We love the original AC Ace bodywork with no flares…Check out the two inches of sheet metal separating top of wheel cutout and rear fender.

Here we go again. Seems this ultra cool 1963 Costilow/Larson “Dragonsnake” Cobra just keeps popping up at auctions and changing hands for HUGE money. It’s going on the block again at Mecum’s Auctions in Houston,Texas on April 10-12th and hopefully it will find a permanent home. 

The back story of the Dragonsnake starts when Carol Shelby cooked up a drag package for the Cobra and resulted in a rare performance option that put the stink on arch rival Vettes and other big Kahuna hi-po cars of the day.

Quartet of Weber carbs on 289 FoMoCo small block.

This restored example, S/N CSX 2093, is just one of 8 Dragonsnakes produced and only the 93^rd Cobra manufactured. The Dragonsnake package included the 289 V-8 with Weber-carbs, side mount headers, Koni coil-overs, 4-speed transmission, removable hardtop and eye-popping Jolly Rancher Watermelon metal flake paint. We especially like the rare Cobra Sunburst mags with slicks coupled with skinny wires up front and the pure, original Ace body with no flares.  The rear wheel cutouts are so massive, it looks like the rear fenders might buckle if you slammed the trunk too hard.

The package added almost $9K to the price of a Cobra but mopped the floor with the competition when it was unleashed. At only 2130 lbs it was roughly 1000 lbs lighter than C2’s of the day. In fact, this Dragonsnake competed in multiple classes and literally smoked ‘em all, winning 7 NHRA National events with Bruce Larson or Ed Hedrick driving.

So whats with the musical chairs of new owners? Well, it looks like someone took a licking and sold this car short in 2011. Someone had previously bought this car for $1.4M and resold it for a comparatively paltry $875K. Maybe the “Great Recession” created this fire sale. Whatever the reason, ouch.

Will it return to it’s previously attained, seven figure zenith? Tune into Mecum Auctions in April ’14 to find out.