The Daytona Coupe was Shelby American's answer to the aerodynamic limitations of the open Cobra roadster at high-speed circuits like Le Mans. Peter Brock designed a fastback coupe body — a Kamm-truncated tail, a low nose and a raised roofline — that dropped drag dramatically without adding significant weight. The body was laid over a stock CSX2000-series Cobra chassis with a 289 Hi-Po V8 and Shelby's own race preparation.
Six cars were built between 1964 and 1965, individually documented in the SAAC World Registry: CSX2287, CSX2299, CSX2300, CSX2601, CSX2602 and CSX2603. The first (CSX2287) was built at Shelby American in Los Angeles; the remaining five were assembled by Carrozzeria Gran Sport at Modena. In 1965 the Daytona Coupes clinched the FIA World Sportscar Championship GT class — the first world championship won by an American manufacturer — defeating Ferrari's 250 GTO on its own ground.
Six-car total production; a period FIA World Championship–winning race car; the direct engineering answer to the Ferrari 250 GTO; and — because each chassis is individually catalogued — the ultimate American race-provenance collectable.
