Shelby’s 1st Cobra sells for a record $12.5M

The first Cobra sports car built by Texas racing legend Carroll Shelby sold over the weekend for a record $12.5 million at the RM Sotheby’s Auction in Monterey, Calif.

It was the most ever paid for an American-made car, and proceeds from the sale will go to the Shelby Trust.

Aaron Shelby, the 44-year-old grandson of Shelby and a board member of Shelby International, drove the Miata-sized Cobra across the block at the auction.

Shelby built the car in 1962 after persuading A.C. Cars of Britain to provide him with one of its lightweight sports-car bodies and chassis, to which he added a 260-cubic-inch V-8 from Ford. The Cobra was meant to be a raw, high-performance sports and track car and Shelby — who had retired from racing by then and was trying to start a business — convinced Ford that it could beat rival GM’s Corvette.

Carroll Shelby died in 2012 in Dallas at age 89.