427 Ford in a Testa Rossa, any more details? | FerrariChat

427 Ford in a Testa Rossa, any more details?

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by bitzman, Apr 2, 2013.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Feb 15, 2008
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    wallace wyss
    Excuse me if I asked this somewhere else; can't find it. but anyhow I talked to a former owner of a Testa Rossa and he told me his car when he bought it much used had a 427 Ford installed by
    Shelby American. The only Ferrari I had heard of before that Shelby had to do with that had an American V8 was a 750 Monza he jointly owned with Dick Hall, his partner in Carroll Shelby sports cars, a business started before Shelby American. But this TR owner told me Shelby didn't own the TR, he merely ihad his shop install the engine for the customer and did a well engineered job though I am doubtful it handled well since I think a 427 big block (cast iron block and probably cast iron heads) weighs more than 450 lbs., it has to be lots heavier than an alloy block 3-liter V-12. Anyway sometime afterward the car was set on fire, maybe by the same guy who ordered the Ford installation, and later sold mightily singed to the man who told me about it, who eventually installed a proper V-12 tho not the one with the right number made for the car, an engine that did eventually reach the car years later. I was just wondering if anyone else read about this car back when it was Ford powered; for instance was it in Road & Track or anything--I can't believe with the pressure of preparing race cars Shelby-American would take time to do this side deal but then you never know, Shelby was selling chili powder, Pit Stop deodorant; he'd do lots to make some extra bread, no doubt because his early life was a hard scrabble existance and he never knew when it was all going to go away.
     
  2. CK7684

    CK7684 Formula 3

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    Seems to ring a bell on something I read about, but without looking through a few old magazines I couldn't be sure.
     
  3. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Maybe one will remember the Ferrari. I found before though, that sometimes employees don't know what was going on beyond their "crib" , some never heard of the Lone Star, a mid-engined Cobra. Shelby tended to keep things secret; if they didn't pan out , he sold them downriver
     
  4. SloW8

    SloW8 Formula Junior

    Jan 16, 2010
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    I have never heard of a mid engined Cobra called the Lone Star... I have heard of the King Cobra which was a mid engined V8 Cobra built by Shelby on a Cooper chassis.

    Post some pics of links to the Lone Star please.
     
  5. lashss

    lashss F1 Rookie

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  6. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    I corresponded with the owner of the Lone Star (which he calls the Lonestar) the other day. It has no connection with the King Cobra other than they had the same engine. He said the Lonestar was advertised in Competition Press, but I don't know who owned it then or how they got it from Shelby American. Probably the used car lot story was perpetuated by Motor Trend writing a satirical article on it showing it on a used car lot as if to say "Look, here's a million dollar baby in a five and ten cent store.". I don't know if you can call it the last Shelby road car of the Sixties because he had a couple other mid-engined cars made in England designed by Len Terry but those were track cars only; and I think they had zilch potential and the vintage racers who have one are still sorting out the suspension four decades alter.
     
  7. Meister

    Meister F1 Veteran
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    You might have more sucess posting in the vintage section to get info n the TR
     
  8. JeremyJon

    JeremyJon F1 Veteran

    Jul 28, 2010
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    Calgary, Canada
    #8 JeremyJon, Apr 10, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  9. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    TR 0796 lost its engine, too, installed in a GTO fairly early in its life.
     
  10. JeremyJon

    JeremyJon F1 Veteran

    Jul 28, 2010
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    do you know what happened to 0780 after the ^^ "blue" period, was it scraped & gone
     
  11. CK7684

    CK7684 Formula 3

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    I guess I was thinking of the cobra with a Ferrari engine..."Cobrari"
     
  12. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Sorry I forgot to put the number in but at least that got us the great pictures of the completely butched Testa Rossa for us to chew over.
    The Professors that bought 0666 told me that the 427 instlalation was quite professional, but still I think a 427 FE block in cast iron is quite a heavy lump, maybe 200 lbs. more than the Ferrari V-12 it replaced. I know when someone put a 427 in a Maserati 151, the car flipped in short order. I just want to hear if Shelby did it in house at Shelby American or if this was some back door conversion project. I seem to remember a Chevy engined Ferrari 750 Monza was at Shelby's Dallas sports car dealership, maybe that was the one that for some reason was never washed..
     
  13. ferraripete

    ferraripete F1 World Champ

    i don;t think this is the car bitzman is speaking off. the car pictured is 0758 and was owned by my father and uncle in venezuela. the story was quite heavily documented by the late branko in vintage.

    pcb
     

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