The Kirkham family has been in the car restoration and parts business since 1988, when Thomas Sr. started T.K.O., a Ford specialty shop in Provo, Utah. The operation was restoring Ford Mustangs and other collector cars and earned a reputation as a very high quality restoration house through its custom work on some rare Shelby Cobras. Later, Thomas Jr., an aeronautical engineer, left the USAF to create Kirkham Motorsports. His brother David, who has a degree in Manufacturing Engineering form BYU, soon joined him in the Cobra restoration business.

Over the years the Kirkham family had blueprinted all of the parts for the Shelby Cobras, and had custom-manufactured a number of parts during earlier Cobra restorations. Eventually the Kirkham’s began to assess building an entire car. Once they began, the final results have been highly impressive and the quality of craftsmanship is superb.

This 1965 Kirkham Motorsports Shelby Cobra street car is handsomely presented in brushed aluminum and is fabricated by Kirkham and carries chassis number KC9DSLC638. Many options are offered with this car, which is reported to have been built with the best of components available.

The Kirkham Shelby is driven by a LS3 376-cid V-8 fuel-injected engine that produces 480 horsepower and “tons of performance.” This is connected to a Tremec TKO 600 five-speed manual transmission; additional equipment includes a rollbar, fresh air vent system, Halon fire suppressant system, Kirkham Motorsports alloy radiator overflow tank, bumper hoops, pushbars, full custom exhaust that is routed under the car. The car definitely has “the look” with Halibrand-style wheels. The sound of the powerful V-8 engine is backed by outstanding acceleration and speed. It is hard to not pay attention to the curvaceous lines and exceptional craftsmanship, especially with this car having less than 200 miles registered on the odometer.