The Shelby Cobra is one of the most iconic and sought-after American muscle cars. Despite it being based on the British AC Ace, the Cobra became its own thing thanks to American racing driver and car builder, Carroll Shelby. While every car enthusiast wants a piece of this American automotive history, not everyone can afford the seven-figure price of an original Cobra. Because of this, the Cobra is the most replicated car in the world. But just how close can a replica get to the original? Hagerty gives the answer in an episode of the Appraiserwhere a top-of-the-line continuation car is being featured, in order to determine its market value.

Between 1961 and 1968, a total of 998 examples of the original Shelby Cobra were assembled. These include 655 units of the 289 cubic-inch, leaf-spring Cobra and 343 units of the coil-sprung, 427 cubic-inch Cobra, and their various derivatives. Some of the rarer examples, like the Shelby Cobra Super Snake, Dragon Snake, or Slalom Snake of which very few were made, can already fetch a few million. The same is true for the 2004 Shelby Cobra Concept, which aimed to recapture the essence of the original Cobra.

This is where replicas like Superformance and Factory 5 come in. They offer approximations of the original for, sometimes, even less than $100,000, depending on what equipment you order it with. However, today, we are talking about not just another replica but a top-of-the-line continuation car. Not an approximation, but a perfect recreation of the original Shelby Cobra. The reason it’s so accurate is that it’s a CSX4000 continuation car, built by Shelby American.

This particular Shelby CSX 4000 series 427 S/C was commissioned during the 1990s, but all finished up in the early 2000s. This appraisal makes for a perfect comparison with the original 427 Cobra, featured in the third episode of the Appraiser. Shelby American offering the bigger, 427 cubic-inch (7.0-liter) Ford V-8 in 1965. Those are known as the CSX 3000 series. The 4000 series, like this one, were the product of a joint-venture between Shelby American and Kirkham Motorsports and were built in the 1990s.

This is the most accurate replica of the original Cobra as the chassis and body were built to the exact specifications of the original cars. Carrol Shelby himself said that “Nobody is as good at making the cars as Kirkham is, but nobody is as good at selling the cars as Carrol Shelby.” This particular CSX 4000 comes with the more desirable aluminum body, which is 200 pounds (91 kg) lighter than the fiberglass variant. The same goes for the 427 V-8, which is a modern fuel-injected variant, entirely made of aluminum instead of cast iron, further reducing the weight, compared to the original Cobra 427.

Naturally, an appraiser does its inspection before giving its verdict, after which the owner of the car is sold. Good-condition continuation cars can easily fetch a six-figure price. This one is no exception, as the video shows, even though the owner does not plan on parting ways with this CSX 4000 Cobra 427 anytime soon. We understand.