The Shelby American Cobra 260 traces its roots back to the British AC Ace and later AC Bristol engined version. A tubular and lightweight design enclosed in a beautiful aluminium body originally designed by John Tojeiro.

Carroll Shelby, of previous Le Mans fame with an outright overall win in 1959, convinced the British manufacturer to supply chassis that would be brought onto US soil for the fitting of a Ford 260ci (4279cc) Fairlane engine as a first development but above all with the Ford Motor Company onboard. Chassis were tweaked to ensure that the bigger and more powerful engine would not disrupt the handling of the car or its reliability, as they were somewhat different to the Ford stock units with specific camshafts, porting and altogether breathing through a Holley 4 barrel carburettor.

As development became finalised, the manufacturing of the production version started in 1962, the ultimate aim being to achieve the FIA homologation standard of 100 cars built for Grand Touring registration. This would be achieved on the 11th of September 1962, with the FIA granting homologation 79 to the car on the 8th of October that same year.

Later evolutions of the car would see the fitment of Weber carburettors on a cross ram intake manifold, and ultimately an upward manifold which coincided with the later development of the Cobra 289 along with new exhaust manifolds, and that is the plot twist of the story – the introduction of the Ford 289 V8 to the Cobra for 1963.