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Carroll Shelby put his name on plenty of cars, but only one of them started life on his own blank sheet of paper. A 1999 Shelby Series 1 showing just 334 miles is now listed for sale on duPont Registry by John Scotti Automotive, and as duPont Registry News recently reported, it is about as close to a delivery-mileage example of Shelby's late-career roadster as the market is likely to see.
The timing is interesting. The Shelby name just made headlines when Carroll's own Cobra Daytona Coupe sold for $42.9 million at Pebble Beach, becoming the most valuable American car ever sold at auction. Only six Daytona Coupes exist. The Series 1 is a very different proposition, but it offers something the Daytona never can for most collectors: a car Shelby himself conceived from scratch, at a price that still begins with a one or a two rather than an eight-figure sum.
Chassis CSX 5140
This roadster wears the livery most people picture when they think of a Shelby: silver paint with blue racing stripes running the full length of the car. Five-spoke wheels with polished lips fill the arches, and a polished fuel filler cap adds a period-correct touch at the rear. Inside, Shelby's signature is stitched into the seats.
With 334 miles on the odometer, the car has barely been broken in. That is not unusual for the Series 1, which many owners treated as an investment from day one, but it puts this example toward the very top of the originality scale. As with any low-use car of this age, a prospective buyer will want to look closely at fluids, rubber components, and tires, since time can be as hard on a car as mileage.
A Clean-Sheet Shelby
The Cobra was built on the bones of the AC Ace. The GT350 and GT500 began as Mustangs. The Series 1 was different. Design work started around 1994, and the result was the only production car Shelby designed and engineered from the ground up.
The recipe was pure Shelby: a big V8 up front, two seats, rear-wheel drive, and a manual gearbox. The execution was more exotic than anything he had sold before. An extruded-aluminum chassis sits under carbon-fiber and fiberglass body panels, and curb weight came in at roughly 3,000 pounds.
The powertrain choice raised eyebrows. Rather than Ford power, Shelby went to General Motors for the 4.0-liter Oldsmobile Aurora L47 V8, rated at 320 horsepower and 290 lb-ft of torque. It drives through a rear-mounted ZF six-speed transaxle. Shelby quoted 0-60 mph in about 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 170 mph.
The program did not unfold as planned. Early targets called for around 500 horsepower and a lighter car, and prices climbed from about $85,000 at announcement toward $175,000 by the end of the run. A Vortec supercharged option later pushed output to around 450 horsepower. When production wrapped, only 249 cars had been sold against a planned 500, with roughly 80 of them supercharged. Remaining parts were later sold as engineless CSX5000 component cars, which are a separate category for collectors.
What the Market Says
For years the Series 1 carried a reputation shaped more by its troubled development than by what it is like to drive. That narrative has softened, and Hagerty's Valuation Tools suggest the car has settled into a stable range:
- #1 Concours condition: $225,000
- #2 Excellent condition: $157,000
- #3 Good condition: $108,000
Values for a #3 car are up 2.9 percent over the past year and essentially flat over three years, which reads as a model that has finished depreciating rather than one that is surging. Activity is picking up, though. Hagerty tracked 14 Series 1 sales in the last 12 months, a 56 percent increase in the number of cars sold, with an average sale price of $164,500.
Recent results show how much mileage and condition matter. A 775-mile car brought $170,500 at Mecum in August, while a 2,500-mile example sold for $196,650 at Kruse in September. A 2,600-mile car went for $136,500 on Bring a Trailer later that month. The highest public sale Hagerty recorded over the past three years was $313,000. A 334-mile, naturally aspirated car with classic Shelby colors should sit in the upper part of that spread, likely near Hagerty's #1 and #2 values depending on documentation and condition.
Low-mileage Series 1s do turn up periodically. We've previously spotlighted a pair of nearly identical sub-500-mile cars, so buyers have some basis for comparison. Still, examples this fresh remain uncommon.
The Viper Connection
The Series 1 invites comparison with another 1990s American roadster: the first-generation Dodge Viper RT/10. Both follow the same long-hood, two-seat, rear-drive, manual-only formula, and Shelby was involved in the Viper's early development as well.
The values tell a very different story. Hagerty puts a 1994 Viper RT/10 in #3 condition at $34,800, down 3.1 percent over the past year and 12.1 percent over three years. Fifty-eight 1992-1995 Vipers sold in the past 12 months at an average of $51,200. Exceptional cars, like the 12,000-mile 1994 RT/10 we covered from Hagerty Marketplace, command more, but the gap is clear. The Series 1 trades at roughly three times the value of a comparable Viper.
That premium reflects production numbers. Dodge built thousands of first-generation Vipers, while Shelby completed only 249 Series 1s. The Series 1 also has an aluminum chassis, a composite body, and Carroll Shelby's name on the nose.
The Bottom Line
The Series 1 will never carry the mythology of a 289 Cobra or a Daytona Coupe, and it does not need to. It is a rare, well-documented piece of late-1990s American performance history, and it was Carroll Shelby's own answer to what a modern Shelby roadster should be. With Hagerty data pointing to stable values and growing buyer interest, a 334-mile example like CSX 5140 is a strong candidate for collectors who want a meaningful Shelby without paying Cobra prices. Pricing and additional details are available through the duPont Registry listing.
