Even more than Carol Sher than imagined.

According to legend, Carol Shelby named his small and powerful sports car "Shelby Cobra" because if you don't respect it, it will bite you badly. The last street model was the Mk III Cobra from 1965 to 1967. It was made with a 7.0-liter Ford V8 engine. The Super Snake model had a power of up to 505 horsepower.

Today, if you want to buy a new Cobra, you can contact Superformance to obtain a licensed Shelby continuation model. The company has its own Cobras series, but has enough flexibility to build your perfect dream car. Superformance likes experimentation. This is the experimental model we inspected at the company's warehouse in Irvine, California.

Known as Superformance Mk III-E Cobra, it has an electric drive system instead of a V8 under the hood. Before you jump to the comments and start using words like "blasphemy", please remember that this is an experiment, on the contrary, please appreciate that this is a lightweight sports car that can immediately provide about 1,000 lb-ft of torque and no Traction control. If you don't respect it, this is a car that won't bite you; it will provide you with the nearest tree with broad beans and delicious Chianti.

Although the word "eternal" can be seen everywhere, few cars truly stand the test of time aesthetically. However, the Cobra is one of them, and Superformance has applied a two-stage paint treatment on the laminated fiberglass body for the exterior treatment, which shows it vividly. The sports car model here has the anti-roll bar removed and a complete sports car bumper installed. It also removes the hood scoop, and the Monza-style release refueling port hides the charging plug. Normally, Superformance cars will be equipped with 16-inch wheels, but the MkIII-E runs in an 18-inch staggered setting to install super soft 275/35-18 Nitto tires on the back. Believe us when we say it, even those are not sticky enough.

Despite the modern upgrade, the Cobra is still pleasantly old school. If you want to look at the high-tech battery, you have to turn the two release handles to lift the hood. The tiny rearview mirror is actually mounted on the fender, and the rearview mirror is mounted on the dashboard.

Superformance collaborated with a company called Gotech Performance to create this experimental electric cobra prototype. In order to maintain a 50/50 weight balance, the battery is located under the hood where the engine is usually located, while the motor is located at the rear, which can be viewed through the plexiglass screen in the luggage compartment. If anything, the weight distribution is better because it is lower and more concentrated in the chassis. The battery is a 32 kWh battery pack composed of two LG Energy 16-cell units, and the motor is directly drawn from the Tesla Model S P100D. In its most primitive form, the powertrain produces torque so fast that the Mk III-E Cobra can't control it and only chopped up a set of tires to make donuts. These few minutes are interesting, but it is one-dimensional and expensive. Now, the drivetrain is out of adjustment to "only" produce about 1,000 lb-ft of torque. If you can resist making donuts, there is more than 100 miles to play.

Although Superformance’s Ashton Stander warned that Mk III-E Cobra would leave the showroom with the gas pedal and had the lightest foot among CarBuzz staff, the writer managed to leave terrible tire tracks on the floor. Towards. This is the first warning issued by the car, except for the utmost respect, do not treat it in any way. Fortunately, this will only cause extreme embarrassment. However, this is not the only time the tires light up unintentionally.

We found a quiet path and let go of the accelerator lightly. Instead of laughing and shouting, we frowned and cursed. All the warnings in the world will not prepare you for the switch you just flipped over, dumping 1,000 lb-ft onto the tarmac almost immediately.

The warning from Stander is that there is no audible feedback on how the tachometer accelerates (it reaches 15,000 rpm), and the MkIII-E Cobra will start to burn out at any speed, albeit in the radial direction of resistance. Although we did not have the courage to try this, we can confirm that if there are too many pedals, E-Cobra will easily want to break free on the highway.

After a few gas pedals, laughter came. Entering the corner, we have no shame to admit that there is no heroism in trying to apply the throttle when the wheels are not straight. In most cases, anyway. An overly ambitious application of force caused tight hips and left tire marks on the road. There is no doubt; this car wants to bite you. A racer with the size of a basketball can make it dance on the track, but we don't want to try it without a large track area.

Fortunately, although the styling is retro, the design of the suspension and brakes fully consider the power of the electric power system. The suspension is independent, with coil shock absorbers for custom adjustments, and the brakes are power assisted Willwood devices that make relatively light sports cars work easily.

However, in and out of town, Stander's advice on braking with the left foot began to make sense. The handbrake is like this, even if it is slightly tilted, the car will not stop. In addition, with the lightest touch of the throttle, it is easy to drive like an ordinary electric car. Well, if that ordinary electric car uses super soft tires and does not have a power steering system. In fact, this is the fun of driving a cobra through the city; cruising in a beautiful classic car with an electric drive system is very fun. Another nice thing is how stupid it is.

Let us not forget (in all the excitement of pure power in the short wheelbase package) that continuation and restoration of models is Superformance's specialty. Through an exclusive agreement with the late Carroll Shelby, Superformance's Mk III Roadster is a licensed Shelby product. Back in the day, in order to take the Cobra where Shelby wanted to go, it needed a new chassis developed with Ford to make the Mk III version. Inside Superformance Mk III are original style pedals, buckles, accessories and buckle belts. There is also a 14-inch leather steering wheel and leather bucket seats. The cockpit looks uncomfortable because it is tight, you have to put your feet on the steering wheel and lower yourself. However, once you are settled down, the natural driving position is perfect, with seat support and gloves the same. It is obviously also designed for tall driving, because even at 6 feet 1 foot, your commentator sneaked in directly, and his head did not protrude from the height of the windshield.

Normally, there will be a shifter on the transmission channel, but the electric version is no longer there. There is now a small screen for controlling the electric transmission system. The touch buttons on the screen are used to select drive, reverse, and neutral. You only need to control these except for the manual parking brake. The only thing that makes people accustomed to is the old-fashioned racing positioning of the pedals, which are set on the left to clear the bell-shaped shell. Electric cars do not have a clutch pedal, but the brake and accelerator are still close together. This is perfect for the speed matching of traditional cars, but if Superformance wants to make electric models for sale, if the foot space can be expanded and the pedal spacing is larger, and it has the idea of ​​comfortable left foot braking, it is still ideal In the heart.

The build quality looks great, and there is almost no rattling or road noise when there is no engine sound to cover up anything. There is also almost no impact of wind inside, which is even a matter of course for modern sports cars or convertibles.

As a sports car driving on windy public roads, it is almost unusable unless you have zero fear and the skilled reaction of a Formula One driver. As a kind of thing that can be used to deter fools who "have no substitutes", it is special, but it doesn't stop there. There is no doubt that the chassis is excellent, and the drivetrain is easy to manage, making it an incredibly good car for any enthusiast. Stander mentioned that the idea was to try E-Cobra with Mustang Mach-E drivetrain. The term "all-wheel drive" is also used.

We hope that crazy scientists will have the opportunity to conduct more experiments. After all, when Carroll Shelby (Carroll Shelby) inserted the big engine in the small convertible sports car, he did not stop experimenting. And, if you really want to provide some legitimacy to the idea of ​​an electric cobra, Shelby personally oversaw its development.

The electric classic market is there, as Superformance CEO Lance Stander pointed out: "The enthusiasts did not give up their internal combustion engines. They just bought a sports car garage."