Ford Dropping the 'Cobra' Name

[MRaburn]

http://www.planetmustang.com/general_news/ford_drops_the_cobra_name_000485.html

Jump in and sound off.

 

[srothfuss]

I am sad to see them drop the name... But I wasn't planning on buying a "Shelby" mustang anyways. Hopefully the SVT group starts doing more with the mustang than just the "Shelby" brand.

Maybe the Marketing people @ Ford thought they could save the Cobra name for a S/C 4.6 with an IRS setup...?

 

[celticstanger]

I think the original name (Ford Mustang SVT Shelby Cobra GT500, or whatever it was!) was too much of mouthful. Something had to go, and given Shelby's involvement, it was never going to be his name.

Still has the snake badging, so it's all good. Plus, the first thing your neighbor's gonna ask when you pull that baby up is "That the new Cobra?", to which you answer "Yup."

 

[Dyoct]

Yup, old news.

 

[Roni]

Some day they will have a Retro looking New Cobra

 

[Alec]

First that ricer looking "Shelby" V6 now this! I'm starting to think the marketing dept. is banking a little too much on the Shelby moniker. How many non car people even know who he is?
Plus Shelby sounds like some kinda donkey cart. "whoa now Shelby, you're going a little too fast now girl."

What happend to Ford Motorsport, SVO, SVT? Now it's ford racing. lame.
But whatever

 

[crewwolfy]

Yup, old news.

LOL Wow...insightful. I love the condescending manner in which you roll your eyes at someone posting pertinent information. Or the way you imply you're a genius in that you knew about this long before anyone else.

I, however, have a life, and do not have the time to surf the web 24/7. I'm sorry to hear the Cobra name being retired. Still, while the name may be going, looks as though the performance will keep coming.

 

[DaNd4Speed]

Didn't Ford make a concept based on the 2 seater AC Cobra? Perhaps they will be reserving the Cobra name for a production version of that.

 

[crewwolfy]

Possible, but IMO the last thing Amercan carmakers need at this point is a two-seater sports car. Building econoboxes and whatnot that people actually want to buy would be a nice start in getting the profits needed for performance machines like that. The Vette, Viper and GT are beautiful, and I'm glad they're here. But we don't need more right now. Again, IMO.

 

[celticstanger]

First that ricer looking "Shelby" V6 now this! I'm starting to think the marketing dept. is banking a little too much on the Shelby moniker. How many non car people even know who he is?
Plus Shelby sounds like some kinda donkey cart. "whoa now Shelby, you're going a little too fast now girl."

What happend to Ford Motorsport, SVO, SVT? Now it's ford racing. lame.
But whatever

Jeez, you're a hater.

Never realised the "Motorsport" to "Racing" change. Either one sounds good, though, no?

I think it more likely that more "non-car people" have heard of Shelby than Cobra (only cos of the movies, granted). I work with a guy (black 'n' blue steak eating dude) who'd never heard of the Cobra and thought it was a one-year run SE vehicle. This, however, is probably moot, since that subset of society will be equally vacant-eyed whether you say "it's a Cobra" or "it's a Shelby" at them.

 

[Tmack]

The only original Shelby Cobra was the two seat roadster. The mustangs, even though they had snake emblems were only called GT350 or GT500. The general public called them Cobras because of the snake emblems, but Ford and Shelby never did.

 

[351CJ]

The original 1965, 1966 & 1967 GT-350s & GT-500s were made by Shelby in California from partially assembled Mustangs they got from Ford. The business model was almost identical to what Saleen is doing today.

The 1968, 1969 & 1970 "Shelby" GT-350 & GT-500 Mustangs were assembled in Ionia, MI, by the A.O. Smith Company.

As far as the name go, here is what they really were called.

1965- Mustang GT-350
1966 - Shelby GT-350
1967 - Shelby GT-350 & Shelby GT-500
1968 - Shelby Cobra GT-350 & Shelby Cobra GT-500
1969 - Shelby GT-350 & Shelby GT-500
Ford now owned the Cobra name. Some 1969s had the word Cobra on the steering wheel, but so did Cobra-Jet Torinos. It probably was a function of sharing parts.
1970 - Shelby GT-350 & Shelby GT-500

 

[tom281]

I'm sad to see the Cobra nameplate go. One positive thing about it though, is that I could see the Shelby name somehow bringing back recognition to the original cars. Hopefully the new cars do justice to the old ones. Since they're going to go with Shelby, they had better all kicka$$.