The 1965 Mercer Cobra would never have been build had it not been for the Copper Development Association , which wanted to show the hardheaded mod usance of copper in auto design . But it for sure would not have seem the way it did were it not for Virgil M. Exner and his son , Virgil , Jr. , who transformed it from concept to realness .
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Virgil Exner ’s long styling calling began at General Motors , where he is said to have created Pontiac ’s long - running hallmark , the " Silver Streak . " In 1938 , he was take by Raymond Loewy , and contributed to the striking 1947 Studebakers , before disagreement with Loewy stimulate him to leave .
He soon link up Chrysler Corporation , where he farm his finest production styling : the famous " Forward Look " that wrested design leadership away from General Motors for the first time in a coevals . By 1963 , he had leave Chrysler to self-employed person , and the Mercer Cobra was one of his , and his son ’s , first independent projects .
Design - wise , Exner was a traditionalist , who believe the timeless hallmarks of the Classic era as appropriate on modern cars as they were in the late 1920s and 1930s . This produce bold concepts both good and bad . The well include open - rack design to show off wire wheels , handsome traditional radiator grille , and spruce emphasis of fenderlines ; the uncollectible included " commode seat " spare tyre printing and freestanding head- and taillamps , as go out on early sixties Imperials .
WhenEsquiremagazine asked the Exners to create renderings of what four celebrated classic might calculate like in 1963 , it was an assigning to their liking , play to their strengths . Along with a modernised Packard , Stutz , and Duesenberg was a new Mercer . The " Cobra " half of the recipe was provided by Caroll Shelby .
consort to author Michael Lamm , the Exners were approached by George M. Hartley , president of the Copper Development Association , at almost exactly the time they had finished the conceptual rendering of the modern Mercer . " The old Mercer had all that brass section and copper , and so did the rendering of the modern Mercer , " Hartley enjoin Lamm . " So we said , ' All aright , let ’s plan to make that one . ' "
From Caroll Shelby the Exners order a bare Cobra chassis , all tube , and a Ford V-8 , which were send to bodybuilders Sibona - Basano in Torino , Italy . Sibona had break off from Ghia , where he must have have it away Exner from the Chrysler - Ghia show railcar days , but he had been recommended specifically by architect Brooks Stevens .
" Sibona - Basano was a funny form of spot , " Stevens said later , " with chickens extend around the yard and debris everywhere . But they did wonderful bodywork and they charged much less than Ghia . " at the same time , the Italians were working on several Stevens prototype proposals for succeeding Studebakers .
Hartley ’s Copper Association help supervise the labor and provided all the cupriferous metals that choke into its trimming : 11 unlike types to demonstrate color possibilities , including schematic copper alloy like cheek ( copper and atomic number 30 chiefly ) and bronze ( copper and tin ) . The body and chassis were conventional blade .
The Copper Development Association displayed the Mercer - Cobra for a decennary , but most of its ideas were rendered disused by the development of more mod , human being - made material , encouraged by government crash - protection standards . But the Mercer - Cobra is still distinctive today – and still very much in the Exner design custom .
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