Best car movie ever? The shortlist has to include the likes of Bullitt, The Italian Job, Ronin, Vanishing Point, Grand Prix, and Gone in 60 Seconds. The jury’s still out on Smokey and the Bandit. Lovers of American automotive muscle would no doubt also nominate that quirky 1976 comedy The Gumball Rally, simply for its action hero, a thundering Shelby Cobra 427. The shots of it locking horns with a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider along the Los Angeles River storm canal are still cinematic magic.
The film follows the madcap antics of a group of sports-car fans racing coast-to-coast from New York to California. Now, almost 50 years to the day from the film’s release, that iconic Shelby Cobra 427, chassis No. CSX3243, is crossing the online auction block. It’s currently on the Bring a Trailer website, with biding coming to a close on August 26. It’s being offered by Illinois-based Blackdog Performance Cars, which has owned the vehicle since 2018.
The 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 that appeared in The Gumball Rally movie of 1976.
Bring a Trailer
“It is, without doubt, the most-seen Cobra ever, and the most influential. So many people remember this car from their youth with so much affection and passion,” Chris Davis, manager at Blackdog Performance, tells Robb Report. “It’s been in our collection for the past eight years, we’ve had a blast with it, we’ve enjoyed bringing it back to its Gumball Rally original spec. But with this being the 50th anniversary of the movie, it seems a good time for someone else to enjoy it,” he adds.
