SHELBYS SOPHISTICATED SUPERCAR Goodyear Eseries 15-inch tires on wide< rim wheels aid cornering, street traction. lcm is that its really hard to use all the torque on tap at the low end of the scale as limited slip rears are not available with this combo, mak- ing it virtually- impossible for the Goodyear E70 15inchers to do any biting. Once you come off hard, you spend most of the time burning one tire. And, it doesnt really pay to shift out the auto C6 by your- self, as it does quite well on auto- matic pilot. Once you got the Good years going, midrange comes in really strong. The only problem is that with the 3.50 cogs you dont have much in the line of accelera tion from mid range to the top. The car just doesn't pull like a well- gearcd job, unless you leave it in second and go for pump-up. The GTs ride and handling char- acteristics fit in perfectly with the design of the whole package. Its a compromise setup with higher-per- formance shocks, front coil springs and a fatter stabilizer bar. Besides the obvious power loss due to the lack of a locking differential, theres . another power leak in the suspen~ sion. The stock leaf springs tend to wrap up around the axle, inducing a wheel hop condition. This is evident only when coming off hard. On nor- mal acceleration its impossible to detect. What the car needs is a good locker (which FOrd wont have avail- able until 69 or 70) and a set of SuperBite-style traction bars. The best locker available today for this car isa do-it-yourself Detroit Auto motive gear job which is expensive to buy, expensive to install, and a bit (Continued on Page 67) 62 0 SPEED & SUPERCAR - DISPLACEMENT, cu. in M TEST Specs 1968 SHELBY COBRA (ET-500 AS TESTED .............. ENGINE TYPE .................................................... V-8 ..... 42 ...11.5-to-1 . oo @ 5600 ...460 @ 3200 .600 CFM HOLLEY QUAD ............................ PREMIUM COMPRESSION RATIO. BHP @ RPM .......... TORQUE @ RPM. CARBU RETlON ...... FUEL RECOMMENDED.... POWER TRAIN TRANSMISSION ................... DIFFERENTIAL TYPE. GEAR RATIO ............... ....FORD SELECT SHlFT ......... STANDARD ............ 3.50-t0-l PERFORMANCE ACCELERATION, 0-60 mph, sec. QUARTER-MILE, mph ................. ELAPSED TIME, sec. TOP SPEED, mph ......... FUEL CONSUMPTION, mpg 7,! SPECIFICATIONS TEST WEIGHT, lb. WHEELBASE, in. OVERALL LENGTH, in. CHASSIS FRAME ............ BRAKES ........... SWEPT AREA, sq. in. ........ UNITIZED .DISC/DRUM ................ 325 ............. 15-INCH GOODYEARS