Shelby had a long history of driving V8 powered sports cars before developing
the Cobra, including seat time in Allards and Max Balchowsky's Ol Yeller.
Balchowsky is said to have done the first Healey V8 swap and there's an
interesting account of it here: http://www.onlinebiographies.com/page11.html
That swap was a Chevy 283 and was featured in Hot Rod magazine and inspired a
number of swaps over the years (including me) Shelby first approached
Chevrolet for motors for his project, but was turned down there. I imagine
they weren't interested in creating a possible Corvette beater. The
introduction of the thin-wall Ford 260 V8 was perfect for Shelby's Cobra
creation. The superintendent of Ford's Cleveland engine plant got a first
look at the new Ford V8 and figured out that it's narrow design would be a
good fit in a Healey and did a swap that was shown in Hot Rod in 1963. So
there was certainly a lot of opportunities for a Cobra Healey to
be created, although I think Healey's contractural obligations with BMC was a
stumbling block.
Rick
Follow My Nasty Boy Build: http://tinyurl.com/yj52fwo
--- On Thu, 2/11/10, Quinn, Patrick <Patrick.Quinn@det.nsw.edu.au> wrote:
There is an interesting story about when Carroll Shelby visited the Donald
Healey Motor Company looking for a suitable chassis in which to install a V8
engine. He was shown the rusting remains of the salt record cars, but they
were too far gone to be of use.
He was then sent in the direct of BMC and received a rejection there too.
Then
he called on the Hurlock brothers at Auto Carrier (AC) and the rest is
history.
Just imagine what it would have been like if the AH chassis wasn't rusted
away
or if BMC was more helpful?
Hoo Roo
Patrick Quinn
Sydney, Australia
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