Well, not quite. The real Le Mans veteran Coupes are worth about $5 million a pop. The Superformance Coupe I drove is a replica intended for street use. As such, it’s bigger. The length has grown from 163 inches to 175. Width is wider (67 inches vs. 73) and the wheelbase is up 3 inches from 90 to 93. But Superformance claims that the increases are proportional and match GT40 and 427 Cobra chassis designer Bob Negstad’s original intent for the Coupe’s wheelbase — i.e. 93 inches. The new car’s heavier, too. The racing version weighed just 2,300 pounds. The Superformance Coupe? 2,900-3,000 lbs., depending on the engine you pick.

Before any of you start scoffing let me state a few facts. Peter Brock had a hand in designing this Superformance Coupe (remember Brock Coupe?) and the aerodynamics have been improved. Moreover, instead of the 289 cid motor making 380 hp and 283 lb-ft Bob Bondurant and Dan Gurney had to work with in the 1964 Coupes, the blue monster I drove has a Roush 427 SR that delivers 566 hp and 563 torques. As you may imagine, performance is (way) up. The Superformance Coupe also happens to be a fairly comfortable place to sit (save your left arm which rides on the door) and the AC blows so cold I had to shut it off. There’s even space under the back glass for luggage.

Oh — you probably want to know what it’s like to drive. Intoxicating. The throttle is a bottomless well of delight. I like turbocharged motors. I drive one. Modern engines are marvels of technology. But nothing — and I mean nothing — makes your eyes water and your pulse pound like a fat American V8 being fed fuel via a charitable carburetor. At idle the tweaked 427 rumbles and hums and burbles. It’s a study in tension, like a lion purring. Dip your right foot and the Coupe motors about like any sports car (let’s say Corvette) you’ve ever driven. But get your leg into that joy buzzer of a pedal and the whoosh of audible violence is only drowned out by the torque. In fact, there’s so much twisting force on tap that I never reached the bottom of the floor-hinged pedal. You’ve been warned: study up on your countersteering technique. There are no aids of any type to guide you — just your hands and feet.

I don’t want to give you the impression that the Superformance Daytona Coupe handles poorly. Quite the contrary. The Coupe’s not even a handful. But remember — the puppy weighs less than a Z06 yet is more powerful. I just want to let everyone know that you can get in trouble real fast like. Mash the gas from a standstill and with little more than a wiggle of its majestic hips the Daytona rockets to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. That’s as fast (or faster) as modern rockstars like the ZR1 and F430 Scuderia. The Coupe feels faster than those numbers suggest. Or at least sounds faster. The quarter-mile gets dusted in 11.8 at 122.4 mph and given the proper stretch of road, you’ll hit 204 mph, eight miles per hour more than the Le Mans winning coupes could go in 1964. The car can also pull 1.07g on the skid pad and skip through the slalom at 76.6 mph. For comparison’s sake, an Enzo can pull 1.05g and dance the cones at about 73 mph.

As impressive as the numbers are, the Coupe is a teddy bear to live with. After just a mile or so I felt totally comfortable in the driver’s seat. The Daytona Coupe represents everything great about American cars — brash style, V8 glory, monster soundtrack, cheap (relatively) performance — only taken to the next, bonkers level. What’s not to love about GT manners with supercar skills? I kept catching myself thinking, “Road trip!” before dropping le hammer and maniacaly laughing. And the catch is… there isn’t one. You’d expect that sort of bare knuckles handing to come with a diamond hard ride. That’s simply not the case. The unequal length A-arms, coil springs and tube dampers ride firm but comfy. We hit some messed up tarmac at about 80 mph on the freeway and it was one bump and done. Gripes? The windows don’t roll all the way down, the side mirrors are useless and the side pipes might eventually deafen you. Yeah, and? Exactly.

Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Pages: 1 2 3