The Shelby American story starts in 1962 with the legendary Cobra. No sooner had Shelby finished the first prototype to show Ford what it had been spending its money on then he started fabricating the first Cobra racing car. It was a quick-and-dirty race-prep job with a mildly modified Ford 260-inch engine, 16-inch wire wheels, a roll bar and some minor beefing-up. Sporting less than 275 hp, it didn't seem like much compared to a 375-hp fuel-injected Corvette—until the flag fell!