When we think of pro-touring cars, we typically picture musclecars from the 1960’s and early 1970’s sitting on 17’s or 18’s with a full compliment of aftermarket suspension components thrown in. At least in our minds, that’s what a traditional pro-touring car is.
So when we saw that a Shelby Cobra replica had been given this treatment on pro-touring.com, we had to investigate. As we all know the original Shelby’s were designed with road racing specifically in mind. The car, being built by JR Dean, features a whole host of modern improvements over the original Cobra’s rather archaic foundations.
What he’s done with this particular example was build it from the ground up, utilizing a box-frame chassis fabricated by Larry Goins. Instead of the common BBF 427 or 5.0L, JR relies on a 418 SBF for power that comes complete with Dart heads, an Edelbrock Air Gap intake, and and a Holley 750 double pumper carburetor. It’s shifted with a TKO 600 six-speed manual.
JR handles takes the corners with a MN12 Thunderbird IRS and QA1 double adjustable coil-overs on all four corners. Seventeen-inch (9.5- front, 11-inch rear) BRM GT-40 wheels wrapped in Sumitumo rubber keep the car planted to the pavement. Stopping power consists of 14-inch 6-piston Wilwood brake calipers on the front and Thunderbird binders clamping down on the 12-inch Mustang Cobra calipers out back.
Turning a Shelby Cobra into a track ready circuit racer might seem like a natural thing to do; after all, it’s one of the world’s most iconic sports cars. But when you bring one up to modern standards it only cements the car’s historical significance.
There are many more interesting aspects of this car, and we encourage you to check out the build process of the Cobra in this pro-touring.com thread.
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