This 1-of-1 Ford Shelby Cobra ‘Daisy’ Concept Is Heading to Auction This Summer

The Cobra was never going to be an easy four-wheeler to follow up, but that didn’t stop Carroll Shelby and Ford from trying. In 2004, the duo unveiled a spiritual successor to the ‘60s muscle car and now you have a chance to own it.

The modernized Cobra, codenamed “Daisy,” was developed as a fully functional prototype but, unfortunately, never made it to production due to the looming Great Recession. As such, there is just one Daisy in existence, and it’s going under the gavel at Mecum’s Monterey auction, running August 12-14.

Ford’s former VP Chris Theodore worked with Shelby and the marque’s then-VP of product design J Mays to see the silver bullet come to fruition. Like the original Cobra, Daisy has a sinuous silhouette with sleek lines and racing stripes that point to her power.

Under the hood, the high-octane ride is fitted with a 6.4-liter V-10 that sends 605 hp to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transaxle. Ford actually tested three other experimental engines before landing on this setup. The transaxle, meanwhile, was actually sourced from the 2005 Ford GT.

That’s not the only thing borrowed from the Blue Oval’s supercar, either. The front and rear suspension plus elements of the all-aluminum space frame chassis came courtesy of the GT. Elsewhere, Daisy sports power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering, Brembo cross-drilled brake rotors and four-piston front calipers, custom seven-spoke BBS billet wheels, and BF Goodrich racing slicks.

Daisy runs like a race-winning Cobra, too. The historic roadster was put through its paces by Shelby, who covered more than 150 miles on the Irwindale Speedway in California. According to the auction house, the racing great was nothing short of impressed with his creation.

“It’s going to be a real ass-kicker,” Shelby, who was then 81 years old, said at the time.

Despite all this, Ford was forced to nix the continuation car on account of economic uncertainty, at which point Daisy was pulled apart and put away. In 2017, Theodore purchased Daisy at a charity auction and took her to the very team that built her to restore her to her former glory.

Since then, the one-off Cobra has attended a myriad of auto shows, been driven by Jay Leno and Ice Cube, and is the star of Theodore’s award-winning book The Last Shelby Cobra, My Times with Carroll Shelby.

Today, Daisy is presented in immaculate condition and ready to be the centerpiece of a collection. There is no pre-auction estimate, but don’t expect this seminal piece of automotive history to come cheap.

Check out more photos below: