The 1967 Shelby Cobra from The Gumball Rally is for sale
The 1967 Shelby Cobra that starred in the 1976 comedy The Gumball Rally is up for auction on Bring a Trailer, with bidding closing August 26. Chassis CSX3243 currently carries a high bid of $1 million and is offered by Illinois dealer Blackdog Performance Cars.
Key Takeaways
- Chassis CSX3243, a street-spec Mark III Shelby Cobra 427 from The Gumball Rally, is live on Bring a Trailer through August 26.
- The roadster's high bid sits at $1 million as of reporting from Robb Report.
- Warner Bros. leased the car in 1975; it later sat in storage for more than 30 years before a film-spec restoration.
- After a multi-year refresh completed in 2023, it spent two years at the Petersen Automotive Museum's Cars of Film & Television exhibit.
- Odometer reading is about 21,000 miles, with roughly 1,000 added during eight years at Blackdog.
Why is the 1967 Shelby Cobra crossing the block now?
Almost 50 years after The Gumball Rally hit theaters, Blackdog Performance Cars is selling the car it has owned since 2018. Manager Chris Davis told Robb Report the team enjoyed returning it to Gumball Rally original specification, but the film's 50th anniversary feels like the right moment for a new steward.
The listing is an online Bring a Trailer sale ending August 26. For collectors who also follow trophy homes and other big-ticket lifestyle buys, BlasterPost's Luxury Real Estate & Dream Homes hub covers the same rarefied market.
What role did this Cobra play in The Gumball Rally?
Built in 1967, the car is one of about 260 street-spec Mark III Shelby Cobras. It was delivered through Los Angeles dealer Hi-Performance Motors. By the mid-1970s, collector Les Lindley owned it when Warner Bros. asked to lease the roadster for the coast-to-coast racing comedy.
For filming, the Cobra was repainted dark blue from its original red, fitted with French Cibie fog lamps—Cibie sponsored the film—and a CB radio with a tall rear antenna. The original hand-typed Warner Bros. lease, included with the auction lot, lists a $375 weekly rate and $1,000 to repaint the car after production.
Studio insurance reportedly covered nose damage when actor Michael Sarrazin, as driver Michael Bannon, hit a concrete bridge support in the Los Angeles River canal. After shooting, the nose was repaired and the car returned in a lighter blue rather than original red. Lindley then stored it for over 30 years.
How was the movie car restored and authenticated?
Amateur racer Greg Johnson bought the Cobra in 2010 and commissioned a mechanical refurbishment with California specialist Mike McCluskey, preserving and replacing the original 427 ci Ford FE side-oiler V-8 with a rebuilt unit. Johnson raced it at the 2011 Coronado Speed Festival and the 2012 Monterey Historics before selling it in 2018 to Tony Gaples of Blackdog Performance Cars.
Gaples spent more than two years with San Diego's David Nutley Automotive returning the car to its post-filming look: lighter metallic blue paint, rectangular Cibie fog lights, the rear CB whip antenna, chrome bumperettes, staggered 15-inch Hallibrand-style alloys with Goodyear Blue Streak tires, and a new side exhaust. The roll-over hoop was removed and rear chrome nudge bars added. A glovebox door signed by racer and film stunt driver John Morton was left untouched.
Davis calls it "the most-seen Cobra ever," and says value will be whatever a buyer will pay on Bring a Trailer for an authenticated 427 movie icon.