1965 Shelby Powered Mercer Cobrat By Virgil Exner

A magazine assignment to imagine a forgotten luxury nameplate reborn somehow became a fully functional one-off, built on a genuine Shelby Cobra chassis and dressed in copper and brass. Commissioned by a metals trade association rather than an automaker, the Mercer-Cobra combined retro coachbuilt styling with real Shelby performance underneath. Decades later, it sold for $660,000 at a Monterey auction. How does a concept car built to promote copper end up among the most valuable one-offs in Shelby history?

The 1965 Shelby Powered Mercer Cobrat by ex-Chrysler design chief Virgil Exner was commissioned by Esquire magazine to design revival cars that interpreted vintage brand automobiles from the past.
Ecah car would be modeled with their signature branding and made into the modern design of the current time.
The Mercer was a re-skinned 289 cu. in. V-8, four-speed manual Shelby Cobra 289 built by Turin coachbuilder Sibona-Basano and was one of four originally drafted. Copper is used for the radiator shell, exhaust guards, wheels, inner door panel trim, even the disc brakes were crafted from copper, as it was believed the materialâ€™s â€œsuperior thermal conductivityâ€ helped reduce fading.
Very cool one of a kind car from the automobile vaults of yesteryear.

Front view of a black car on a white background.

One of 4 custom made

⚑ Featured Gear

Start Car Conversations →

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

A magazine assignment meant to imagine what a forgotten classic might look like decades later somehow turned into one of the strangest, most beautiful one-off cars ever built on a genuine race car chassis. The starting point wasn’t a blank sheet of paper — it was a bare rolling chassis ordered directly from Carroll Shelby himself, the same underpinnings that powered one of the most feared sports cars of the era. A design house known for reviving extinct American nameplates took that foundation and dressed it in copper and brass details meant to evoke a luxury brand that had not built a car in decades. Everything about the build was a study in contradiction: a race-bred chassis wrapped in retro-luxury bodywork, commissioned by a metals trade group rather than an automaker. How does a concept car built to sell copper end up worth over half a million dollars at a modern auction?

An Assignment From Esquire Magazine, Not Detroit

The idea began when Esquire magazine asked designer Virgil Exner and his son to imagine what four defunct American luxury nameplates — Mercer, Packard, Stutz, and Duesenberg — might look like reimagined for the 1960s. Those renderings caught the attention of the Copper Development Association, whose president, George M. Hartley, approached the Exners about actually building the modernized Mercer, partly because the original Mercer had used substantial amounts of brass and copper trim, matching the material the association wanted to promote.

Why a Cobra Chassis, of All Things

Rather than engineer a bespoke chassis from scratch, the Exners ordered a bare rolling chassis, tubing, and a Ford V8 directly from Carroll Shelby, based on Cobra chassis number CSX2451. That chassis and drivetrain were then shipped to coachbuilder Sibona-Basano in Turin, Italy, where the retro-styled body was fabricated around Shelby’s proven mechanical package — giving this leisurely-looking classic-revival concept genuine sports car performance underneath.

Copper and Brass in Eleven Different Finishes

True to its sponsor, the Mercer-Cobra used eleven different materials, alloys, and finishes throughout the interior and exterior specifically to showcase the versatility of copper and brass. The design leaned into a classic-era look, with a brass grille built from eight large elements and pivoting headlights that swung back flush with the nose when not in use, paired with long blade-style front fenders and a tapered rear deck that echoed pre-war luxury coachwork rather than 1960s styling trends.

A Concept That Actually Ran

Unlike many show-only concepts of the era, the Mercer-Cobra’s Shelby-sourced running gear meant it was a fully functional automobile rather than a static display piece, capable of being driven under its own power on real roads. That distinction matters enormously to collectors today, since a concept car that can actually be started, driven, and demonstrated tends to hold far more value and historical interest than one that exists purely as a styling exercise.

What the Auction Result Says About One-Off Concepts

When RM Sothebys brought the Mercer-Cobra to its Monterey auction, the car sold for $660,000 — a striking number for a one-off concept car built to promote a metals trade association rather than sell production vehicles. That result underscores how significant the combination of Exner design pedigree and genuine Shelby mechanicals can be to serious collectors, who increasingly treat documented, driveable concept cars as blue-chip pieces of automotive design history.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Republished by Blog Post Promoter