Not as expensive as Carroll Shelby’s CSX2000 that sold for close to $14M, but still quite a sale.

The arguable star of the Kissimmee 2021 Mecum Auction, the 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra Roadster, finally crossed the auction block earlier today (Jan. 15,2021) with a previously unknown reserve of $4 million. A fierce bidding war started and, when the dust settled, a last bid of $5.4 million won the day before Mecum put on its 10 percent fee. Mecum announced the winner as one “Chris Elliott.”

Check out a screenshot of the moment below. Here’s a video of the auction. It’s still ongoing so, until it finalizes, you’ll have to fast forward to about 6 hours and 45 mins in.

1965 SHELBY 427 COBRA ROADSTER sells for $6 million
1965 SHELBY 427 COBRA ROADSTER sells for $6 million

The auctioneer started at an optimistic $10 million before knocking that price down to a realistic $2 million opening bid. From there, a bidding war between a handful of attendees began before cresting the reserve price of $4 million. From there on, bids increased by half a million increments before eventually reaching $5 million. Then, it was a hop, skip, and jump by $100,000 bids to $5.4 million. Tack on the 10 percent buyer’s premium and the final selling price was $5,940,000.

This Cobra bears designation CSX3178 and was owned by Caroll himself from March 1966 until his passing in May 2012. In true Shelby fashion, he commissioned more power and, sometime in the CSX3178’s life, he added an all-aluminum head 427 side oiler engine with a 4-speed automatic transmission.

This Cobra was also once painted Guardsman blue before they then restored it to a concours level configuration, repainted its original charcoal gray.

As the Mecum listing mentions,

 Imagine sitting in the seat that Carroll Shelby sat in for all those years and all of the conversations he had with his famous passengers (friends and racers)—if only this car could talk.

The only way to honor Shelby’s car is to, from time to time, open up the taps and give it a boot full of wide open throttle.

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