First, Shelby's comment that "it works'' notwithstanding, that transverse leaf spring suspension had to go. Second, everything else had to be bigger and stronger to take the torque and the heft of the giant 427 inch power plant, a unit that was designed to push 4,000 pounds of brick-like sedan at 170 mph. In fact everything had to go but one item -surprisingly enough the standard Salisbury rear-end used in the 289 was found to be more than sufficient.

There can be few complaints about trunk space in the street version.  It has lots of room. Hidden the upper/right corner of the race-car trunk is a pair of heavy-duty fuel pumps.

The street machine, top, has big 10.75" discs with unequal-arm suspension, coil/shocks, and front swaybar.  Duckt avove brings fresh air to the cockpit.  Notice the full undercoating. The race car, above, is equipped with binders over 11.5" in diameter and heavy-duty calipers to make it well able to handle the potential of the engine.  Fiberglass duct brings in cool air.

Integral coil-shocks, as used on virtually all modern race cars, were selected both for compactness and ease of adjustment for chassis tuning. This, naturally, necessitated a complete redesign of the front and rear structures to carry the necessary upper A-arms that replaced the leaf springs which formerly located the upper ends of the hub carriers. The frame tubes went from three to four inches in diameter and were moved 22 inches apart, from the original 17 as on the 289. The body design is that of the 1965 competition version and drops straight to the frame tubes instead of tucking under as before. To make room for the bigger bellhousing the pedal support box no longer straddles the frame, but is moved out with the widened tubes, thus offsetting the pedals to the left. This is disconcerting at first, but can be gotten used to in a day or so. Fully independent rear suspension is now the feature of the Cobra, above,  via the addition of upper A-arm.  Armstrong coil/shocks are adjustable to both car-height and dampening setting required.

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