This Cobra 289FIA Replica Looks Absolutely Stunning

TopSpeed

By Sidd Dhimaan

Published May 14, 2021

The Cobra Replica was once owned by Yankees Legend, Reggie Jackson, and is now up for sale

The Cobra 289 FIA has a rich track history. This 1960s model dominated tracks throughout the decade, taking down Jaguars, Corvettes, Aston Martins, and Ferraris. While the real deal is tough to get these days, you can get yourself a replica produced by Connecticut-based ERA Replica Automobiles. The car was reportedly acquired by Yankees legend, Reggie Jackson in 2012.

The ERA Cobra 289 FIA recently came up for auction on Bring-a-Trailer, and it can be yours if you act fast.

The Cobra Replica Looks Stunning In This Shade

It looks like this car is finished in a black exterior shade, but it is actually dark blue; an ode to the Yankee Blue. Shelby sells the car in fiberglass and aluminum bodies. This replica by ERA is composed of fiberglass. It features red double stripes on the fender and number meatballs on the nose, trunk lid, and sides.

Apart from this, it features a hood scoop, a black driver’s roll bar, quick-jack bumperettes, front-mounted brake cooling ducts, and wing mirrors. The car has a ceramic coating to protect the paintwork. The nose, rear deck, rocker panels, and door tops, however, have a clear film pasted on them.

The car rides on FIA-style 15-inch wheels wrapped in Avon tires that were installed under current ownership. It comes with disc brakes on all four corners. The fully independent suspension setup features two adjustable coilovers up front and four at the rear. It isn’t exactly in mint condition and has several chips in the fender flares and on the driver’s door.

It Is Retro and Bareboned On The Inside

The current owner even swapped the bare aluminum panels and racing seats with black leather-upholstered bucket seats and a matching carpet kit. This rework was also done at ERA. The racing seats are included in the sale, in case you’d like to swap back and retain the sporty feel.

Behind the wood-rimmed steering wheel is a Stewart Warner instrument cluster that includes gauges for coolant, oil temperature, amperage, and fuel level. A 160-mph speedometer and a tachometer are also present. There’s not much in terms of features here, but the car comes with a dash-mounted rearview mirror, a passenger grab handle, door pockets, and latch-and-link lap belts for both occupants.

What Powers This Cobra Replica?

The 289FIA Cobra replica is powered by a 351ci Ford Windsor V-8 engine. This 5.8-liter engine was introduced in 1969 and was quite popular in the erstwhile Ford products.

The engine was sourced from BluePrint Engines of Kearney, Nebraska, and features silver ceramic-coated R-Modelvalve covers, and an air cleaner cover with a 289 decal. The current owner has reportedly included ceramic-coated headers from ERA. A custom 304 stainless-steel exhaust system with twin Volant mufflers was also installed with tailpipes mounted in front of the rear wheels.

It used to be paired to a Toploader four-speed manual gearbox initially, but the seller swapped it with a Tremec TKO five-speed manual transmission with a Centerforce clutch. The old gearbox, along with the clutch and flywheel, is also included in the sale.

Is There An Alternative To This Replica?

In case you’re at something similar from Shelby directly, the company sells the 289 FIA Cobra CSX-Series 7000 models. They come with the original 1964 body and chassis, as well as 15-inch wheels. You can have either the fiberglass body or the aluminum shell. They are priced exorbitantly high at $95,995 and $180,995 respectively. And, this DOES NOT include the price of the engine or the transmission!