A 427 Cobra that is shown with all its barn find patina…
by Wallace Wyss –
I am currently developing some clothing that consists of weathered looking, i.e., “distressed” jackets.
Maybe the best customer will be a guy with a “distressed” looking car.
And for that I nominate Anthony Boosalis, who lives in an LA suburb.
He lives not far from world renowned collector Lynn Park and it was no doubt Park who planted the seed in Anthony’s mind that Cobras, real ones are outperforming the Dow Jones.
So that’s why he bought this one, which he dickered on for some time. He was lucky in a way that it was in distressed condition with paint flaking off. Now in the old days, you’d take it straight to a restoration shop but Anthony loves driving it around all flaky. Why? Because it won’t be mistaken for one of the million fiberglass bodied replicas.
The car is documented in the World Registry of Cobras and Ford GT40s, Fourth Edition, as being CSX3047 one of roughly 30 S/C (for Semi-Competition) models. The S/C came about when Shelby was preparing 100 Comp Cobras but then the FIA inspector showed up to see if the required 100 had been made and after counting, said Shelby was a wee bit short of 100, in fact far too short, so it would have to run not as a GT car but a Comp car. In which case it would lose, big time.
But then a Shelby salesman came up with the idea of putting some street equipment back on and calling it the S/C for Semi-Competition.
The work order Anthony has showed it went to Larsen Ford of White Plains, New York, in May of 1966 painted a special color, Hertz Gold, which had been a color Ford was using for promotional advertising purposes. The car was pricey at the time, $7,395 maybe twice the price of an E-type Jag.
The car’s first owner bought it in September 1966, the car was sold to its first owner in Hudson, New York and drove the beejeesuz out of it, so when it came back for warranty work, it needed a pushrod a lifter and the heads redone.
Not much is known about the second owner but the third owner lived in Canada where in the winter of 1970 he advertised it, and it was bought only to be resold to Dick Reventlow (Count Lance Reventlow’s half-brother), who toyed with it for a few months before taking it back to the owner and getting his money back.
Under that man’s second time around ownership, he painted it Guardsman Blue over Hertz Gold. Oddly he rented it out to wanna-be racers at Lime Rock for $200 a day but hey had to put a $10,000 deposit down, which discouraged show offs. One of the customers was an actor, Paul Newman.
The car went through a lot of owners but by 2001 began to look tacky. The blue paint was flaking off, showing the gold.
In 2005, an owner named Don Silawsky started restoring it, which meant take the blue paint off, but then stopped. That’s when Anthony bought it. This was just before people started showing “as found” collector cars, and before the “distressed jacket” trend began.
And he loves showing the car as he bought it. It runs fine, he drives it to most Los Angeles events.
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I think this car goes perfect with the weathered “distressed” jackets I am endeavoring to promote my art. But you kinda wonder if more car owners follow Anthony’s lead, will Pebble Beach in the year 2025 have rows and rows of cars that are having the paint flake off?
But the car has a lot to say for itself AS IS. It went through five decades without a crash. It came with its original soft top, tonneau cover, side curtains, seat belts, period-correct (if not original) magnesium knock-off wheels, and, according to serial number data, the engine, which is a miracle in itself as many race cars have the engines changed during a race as there is no time to rebuild one in the pits if the engine it came with is not running right.
He has no plans to sell it but I am sure with its pedigree now established, it is one of the last “unrestored” ones around, and is very valuable. So gentlemen, start your checkbook writing at a million on up, if it reaches an auction.
I saw Anthony just last week at a Shelby show at the Petersen Museum, and volunteered “Hey, Anthony, I’ll make a painting if you paint it,” and he said “That’s not going to happen for at least 50 years.”
Hey, Anthony, we should both live so long…
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
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Wallace Wyss
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is a fine artist who normally depicts Ferraris but admits he has succumbed to the Cobra’s lure by making many Cobra portraits in conjunction with this three books on Shelby. A list of prints can be obtained by writing mendoart7@gmail.com.
That car needs some flames painted on the sides…THEN it will sell.
Wallace, It’s all me. Read the registry. I am listed as DE-Painting the car. A-First. Everyone tried to talk me out of stripping it. They all said RESTORE. I said no. I stuck to my guns. This was a financial deal. I had a lien on the car. I sold it to Anthony. I told him if he was going to restore it, he couldn’t buy it. IT IS THE ONLY 427 S/C THAT HAS NOT BEEN RESTORED. I did the motor, trans. suspension and everything necessary for the car to run the high banks of Daytona looking like the War Horse it is. And, YES, they are only Original Once.
Congrats on being ahead of the trend. We need a few of every great car that’s got a connection to the Way They Came or else we have nothing to refer to, But I think the tough part for a married guy is convincing his wife to ride around it it. Now if it’s a girlfriend she just wants him to sell it so she can help spend the money.
Funny you say that. When I showed a 5″x&7″ of my first 427 Cobra to a client, he turned it over to the back. Puzzled as to why he was looking at the black side, I asked; ‘What are you looking for”? He said; :The Divorce Agreement” .
Still married 27 years later…