FIFTY years have passed since the first Shelby A.C. Cobra, CSX2000, landed, heralding the emergence of an automotive sex symbol and a racetrack legend from a modest display stand at the New York auto show.

Cannily resprayed pearlescent yellow, from its original blue, to give journalists visiting the Coliseum convention center on Columbus Circle the impression that full-scale production had begun, it was well received, though hardly the only attraction of that 1962 show. Competition came in many shapely forms, including the Studebaker Avanti and from a design study done for the Chevrolet Corvette, the XP-755.

Few could have imagined that the upstart Cobra, the unlikely offspring of England’s venerable but tiny A.C. Cars (making cars since at least 1904) and a relentlessly ambitious Texan, Carroll Shelby — a World War II pilot turned chicken farmer turned racecar driver turned chronically undercapitalized sports car constructor — would continue stirring enthusiasts’ souls well into the next century.

Desperately expensive now, Shelby Cobras didn’t set sales records when new; only 998 were built in 1962-67, in two basic versions. Starting around $6,000 and reaching upwards of $8,000, they were beyond the reach of most enthusiasts, though they could be ordered at selected Ford dealerships. Cobras were anachronisms even when new, with clumsy side curtains in place of roll-up windows, a challenging erect-it-yourself convertible top and the bare minimum of ventilation or safety equipment. By almost any logical measure, Corvettes and Jaguar E-Types were infinitely more practical high-speed grand touring cars.