See this right here is why we can’t have nice things! What was suppose to be a nice evening out turned into a mess. A man took his 1965 Shelby Cobra replica out to the Metropolitan in Charlotte, North Carolina. He put the keys in the hands of the valet and the valet crashed his ride into the base of a light pole.

The valet was inexperienced with the Cobra’s power, he lost control of the car while he was trying to get it out of gear. The car shot forward and brushed a BMW before finally crashing into the pole. This caused $5,000 worth of damage to the Cobra and $500 to the BMW. It seems like the Valet wasn’t used to performance and was overwhelmed by the sheer power of the Cobra. The entire front end of the fiberglass body is smashed – bad enough to make you squirm. The crash has revealed what looks to be a 4.6L modular mill that was hidden under the hood.

The Shelby Cobra was developed as a joint project between British manufacturer AC Cars, Shelby, and Ford. Developed as a sports car, its life started in 1961 when American hot rodder and speed pioneer Carroll Shelby wrote to AC asking them if they could design a sports car that could handle a V-8 engine.

At first Shelby went to Chevy to see if they were interested in producing an Engine for a small sports car but they turned him down. He then approached the Blue Oval and they believed their 260 cubic inch hi-po would be an excellent choice for a sports car.

The car was also given some then-high tech features such as disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, and curvy styling. By 1963 most of the Cobras were powered by the 289 hi-po mills, and starting in 1965 a very few special Cobras left the plant with the legendary 427 side oiler. It proved to be an effective machine in road racing, especially in FIA racing where it competed against Corvettes and Ferraris.

While this was only a fiberglass replica and not an original Cobra, it’s still a shame that it was damaged in an unexpected accident. Hopefully nothing like this happens again, we’re guessing someone might be looking for a job now – so hide your keys!

The mill looks to be a 4.6L modular engine.