Alaskan grizzly bear destroys 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 by leaving a gaping hole in its head and a bum clutch.
If you’ve ever gone camping in an area near a population of bears, you’ve probably heard the warnings about leaving your trash lying around. The big, furry beasts can smell free eats when they’re around and are not shy about getting a mouthful of carelessly placed food. The owner of this ill-fated Shelby Cobra didn’t go camping, but he learned just what a bear is willing to do to get a bite of human food.
Tom Cotter, host of Hagerty‘s Barn Find Hunters video series, is touring Alaska in his 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 alongside other Shelby Cobra owners. He normally never puts the top up on his car because driving with the lid on is a sort of unofficial taboo. The roof is also cumbersome and difficult to install, so Cotter has even fewer reasons to erect it. The danger of falling rocks while going through the tunnel out of Whittier, Alaska meant he had no choice but to install his car’s pesky roof.
Cotter and his pals stopped for the night in Girdwood. After waking up the next morning, he received a call from one of his fellow Shelby drivers. As his friend suggested, Cotter went outside. There he saw his Cobra with a hole ripped into its roof. Whatever creature had done the damage left behind a trail of muddy paw prints and a dented rear fender. According to Hagerty, “The police later arrived, and upon inspecting the prints and finding some scruffy brown hairs, determined it was indeed a bear’s handiwork.”
As you can probably imagine, the bear wasn’t going after Cotter’s iPod. It seems there had been a pack of Fig Newtons behind the seats…until the bear clawed open the Cobra’s roof like a drunk college student tearing into a Taco Bell burrito’s wrapper at 3 a.m.
That’s not the end of Cotter’s problems. He also has to fix his Cobra’s clutch hydraulics. Cotter’s vacation is not exactly what we’d call trouble-free, but at this point, he’ll just have to grin…and bear it.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
