Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe CSX2300
The Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe is one of the rarest and most significant American race cars ever built.
This August, a landmark Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe for sale will headline Monterey Car Week. Chassis CSX2300, one of only six Daytona Coupes ever produced, is being consigned by Gooding Christie’s for its Pebble Beach Auctions.
The pre-sale estimate: “in excess of $25,000,000.”
In 1964, a small band of American hot-rodders did something that seemed almost impossible. They built a car in a Southern California shop with a wooden buck and a handful of aluminum panels, then sent it to Le Mans to beat Ferrari at its own game.
That car was the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. It was the brainchild of designer Peter Brock, tasked by Carroll Shelby with solving a problem that had nothing to do with horsepower and everything to do with aerodynamics.
Why the Shelby Daytona Coupe Was Built
Shelby’s Cobra roadsters dominated SCCA racing in 1963.
But the open-cockpit design hit a wall on Europe’s high-speed circuits. Drag that no amount of horsepower could overcome kept the Cobra off the podium against Ferrari.
Brock’s answer was a slippery, fastback coupe body wrapped around the Cobra’s proven 289-cubic-inch V8 and chassis. The design added more than 20 mph to the car’s top speed without changing the powertrain.
The first Daytona Coupe was hand-built at Shelby’s shop in Venice, California. But demand outpaced capacity, so Shelby turned to Carrozzeria Gransport in Modena, Italy, to build the remaining five cars – including CSX2300.
CSX2300's Racing History
CSX2300 was one of five Daytona Coupes bodied by Carrozzeria Gransport. It made its competition debut at the 1964 Tour de France Automobile, the final round of that year’s World Championship for Group 3 GT cars.
In the 1965 season, CSX2300 ran at the Daytona 2000km and the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was then leased to Ford of France, which repainted it white with red and blue stripes for a third-in-class finish at the Nürburgring 1000km with drivers André Simon and Jo Schlesser.
Returned to Shelby American’s familiar Guardsman Blue livery, CSX2300 closed out its factory racing career at the Reims 12 Hours on July 4, 1965. It finished ninth overall and second in class.
That race mattered. It was the very event in which Shelby American clinched the FIA World Sportscar Championship, defeating Ferrari 90 points to 71.3. Shelby remains the only American manufacturer ever to win the title.
The Grudge Behind the Championship
That 1965 title came after a bitter 1964 season. Ferrari’s political influence got the deciding Italian round decertified, denying Shelby the championship on a technicality.
Shelby’s team returned in 1965 wearing uniforms marked “F.A.I.M.” It stood for Carroll’s tongue-in-cheek phrase: “Ferrari’s Ass Is Mine.” A year later, Shelby beat Ferrari fair and square.
Shelby Daytona Coupe Auction Records
Daytona Coupe sales are exceptionally rare events in the collector car market. Only six examples were ever built, and most remain locked in museums or long-term private collections.
CSX2300 itself has changed hands before. After being sold to Japan, it was reacquired by Carroll Shelby for his personal collection, then sold by RM Auctions in 2000 for $4.4 million.
The current Shelby Daytona Coupe auction record belongs to chassis CSX2601, the “Bondurant car.” It sold for $7.25 million at Monterey in 2009 – at the time, the most expensive American car ever sold at auction.
Could CSX2300 Set a New American Car Record?
Gooding Christie’s is bringing CSX2300 to the Pebble Beach Auctions on August 14 and 15, 2026. The pre-auction estimate from Gooding Christie’s: “in excess of $25,000,000.”
If it meets that estimate, CSX2300 would eclipse the current Shelby marque record of $13.75 million, set by CSX2000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey in 2016.
It would also surpass the $22 million paid for the 1935 Duesenberg SSJ, making it the most expensive American car ever sold at auction.
Daytona Coupe values are on a steady upward trajectory. Collector appetite for genuine Ford-vs-Ferrari-era race cars has never been stronger.
The sale of CSX2300 is shaping up to be the marquee moment of Monterey Car Week 2026.