1965 Shelby Cobra Butler Built

Every car person knows what the Shelby Cobra looks like and has there own idea of what it should be. When Carroll Shelby wanted a car to compete against Ferrari, he asked British car company AC to build him a car that would except a V8 engine and they accepted. And actually Shelby wanted GM to provide the engines but since they had ramped up their racing programs and were using the Corvette for that mission, they declined.

We also all know that the Cobra and Shelby put the car on the map with tons of race wins and fame making the car and the brand valuable and famous. And with every successful race team comes the talented people that put them together. Ron Butler was one of those people in the trenches working alongside the famed Ken Miles on the Shelby racing program.

Unlike the newer Replicas so commonly seen, some good and some bad this car was actually built by Ron Butler and his team to build the very best Cobra. The company started building these Replicas as early as the late 70's.

This particular car was built in 1993 and had a price tag of almost $34,000 before the engine and transmission. The original paperwork with build sheet accompany the car. The original owners family had a string of Chevrolet dealerships and he opted to put a GM 454 HO crate motor with a 5-speed manual transmission. Since then Edelbrock Performer 454 aluminum heads with a 3-angle valve job have been added as well as a LS-6 vintage manifold. It also has a Torker II cam, Aluminum valve covers and a MSD 6AL, blaster coil and distributor. It is also loaded with other Butler options and modifications.

This stunning very low mileage example is one of the nicest examples we have seen, not only in the build quality but the overall care and maintenance with full records.

There is no doubt that the original cars built by Shelby will always continue to be the most sought after and valuable, however when you can get a car built with as much quality as this by someone that actually worked on the originals for a fraction of the cost and quite arguably equally as exhilarating to drive, we say why not. Full documentation is available at your request.

To see over 80 photos of this car, including under carriage please visit our website www.grautogallery.com