FORD XC Falcon COBRA

[Graeme]

Following on from the conjecture of whether an XA Falcon Hardtop Phase IV was ever built, I wonder if Nick Short and others can confirm the details of the 1978 XC Falcon Cobra ?

I've dug up yet another old magazine article whereby WHEELS tested one of the ( option 97 ? ) thirty "Bathurst" specials, specifically one of the 1978 race support/safety cars bearing glovebox I.D. plate number 027.

The article states that the thirty specials were variously I.D. plated in the early number series, most bearing I.D. numbers between #030 and #060. Visually identifying these thirty from the 370 other "standard" Cobras is achieved by looking for the Scheel brand seats for driver and passenger and the cold air box reverse facing bonnet scoop. The engine bay differed by having twin electric fans mounted forward of a heavy duty radiator, and a twin belt alternator/water pump pulley system. A transmission oil cooler also featured as well as front suspension tower reinforcement plates and tubular supports running back to the firewall. There was also a strengthening brace on the steering idler arm support.

The engine was the factory standard 5.8 V8 bolted to a close ratio four speed manual gearbox, and it would appear that none of the special thirty were fitted with options available on the other Cobras, e.g. power steering, aircon, and power windows.

Pricing at the time in September/October 1978 suggested that a "basic" 4.9 V8 Cobra cost $8705.00 and the "Bathurst special" cost $10,330.00.

[mainforcepatrol]

that cobra info seems to ring a bell; i remembert trying to chase it up a few years ago.

on a side note does anyone recall a 'cobra' f-100 (?) i have seen cobra promo shots in a couple of ford books that feature not only a coupe, but a transit van and f-100 painted up in similar livery. i saw an f-100 today with the cobra paintjob and was curious if these were indeed factory, or just a mock up; i figured one of you boffins may know.

[SWRT]

I have a old magazine called "10 years of the GT" and at the back is an ad to buy the XC Cobra.
I did a post prevoisly called "V8 supercar in pommyland" in regards to a V8 supercar in England.
Has Nick Short seen it yet and because he lives near TWR world HQ has he seen any activity going on there because I bet HSV devolped the "HRT 427" over at TWR world HQ.

[admin]

Graeme is pretty close to what is now known as Option 97 pack Cobra.
The Bathurst versions were actually built sequentially from 002 to 030. Car 001 is actually a 302, built for a Ford execs wife and currently owned by one of our fellow collectors. I have car number 030.
It was first registered in 1982 having been owned by a Ford Dealer principal.
He left it unregistered for 5 years until selling the dealership, when he took it to QLD.
I bought it on the first trip up to DJR and its done 60,000 and registered "BIANTE30".
The other main bits on the car are a control arm on the rear LHS to control the body movement down thru the dipper at Bathurst, 4 wheel disc brakes and no in dash tubing etc going to the fresh air vents in the dash..
The quickest way to tell a real Cobra is the shorter distance between the rear wheel arches in the boot. This is a result of a rework of the back floor pan to allow much wider wheels to be fitted. The bar under the engine bay is square tubing and is commonly referred to as a 'K bar" from its shape.

[Nick Short]

Graeme, I too have read that Wheels test of the Option 97, and I can't work out why they wrote that the Bathurst Specials were numbered 030 to 060. Lazy journalist not checking his facts, I guess! Other than that, it's pretty much spot-on, and admin have confirmed the details.....Nice car, still waiting for the model!

[ferrari fan]

Admin ; you do like your FORD musclecars!
regards
ferrari fan:D

[chocman36]

Ford planed to build 3 XA Phase4 for Bathurst,but the racing governing body change the rules in an attempt to slow the cars down.Only 1 was completed and is now in a private collection.

[Nick Short]

Chocman36, see previous threads; 3 race Phase 4s completed and one road version, plus a possible/probable second one!

[Graeme]

As with my old 5.8 XD, the Cobra body (chassis) and engine numbers are the same, and apparently the three numbers on the Cobra I.D. glovebox badge match the last three numbers of the body/engine number ....helps weed out the fakes !! Even if a car had an engine change, the body stamping and compliance plate should confirm otherwise originality.

I've dug out A.C.Bushby's book, The Australian Ford Falcon Collection (1960-1985), which features a reprint of the Ford Cobra sales brochure. It confirms that the Cobra was available in a choice of eight set "engine/transmission/power" combinations,
all of which revolved around fitment of 4.9 or 5.8 V8's, manual or auto trans, p/steer, aircon, and p/windows.

Using this and another unsubstanciated magazine article, the combinations and build numbers of each went along the following lines:

4.9 manual, no options : 100

4.9 auto, p/steer; and
4.9 auto, p/steer, aircon : 60

4.9 auto, p/steer, aircon, p/windows : 40

5.8 manual, no options (the Bathurst Specials) : 30

5.8 manual, p/steer, aircon : 10

5.8 manual, p/steer, aircon, p/windows : 40

5.8 auto, p/steer, aircon, p/windows : 120


Engine specifications as quoted by Ford:

4.9 4-barrel V8 : 202bhp (151kW) @ 4,600rpm
Maximum torque 268lb/ft (364Nm) @ 3,000rpm.

5.8 4-barrel V8 : 217bhp (162kW) @ 4,500rpm
Maximum torque 317lb/ft (429Nm) @ 2,700rpm.

[Nick Short]

That's spot-on! My Cobra has a shiny plaque on the glovebox with a picture of a snake and the words "Cobra no. 257". All Cobras are referred to by their 3 digit number, which as you say is derived from the last 3 digits of the chassis number, ie JG65UM (body prefix) 00257 (serial number). These are specific to the Cobra only and are handy for spotting tarted-up fakes. Incidentally, 257 started life as one of the 100 "no-frills" 4.9s, but as with many other 4.9 engined cars, the owner fitted a 5.8 and a number of Ford performance parts, but it remained minus aircon, electric windows or power steering.

[Graeme]

The weekends non-event racing at Surfers led me to dig out copies of Unique Cars and Just World Cars and over a lazy afternoon I found thirty odd Cobra sale ads in magazines going back to 1995.

I even found admin Trevor's #030 advertised twice wearing it's non-standard wide Simmons wheels. I also found one car advertised as a 4.9 in 1995 and then as a 5.8 in 2001. I imagine that as with Nick Short's car, many 4.9's were later modified.

It seems that the Cobras were built in an organised fashion, and the ID numbers appear to run as follows. If anybody can confirm or otherwise, please reply on this Forum.

ID 001-030 : 5.8 manual Bathurst specials, no options.

ID 031-040 : 5.8 manual, aircon, p/steer.

ID 041-080 : 5.8 manual, aircon, p/steer, p/windows.

ID 081-200 : 5.8 auto, aircon, p/steer, p/windows.

ID 201-300 : 4.9 manual, no options.

ID 301-360 : 4.9 auto, aircon, p/steer (some without aircon).

ID 361-400 : 4.9 auto, aircon, p/steer, p/windows.

There were only two of the Bathurst specials advertised and both more than once, and the asking prices for these were in the $29,000-$35,000 range.

One 4.9 Cobra in poor condition was advertised at $3,500 with most of the others, both 4.9 and 5.8, around $15,000 to $20,000.

[Mouldy One]

I know the guy who did all the bodywork on Moffats cars . He told me that Moffat had Cobra number 1 & number 2.Ford then produced another 1&2 to sell to the public.

[Graeme]

I don't know to whom the road Cobras were delivered, but I can say that many racing touring cars were built up from a bare shell as they are today.

During the Group C days, you didn't need to buy a genuine Cobra to race one, you just needed to build an XC Hardtop racecar based around the homologated specifications of the Cobra.

Anyone else know whether Ford gave Moff a Cobra road car to get around Melbourne back in the late 70's ??

[jamie harris]

I know that nothing is as good as the real thing but in 1979 i built a ford capri v6 as a wedding present for my wife.I had it painted in exact paint job as cobra with the "genuine" reverse bonnet scoop & all stickers.the car won many car shows and at the time i had a 1970 mustang 351 windsor/shaker and all the good gear
NOW ALL THAT'S LEFT OF ALL THIS GOOD GEAR IS MY WIFE!
JAMIE

[7Litre]

A quote from Andrew Quinn,
The XC Cobra was a pet project of Edsel Ford II, then serving in the Australian Ford operation. The production run included 30 superduper Bathurst specials. The desired result - victory on the mount - was not achieved but the cars became very collectable.

If only the Snake bit the Lion.

Hense the theory don't bore it just "BIG BLOCK" it.

[Nick Short]

Moffat, in an interview with Mark Oastler, said that Ford gave him a 4 door GT (presumably an XB then) to get around in. What he drove after that I don't know, but he said that "I don't recall having a coupe as a personal car". So no Cobra, by the sound of things.
His race Cobras were the 1976 XB cars (which had been facelifted to XC spec for 1977) repainted white with blue stripes. I enquired about the whereabouts of the 1978 cars and was told that no.1 had been repainted to return it to the livery it had as the 1977 winner. Presumably no.2 was as well? Looking at my photos of no.1 in the Bathurst museum several years ago, it seems that it's a different car to the one with the XB rear side repeaters on show now. So where the real no.1 is now I don't know.

In answer to Graeme's query about production sequences of Cobras, I don't know for sure if they were built exactly in that order, other than the Bathurst Special/Option 97 cars. Broadly speaking those with serial numbers below 200 were 5.8s and those above were 4.9s (according to the club, no.351 had a 5.8 factory-fitted, and there was at least one other that didn't fit the "pattern"), but as for equipment levels it may not have been as simple as "Right, let's build exactly 60 of this spec" before moving on to the next spec level. Certainly things might have been thrown out of kilter by the lack of manual gearboxes available due to strike action, so cars may have been built out of sequence a bit, and more autos fitted than originally intended!

[drof]

Herw is a picture which will be of interest to you Nick.

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!