OK, while most of you couldn’t even afford to buy your mistresses Xmas gifts this year, some guy just paid $4,350,000 for two Shelby Cobras. Meaning that obviously these Cobras are race pedigreed, Bob Bondurant piloted Sebring winners, right? Um… no! The first and much more expensive car is CSX 3021 (pictured above), thought to be the first 427 SC Cobra built. While I agree that the gold paint (that’s how it came) adds at least $100,000, the $3,780,000 some guy paid feels high. Especially considering that you could get one of the OG Daytona Coupes for that money. Or your own 3-dozen large Cobra fleet from Superformance. But, owning the ur 427 SC is pretty damn neat. And if you can afford — hey, why not? The other car sold was CSX 2311 which went for $572,400. There’s nothing particularly historic about this car save for its options (painted wire wheels, dual carbs, a Cobra radio). The lesson to take away is that Cobras are ludicrously expensive. And while having gold and green Cobras would be fairly fantastic, numbers like those make my head hurt. Full details after the jump. [Source: Cars That Matter]

The first weekend of the New Year saw a reported world record price for a    427 SC Cobra at auction plus a “no surprise” price on a well turned out 289. The 427 SC Cobra, CSX 3021, was offered to the sale as the first 427 SC Cobra built and sold for a reported $3,780,000 at auction in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 3rd.This is said to be a world-record price for an open Cobra without race history, and, when verified, will fill the record book on many scores.             CSX-3021�
�
The gold-colored 427 SC, one of only two built in that color, was also featured on the Cobra Caravan, a Shelby roadshow when the car was new. Said to be a one owner car with just 3,800 miles, it was presented at auction late in the sale on Saturday evening where it sold to a buyer in attendance at the event, held in the War Memorial Auditorium. The same bidder also reportedly bought CSX 2311 for $572,400. This dark green 289 featured some unusual options including dual carbs, painted and not chromed wire wheels and an original Cobra radio. Phone calls and an email sent to the auction sponsor and the auction company, Hollywood Wheels Auctions and Shows, have not been returned at this time.�
                                                                                                                            CSX-2311�
Pass the Crystal Ball polish, or What Will the 2009 Collector Car Market Look Like?
There’s been more talk on the state of the collector car market than at any time since 1991-everything from talk of “the bubble bursting” to a general statement that “the market is down one-third across the board.”  Much of the latter appears to be a bit self-serving with some interested parties proclaiming that prices are down drastically everywhere but within their inventory.The correction in the muscle car market is old news. For serial production muscle cars (1,000 or more made) a rollback to perhaps late 2004 prices has taken place.  For rarer non-Mopar muscle cars, some value has actually been lost — but not as much as some pundits would have you believe. �
In other sectors of the market, condition has been the prime divider between cars that have lost value and cars that have maintained value. Simply stated, “no stories” cars-excellent original cars and quality restored cars have largely maintained their values. Compromised cars have lost value. The gap between the best and the rest has widened considerably.

What this means now is that there are opportunities for the astute that have not existed for some time.  For those with the means and the capability to spot diamonds in the rough, there are basically sound, honest cars out there that are attractively priced and can be taken up a notch with a heavy detail or some interior work.  The hold time may be longer than in years past, but there will likely be a nice return on cars bought this way.

At their peak 2006 values, cars like the Ferrari Daytona Spider and Corvette 427/435 convertibles had not even reached their 1991 values when adjusted for inflation. Many of the other cars Road & Track listed have either yet to regain their 1991 values or have just barely reached them. Under those circumstances, it’s hard to say that today’s market is drastically overvalued.   In any case, 2009 is shaping up to be perhaps one of the most interesting years in car collecting since the beginning of the hobby.