Shelby's Daytona Cobra recreation is old, new and very pretty

Carmakers love a good celebration. Luckily for us, they tend to forgo the balloons and party poppers, and instead knuckle down and make a special edition.

And this one really is special. To mark 50 years since the Shelby Daytona Cobra dominated the World Sportscar Championship, 50 of these recreation Cobras are being made. And it may not sound it, but 50's actually a lot, with just half a dozen Daytona Cobra racers made in the first place.

The Daytona isn’t short of replicas and convincing kit cars, but this is the real deal, produced by Shelby and looking every inch as wonderful as it did in the Sixties.

If you’re itching for performance figures, there are none, as is this is an area that’s left up to you. V8s measuring 4.7, 5.0 and 7.0 litres are all possibilities, depending on how brave/confident/silly you’re feeling.

Most appropriate, though, would be a 4.7-litre engine – a 289, in classic cubic-inch speak. That's what powered those glorious old racers, and while power is up for discussion, around 380bhp is what you want to stay authentic.

You may find that sort of power in four-cylinder A-Class nowadays, but they doesn’t have the glorious V8 soundtrack of the Shelby, nor the slippery (and downright gorgeous) shape that enables a 190mph-plus top speed.

Told you it was special. You’ll pay for such specialness, of course. You can choose between fibreglass and aluminium bodies, the former costing $179,995 (around £115,000), the latter a mildly eye-watering $349,995 (£225,000).

Proper supercar money, then, especially given how much you can save buying a Cobra facsimile. But it’s small fry compared to what you’ll pay for a period original, the six racers built worth comfortably into the millions.

It’s also a mere fifth of what you’ll pay for the Shelby’s only real rival – Jag’s reborn Lightweight E-type. If you can, though, make space in your lottery-win garage for both…