Carroll Shelby’s 289 Cobras in both roadster and coupe form dominated the competition like few cars before them, resulting in the World Manufacturer’s Championship for GT cars in 1965. By then, the 2,300-pound roadster, and the only slightly heavier but more aerodynamic coupe, had both reached the limits of their potential. As early as November 1963, when a pack of Corvette Grand Sport racers trounced the factory racing Cobras at the Nassau Speed Week races, Shelby and his ace driver Ken Miles began thinking about the next generation of Cobras. The answer, after prolonged development, was the 427 Cobra. Without question one of the fiercest, yet most beautiful, four-wheeled conveyances ever conceived, the 427 perfectly embodied the Shelby/Miles Bigger Hammer approach to performance, and it remains the quintessential American muscle machine, one once lovingly described as “a Ruebens nude with a big engine.” Previously part of the highly respected Otis Chandler Collection, this arresting 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra, CSX3281, was billed to Don Seelye Ford Inc. of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in September 1966. Records show Seelye received a shipping rebate of $285, suggesting it arrived at Seelye by truck. With a final invoice price of $6,730.69, it arrived equipped with the 428 CI Police Interceptor big-block V-8 and finished in green metallic acrylic lacquer with a black interior. The first known owner, Timothy H. Parker of Houston, Texas, sold the car to fellow Houstonian Donald Mansker in the early 1970s. In 1976, Mansker traded the car for CSX2174 and cash to Rick Reese, an employee of Cobra Performance in Sacramento, California. Reese then modified CSX3281, replacing the original 428 with a 427, installing a full roll cage and rectangular tail lights in place of the original twin round lights, and enlarging the rear fender flares to accommodate wider Jongbloed wheels. Reese also repainted the car red, installed a hood scoop, an S/C dash layout and side exhaust. Reese advertised the car for sale in the December 1977 Shelby American, noting an “8-month restoration.” He eventually traded the Cobra back to Mansker in exchange for his 289 car, and in September 1979, Mansker once again advertised the 427 for sale. Oklahomans Don Blenderman and Larry Wheeler closed a deal on CSX3281, before advertising it once again, citing the Reese S/C upgrades and a 43-gallon fuel tank. Its next owner, Sloan Kritser of Dallas, Texas, commissioned renowned Cobra and GT40 expert Bill Murray of Longmont, Colorado, for a full restoration. Repainted in black, the Cobra retained the larger rear flares and received a correct S/C roll bar in place of the roll cage; chromed side pipes and quick jacks, 7.5-inch and 9.5-inch Halibrands and a competition fuel filler cap were also added. Murray completed the restoration in 1984, but when Kritser never returned for the car, Murray offered it for sale in May 1986 priced at $95,000 and sold it to J. Catron Jr. of Colorado. In the fall of 1987 famed collector Otis Chandler of Oxnard, California, purchased CSX3281, eventually maintaining it in his collection for nearly 20 years, during which time it was photographed for the cover of the 1990 Fall/Winter Classic Motorbooks Catalogue, Randy Leffingwell’s book “American Muscle,” and the 1993 Cars & Parts Collector Car Annual. After a number of subsequent owners, Motorcars International in Illinois purchased the Cobra and began a comprehensive and exacting restoration with careful attention paid to returning CSX3281 back to the original factory specifications, including the correct green paint, a black interior and Sunburst knock-off wheels. Completed to concours condition and with only test miles since its completion, this sensational 1967 Shelby Cobra is fully documented with photos and receipts, and it’s ready to thrill its new owner with the presence and performance found only in one of Carroll Shelby’s ultimate creations.