No waste of my time; but I see the purist side of ths forum. That unusual cobra emblem was on the earliest cobras, and I think quite rare. A great conversation piece!
The second and third versions of S1CS-B COBRA mascot emblem (approximately 2-9/16" OD) are not that rare. The Shelby parts department carried the second and third versions as accessories and spare parts at least into 1968. The 2-9/16" family of parts was not on the earliest Cobras. The first batches left England with two different AC Cars emblems; same as the Ruddspeed Ford powered ACEs used. The earliest cars were finished in Hugus' shop and got the more or less oval "SHELBY AC COBRA" emblems. The last part number Shelby used for the "SHELBY AC COBRA" parts was S1CS-19523-A. The two AC Cars ACE emblems never had Shelby numbers assigned that I have ever found.
The S1CS-19523-B family of three version was therefore the third design of mascot emblem the earliest Cobra received counting AC Cars versions.
Rarity.
Most of the S1CS-19523-B versions 2 and 3 emblems I have been able to purchase came in a COBRA induction kit and were never used, purchased by a Cobra owner before 1969 and never installed, or were the left overs split up among Cobra parts dealers in California after Shelby closed the west coast business. In relative terms there are quite a few second and third version parts in somebody’s display or parts collection. Cobra owners hunting one or two usually find new old stock ones to buy.
The rarest mascot emblem to get included in COBRA induction kits was the S1CS-19523-C part installed on Cobras CSX2133 and later. Most of the ones we have found for restorations were in pairs in original envelopes that came in induction kit packages that the kit user did not install.
The S1CS-19523-C piece for Cobras was itself replaced by the Ford contracted C3RA-14225-A for 427 Cobras. Large numbers of them went in pairs included in some Cobra kits. Large numbers of them were sold as accessories. Of all the production emblems to get included in COBRA kits of any kind were these last to the party pieces. C3RA-14225-A parts became, in addition to being a 427 production part, the service replacement for all Cobras. In relative terms new old stock and new old replacement stock emblems via Ford are not rare. What is rare are ones made during the production time period that have much better quality in general than any later parts. As the mold wore the part appearance suffered. Later parts often have a variety of casting flaws like areas that did not fill out completely. Very late parts often didn’t have the casting flash completely removed before plating. Very late parts sometimes don’t have every color of background paint completely covering the background. (Said another way, late made parts can have so many small defects you might think they were a poor quality reproduction.)
So, so many of the new old stock production run time frame emblems were have come up with restorations of original Cobras and 427 Cobras were parts from a COBRA kit that didn’t get installed in the 1960s.
See also images posted in Reply #22
http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=19638.15
