1964 USRRC COBRA ROADSTER CSX2431

Details & History

Horsepower: 385 hp
Displacement: 8-cylinder, 289 ci (4.7 L)
Wheelbase: 90”

Talented mechanic and standout driver Ken Miles was born in Britain. He raced motorcycles and cars in his home country, but is best known for his career with American racing teams – in 1953, he won 14 straight SCCA victories shortly after he moved to the U.S. Commonly known as the “Ken Miles Car,” the CSX 2431 was raced almost exclusively by Miles. Going into the 1965 season with Team Shelby, he carried out constant testing and modifications on “his” car, including special springs with fewer leaves and less arch (so the car sat about an inch lower than regular racing Cobras), and Heim-jointed front and rear anti-sway bars. This talented engineer and driver was deeply involved in not only the racing, but also in the important testing and development that went on behind the scenes, and which cost him his life in 1966.

During 1964 and 1965, CSX2431 served as Ken Miles’s personal race Cobra. One of six similar cars designed specifically to win SCCA’s U.S. Road Racing Championship professional series, it had wider Halibrand wheels, bigger fender flares, a short, rounded windshield, and cutback doors to match the rear flares. Adjustable front and rear anti-sway bars were also fitted. Improvements to the usual Girling aluminum brakes included vented rotors and Aeroquip stainless steel lines. A fuel tank switch (off-reserve-main) was mounted in the floor just in front of the driver’s seat. The big Smiths “tell-tale” tachometer rotated so it was easy to read at high rpm. The car’s original paint was a unique silver-blue, and the usual upright windshield was removed in favor of an Indy roadster-style shield, significantly reducing drag. To avoid fuel spills onto the driver, the filler cap was moved to the right side of the rear cowl. A pair of huge outside exhaust pipes helped keep the floor reasonably cool. To prevent differential overheating, an electric pump moved lubricant through a rear-mounted cooler. The final Weber carburetor manifold design also evolved on this car. All manner of modifications were tested on CSX2431 during 1964 and 1965, even while the car was being raced. In that sense, this car could be considered the ultimate example of a period competition Cobra, and the modifications influenced all Cobras that followed.

Until CSX2431 was ready, he used other cars to win four early 1964  USRRC events. By September, Miles had proved the new car’s worth. He’d driven CSX2431 in five USRRC events.

In the Manufacturers Championship race at Watkins Glen, he and the roadster led a five-Cobra sweep of the field, though the transmission case cracked near the end of the Drivers Championship race, relegating him to fifth. At the new Greenwood, Iowa, track, Miles had major brake problems and was hit by two other cars, yet finished fourth overall and first among the GT cars. At Meadowdale, Ill., averaging 91 mph, CSX2431 and Miles took another first, only 0.2-seconds ahead of Bob Johnson.

Miles often ran this “production” Cobra against purebred sports-racers. Mid-Ohio brought an excellent fourth in the Drivers Championship event behind two Chaparrals and a Cooper-Chevrolet; in the Manufacturers race, Miles and Bob Johnson swapped the lead, Johnson winning by a second. At Road America, CSX2431 was shared by Miles and Ronnie Bucknum; slowed by a problem, Bucknum finished the 500 miles 4th in GT and 28th overall among a field of pure race cars. Miles, who switched to the John Morton/Skip Scott Cobra late in the race, blew off Roger Penske’s Corvette Grand Sport to finish 2nd overall, beaten only by Augie Pabst and Walt Hansgen in a Ferrari 250LM.

Earning three class wins plus a second and a fourth, CSX2431 thus helped Miles to wrap up the 1964 USRRC championship. That goal accomplished, the pair went east for the Bridgehampton Double 500, Shelby American’s last chance to win the 1964 FIA Manufacturers Championship. As the fastest of the six team cars, CSX2431 led a Cobra sweep of the first six GT class positions, finishing fourth overall. Unfortunately, since the GT class had been canceled at Monza due to Ferrari’s political games, the team just missed the title. For its last 1964 race, CSX2431 returned to the West Coast to run in the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside where the car suffered its only DNF, due to a wheel departing the car in Turn 6.

During 1965, CSX2431 evidently raced only three times, all in USRRC events. At Pensacola, despite a loose ignition wire and an overheating differential, Bob Johnson drove it to a second in class behind Tom Payne. Because the 427 “Cobra II” was not yet homologated, Miles returned to the cockpit of CSX2431 in May for the Riverside USRRC event; despite spinning twice in the early laps, he won at a record average speed of 93.6 mph. A week later, Miles led the entire 100-mile Laguna Seca event, as he and second place Ed Leslie put a lap on the rest of the field. A fitting end to the car’s career, this was Miles’s last race in a 289 Cobra.

In December of 1965, a month after Shelby American had shown it at the San Francisco Auto Show, the car was repainted in a dull black, set off by white stripes, for MGM’s use in the Elvis Presley movie Spinout. The car served in only a minor background role; a white 427 was the star’s race car. In March 1966, CSX2431 was bought for $4,000 by racer Eric Hauser, who had made his name driving Max Balchowsky’s famous Ol’ Yaller No. 1. He had the car shipped by Shelby American to England, where it was painted in an egregious combination of candy purple metallic with yellow trim, then raced during that season. In early 1967, William Chapman, an American serviceman who also worked for Goodyear, bought the car from Hauser then sold it to a Greek in Athens. While there, it passed to young John Liveris, a student at Tufts University near Boston, and by 1974 it was back in the U.S., street licensed in Massachusetts. After a series of other owners and incomplete attempts at restoration, CSX2431 was acquired in 1992 by Colorado resident Tom Benjamin and sympathetically returned to its 1964-1965 form by Bill Murray. In memory of Ken Miles, they added British Racing Drivers Club logos on the doors, just as Miles himself had proudly done back in 1964.

The car ended its career carrying Carroll Shelby’s favorite number, “98,” and with a distinctive Guardsman Blue paint job. In 1997, current owners Tom and Karen Benjamin were invited to bring the iconic Ken Miles #98 to participate in the prestigious Goodwood Vintage Races in England. Tom also drove the car that same year to an impressive 3rd Place finish at the Monterey Historic Races, where this most significant Cobra was also honored by an invitation to be displayed in the rarified air of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Text excerpted from “Shelby Cars in Detail, Cars of the Shelby American Collection” by Frank Barrett with photography by Boyd Jaynes.

Images by Boyd Jaynes, Dave Friedman and the Shelby American Collection.

Race History

1964 Race Season

TRACK: Watkins Glen USRRC-GT

PLACE: 1st

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Watkins Glen GP

PLACE: 5th

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Greenwood USRRC

PLACE: 4th

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Meadowdale USRRC

PLACE: 5th

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Meadowdale USRRC-GT

PLACE: 1st

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Mid-Ohio USRRC-GT

PLACE: 2nd

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Road America 500 Mile

PLACE: 28th

DRIVER: Miles/Bucknum

TRACK: Bridgehampton 500 Km

PLACE: 4th

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Riverside 200 Mile

PLACE: DNF

DRIVER: Ken Miles

1965 Race Season

TRACK: Pensacola USRRC

PLACE: 13th

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Riverside USRRC-GT

PLACE: 1st

DRIVER: Ken Miles

TRACK: Laguna Seca USRRC-GT

PLACE: 1st

DRIVER: Ken Miles