77 replies to this topic

[Quickcars]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a clear or resin version of this body? I love the looks of this car!

[Larry Mattingly]

I think Resilient Resins has a version of the King Cobra...

Someone (Toytech?) also makes it in Lexan I believe...

LM

[Joe Mig]

I have one in my box for tomorrow.

[Quickcars]

RR has the standard version without the elongated front end and "squat" stance of this car.

Joe, what, where, who? I'd like to get one myself!

Help!

[slotbaker]

Maybe not quite the same car, but Patto's Place lists a "63 King Cbra (Cooper T63)" and these pics appear in his gallery;


painted by Matthias Parke.


painted by Guido Blatz.

[Joe Mig]

This guy Danny gave the clear body to me and then I built the car. You'll see it at Buzzies.

[Noose]

This is the Toytech version.

[Joe Mig]

Any interest in this Patra factory-painted body?

[Quickcars]

Thanks for the replies, fellas. The one from Bruce is the closest to what I'm looking for.

Joe, the Pactra version is the same as the one offered by Resilient Resins. It's nice but not quite what I'm looking for. Bring it with you though, I'd like to see it "in person".

Boy, I'm going to need to get a "race case". I'm bringing too much stuff tomorrow between the cars I'd like to run and a couple of cars for the guys in my club who don't have any vintage cars.

[TSR]

To de-confuse the confused, the yellow car built in the UK by Carroll Shelby in 1967 and called the King Cobra has nothing to do with Cooper. It was a horrid machine with atrocious aerodynamics and a twist-o-flex aluminum monocoque that ran only once before being cut in pieces because it scared its driver so much. It was an engineering mistake by Len Terry and had Eagle front suspension and wheels and a crazy De Dion rear axle that caused the car to do the most dangerous things under power.

However for a slot car racer, that beast looks truly cool. It's a bit like the Cheetah, a terrible car but a great-looking slot car...

The true King Cobras are the 1963 Cooper Monaco type T61, fitted with the Ford V8 engine of which Shelby got four examples, and that was modeled by Monogram in the 1/32 scale as well as by Pactra, Select, and Auto Hobbies in clear plastic, and by Lancer, Pactra, Stormer, and Du-Bro in the 1/24 scale and also in clear plastic.

The real ones were wonderful cars to drive and won the LA Times GP at Riverside both years they were entered.

No one ever modeled the 1964 version of which only three chassis were built, and that had a flat radiator under the nose. A truly great car.

Both Lancer and Du-Bro made clear bodies of the 1967 King Cobra abomination, the Lancer existing in both exact-scale and also channeled for pro racing use. These were then copied in recent times by Patto, Booth, and Anderson, while horrid new ones were made for Flexi racing by other manufacturers that will remain nameless.

[Quickcars]

As with the Cheetah, Ford P68(?), and a few others, the King Cobra's popularity as a slot car is in no way related to it's success as a 1:1 race car. It (the King) is just a cool-looking slot car to me. I'm looking forward to building one.

[munter]

I was trapped by the "coolness" of this particular body a few years back.



I think it was the curves, cutouts, and bumps...

Regards,

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

The model of the '67 Lancer King Cobra like that above is still in production and available at PCH cheap!

And P is a little incorrect about the King Cobra issues. The '64 Riverside car with the enlarged rear fenders was done. The first version as modeled by Monogram in 1/32 is, of course, still around. But the King Cobra was done by both Pactra and Du-Bro, and ONE of them (misremember which) has the enlarged rear fenders for the wider '64 tires that ran at Riverside. I have a survivor that I run all the time!

P knows this better than I do. The body with the velocity stacks over the engines (Pactra?) is the '63 car. But the other one that just has the clear cover is the bulged '64 car. I just don't remember who made it!

I think Pactra did both versions, but it might have been Du-Bro.

Back to the later '67 body. I have it running on my Champion plated Jail Door frame. The tuck-under on the body means that it doesn't fit some chassis without distorting the body and making it look funny to me.

Fate

[TSR]

The '64 Riverside car with the enlarged rear fenders was done. The first version as modeled by Monogram in 1/32 is, of course, still around. but the King Cobra was done by both Pactra and Du-Bro, and ONE of them (misremember which) has the enlarged rear fenders for the wider '64 tires that ran at Riverside. I have a survivor that I run all the time!

Sorry, Prof, but there was not a SINGLE model of a 1964 Cooper Monaco in its King Cobra guise EVER made.

The 1964 car had no visible opening on its blunt nose, as the actual opening was UNDER the car.

The existing bodies (including the one you got from me) are ALL of the 1963 cars, with enclosed rear fenders. The Lancer, Du-Bro, and Pactra are ALL 1963 cars. The cars were run again in 1964 with slightly-enlarged rear fenders, that were simply the original of which the aluminum skin was banged up by Phil Remington to increase width by an extra 2".

The 1964 cars (only three chassis run by Shelby) were not only wider but substantially different in many ways from the CM61 (1963) cars. So that you can clearly see the difference, here is a picture of Parnelli Jones at the 1964 Laguna Seca race behind the Brabham-Climax of Jack Brabham. Look at the nose, see, no opening!



And the two other chassis, Bucknum and Bondurant at Riverside. Note the blunt noses.

[Quickcars]

Hi Rocky,

I'd like to buy a body but I'm not familiar with PCH... More info please!

Thanks,

[Bill from NH]

PCH is a raceway/mail order shop in Oxnard, CA.

Here's the link for their website:

PCH

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

P, we are at cross purposes. I also have original pics from Riverside taken by Schleicher. And there were' 64 cars that differed only in the rear fenders, which one of the bodies did. I even have photos of one getting a new nose after a wreck that is unpainted.

Fate

[Ramcatlarry]

I was at the Meadowdale USRRC race in Illinois when the Shelbys ran. Somewhere in the boxes are the photos, but I also had to use my EYES to alter my 1/32 Monogram RTR to Shelby race configuration with altered radiator, exhaust, and rear body openings. That was the day that the Meadowdale banking beat the Cobra to death, breaking the poor car in half, from bottoming out on the rough banked turn after setting fast lap.

Several years ago at Road America Historics, a long-nose 'Shelby King Cobra' appeared. I have no clue if it was a reproduced car or not, but was not a shredded mess. Someone there mentioned that it shared a front suspension design with the Cheetah with some geometric lay-down coil spring arrangement... strange roll center dynamics, I guess.

[TSR]

P, we are at cross purposes. I also have original pics from Riverside taken by Schleicher. And there were '64 cars that differed only in the rear fenders, which one of the bodies did. I even have photos of one getting a new nose after a wreck that is unpainted.

Rocky,

Let me repeat this agins, because I had to do the same in quite a few forums about the T61M cars. The 1963 cars were recycled for 1964 use with minor modifications, namely removing the Colotti type 34 gearbox in favor of the McKee/Kar Kraft-built unit and slightly enlarging the rear fenders for the 1" wider Goodyears.

ALL the slot car bodies EVER made in the USA, every single one, are of the 1963 version with vertical radiator and like the Monogram, Lancer, Do-Bro, A/H, Select, and Pactra, with vertical radiator opening. The shape and detail of some shows the 1963 or 1964 versions, that differ very little. The Pactra is definitely the 1963 version, while the Lancer is the 1963 car with slight alterations for the 1964 season. But even with that, none is accurate, and all the chassis AND hand-hammered bodies were different on every single car. The true 1964 cars do not have a visible water radiator opening and are wider by something like 6" compared to the 1963 cars.

You need to read the excellent book by Doug Nye, "Coopers", to follow the chassis sequence and why the 1964 cars are entirely different, and for some reason, modeled by no one (slot OR static) in spite of their success at Riverside, in what was the biggest sports cars race in the world.

I would LOVE to see a decent 1/24 scale body of the '64 car. but there is... none to be had.

This is the 1964 with its blunt nose:



This is the 1963 as modeled by Monogram, Pactra, Select, Du-Bro...

[rdmac]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a clear or resin version of this body? I love the looks of this car!

Tom Andersen - Vintage Slot Cars has this one.

'67 Ford King Cobra l

[Larry LS]

Well, guys, here is a supposed repop of a Lancer version of the King Cobra. It came in a plastic bag that had the Lancer name on a purple-colored sign inside the bag. A friend got it for me from a track in San Jose twelve years ago. Looked good to me then and still does.

[TSR]

Larry,

The bodies with the purple tags are from REH and are definitely pulled over the old Lancer molds that they own. The one you have is the "tall" one, they also have a channeled version that is about 1/4' lower for pro racing. 10-thou Lexan only. I believe that you can still get them but I also believe that Ron Hershman might be doing the production for them now? Ron will confirm this or not.

[Quickcars]

Larry, the car looks awesome! That's exactly what I'd like to have...

How can I order from REH? Do they only supply retailers?

P

[TSR]

PCH is one of their retailers.

[Joe Mig]

Too bad you missed yesterday I had a nice one I brought for you to look at or get ideas from.