dr. Dick Thompson. He’s quoted as saying: “We called the car Ollie the Dragon because every time you let off on the throttle, a belch of fire about three feet long would shoot out the hood scoop.”

Next month, Ollie, the fire-breathing 1965 Shelby 427 Competition Cobra Roadster, better known in the racing world as the Essex Wire Cobra, will cross the auction block at Mecum’s 4,500-car Kissimmee 2025 sale in Florida on January 18. “Over the years, we’ve auctioned some of the very best and most valuable Cobras,” says John Kraman, longtime Mecum TV commentator and analyst, “but this car raises the bar. It really is the pinnacle.”

How much will this storied race car fetch? Kraman isn’t making any predictions, but the vehicle is being talked about in the same breath as the 1962 Shelby Cobra bearing chassis No. CSX2000—the first Cobra that Carroll Shelby built. That example sold through RM Sotheby’s in 2016 for $13.75 million.

What adds to the Essex Wire Cobra’s already considerable appeal is that after its remarkable motorsport career, it was subjected to an exhaustive, five-year, no-expense-spared restoration by top Cobra specialist Mike McCluskey, who returned the car to its original Essex Wire racing spec. The end result was recognized with a Gold award at the 2013 Shelby American Auto Club SAAC-38 event, in Fontana, Calif., where it scored an unprecedented 493 points out of 500—the highest ever for a Competition Cobra restoration. 

“One interesting fact; during the restoration, Carroll Shelby himself visited McCluskey’s shop in Torrance, Calif., at least three times, to advise on the restoration and ensure its authenticity,” says Kraman.

As for the car’s racing history, it dates back to 1965. That’s when Essex Wire, one of the world’s biggest industrial wiring conglomerates, was looking to raise its profile in advance of it going public on the New York Stock Exchange. Essex Wire’s president, Walter Probst, approached its biggest client, Ford Motor Company, with a plan to promote the two brands by going sports-car racing using one of Carroll Shelby’s new Cobras. Ford agreed, and a brand-new 1965 Shelby 427 Competition Cobra Roadster, chassis No. CSX3009, was supplied by Shelby American in Wimbledon White. It came with Ford’s thundering 427-cubic-inch big-block, side-oiler V-8. The power plant has exotic magnesium intake manifolds and aluminum competition cylinder heads. Max output was originally more than 500 hp, and the engine is paired with a four-speed manual transmission.

This Cobra also features a Salisbury limited-slip differential, Halibrand racing wheels with knock-off spinners, and unmuffled, steel-tube side-exit exhausts. The simple, no-frills racing livery was limited to just a single Raven Black stripe with orange borders and “Essex Wire” in black letters on each side.

After being put through its paces at California’s Riverside track by the great Shelby test driver Ken Miles, now a household name after the blockbuster film Ford Vs Ferrari, the car first raced in April of 1965 in the USRRC 200 in Pensacola, Fla. It had 24-year-old Robert “Skip” Scott and Dick Thompson, a multiple SCCA champion, sharing the driving. They finished fourth. The car was raced non-stop between 1965 and 1982, winning two SCCA National Championships and an SCCA Production Championship, along with numerous individual race victories. From 1973 on, its 427 V-8 was producing 670 hp.

Describing the way the Cobra drove, Dick Thompson is on record as saying: “It was a real bear of a car, but it would go like hell. It was beautiful in the straightaway, but because it didn’t have much in the way of brakes, it was always hairy in the turns.”

Fast forward to the late 1990s when André Ahrlé, a well-known collector who had previously competed at Le Mans, acquired the partly disassembled car and commissioned Mike McCluskey to work his magic. “The restoration took more than five years, was very difficult, and very expensive,” Ahrlé states. “Part of the problem was that a restoration had previously been started and most of the parts were scattered all over the country.

According to Ahrlé, the car retains much of its originality, including such irreplaceable items as the rare magnesium intake manifold and aluminum competition cylinder heads, the original four-speed manual gearbox, and original 1965 Halibrand magnesium wheels. The new owner will also get a treasure trove of items with the car, including the original 427 V-8 that powered it during its racing heyday. Now completely rebuilt and race-ready, the engine sits mounted on a display stand.

“The beauty of the car is that it’s so famous that everything is known about it since day one,” says Ahrlé. “We have a collection of literally hundreds of period photos and documents, along with comprehensive details of the restoration.”

In addition, there’s an exquisite, highly detailed 1:5 scale model of the car, created by master-modeler Jorge Sordelli, plus the original helmet, race suit, and gloves worn by driver Ed Lowther when he won the car’s first championship in 1966. 

Click here for more photos of the 1965 Essex Wire Cobra.