Won 1964 Sebring 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona in storage until 2001
1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Prototype
1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona | National Historic Vehicle Register
The story of one of the most famous American race cars of all time is
too long and complicated to repeat with any justice here. But here’s the gist of it: After winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964, surviving a near-catastrophic fire, and setting 25 land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the first of six Daytonas was sold by Carroll Shelby to the owner of a slot car company. From there, it passed through the hands of infamous music producer Phil Spector, to his property manager, and finally into the storage locker of the manager’s daughter, Donna O’Hara, in the early ’70s, where it effectively disappeared.
After O’Hara’s mysterious death in 2001, word spread fast about the long-lost icon. Several buyers pounced on the family at once. A years-long legal battle ensued, involving the family, Spector, world-famous neurosurgeon Frederick Simeone, and a lawyer from of OJ Simpson’s “dream team,” among others.
Today, the car sits in a lightly reconditioned state at the Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia. The first car ever to be named to the
National Historic Vehicle Register, Simeone paid a reported $4 million for the Daytona. Today, it could be worth 10 times that.