This is a 1965 Kellison Stallion Cobra, a Shelby Cobra 427 replica, that was repainted and used during the filming of the 1995 film “Bad Boys” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
The car is used in a ~3 minute long chase down the Opa-Locka airport runway with bad guy Tchéky Karyo at the wheel, pursued by Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Téa Leoni in a Porsche 964. A second Cobra was then used in the final crash scene, leaving this one unharmed.
Fast Facts – The “Bad Boys” Kellison Stallion Cobra
- This 1965 Kellison Stallion Cobra, a Shelby Cobra 427 replica, was used in the 1995 film “Bad Boys” during a high-speed chase scene. Repainted for the movie, it remains in excellent condition, having been stored after filming, while a second stunt car was used for the crash scene.
- Bad Boys (1995), directed by Michael Bay, starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami detectives involved in a dangerous investigation. The movie became famous for its high-octane action sequences, including a memorable chase featuring this car and a Porsche 964.
- The Kellison Stallion Cobra, developed by Jim Kellison in the 1970s, was a Shelby Cobra replica featuring a stronger chassis and improved handling. Around 117 were built, and the car used in Bad Boys is one of the most famous examples of the breed, prized for its movie history.
- This Bad Boys stunt car is powered by a 427 cubic inch Ford V8 with an automatic transmission. It still has the Nardi Torino steering wheel, Moroso valve covers, and Cragar wheels. The car is now up for auction with Mecum in mid-January after many years in storage.
Bad Boys (1995)
Bad Boys (1995), directed by Michael Bay, is a buddy-cop action-comedy starring Will Smith as Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett, two Miami detectives who find themselves at the center of a dangerous investigation. The movie follows their attempt to recover a large stash of heroin stolen from the police vault, a heist that could jeopardize the entire department if the drugs aren’t recovered within 72 hours.
Above Video: This is the clip from “Bad Boys” (1995) showing Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Téa Leoni in the Porsche 964 trying to catch the bad guy played by Tchéky Karyo in a dramatic chase down the Opa-Locka airport runway. The car shown here was used in the chase, and another car was used in the crash scene.
Mike and Marcus, though friends, are opposites in personality. Mike is a wealthy, smooth-talking bachelor, while Marcus is a family man who leads a more sedate life.
Their partnership is tested when they must switch identities to protect a witness, Julie (played by Téa Leoni), who saw a murder linked to the drug theft. This leads to humorous moments as Marcus pretends to be the more suave Mike while balancing his real life as a husband and father.
The tension escalates as they chase the mastermind behind the heist, Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo), a ruthless drug kingpin who will stop at nothing to eliminate witnesses. The film’s fast pace is driven by high-octane action sequences, car chases, and explosive set pieces, which were all hallmarks of Bay’s early career.
The Kellison Stallion Cobra
The Kellison Stallion Cobra was developed by Jim Kellison and his team in the mid-1970s. Kellison had been in the low-volume sports car manufacturing business since the 1950s, and he knew his way around both chassis and body design thanks to his earlier work in the United States Air Force.
Jim had apparently always been a fan of the Shelby Cobra, particularly the more powerful 427 V8 model, but he felt that the chassis wasn’t stiff enough – as could be demonstrated by some cars when a door could pop open during hard cornering.
This car was memorably used in an almost 3 minute long chase scene that took place down the Opa-Locka airport runway, and it appeared in many of the promotional stills released by the studio, as you can see above. Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
After deciding to build his own version of the Cobra, Jim set to work designing a new tubular steel chassis that was a little wider and longer, perhaps most importantly it had a claimed 6,000 lbs per degree inch twist frame stiffness – vastly higher than the original.
The slightly larger chassis meant that the doors could be slightly larger too, meaning people could get in and out of the car with far less pretzeling required. The engine could also be moved back 5 inches, helping to create more neutral handling.
Once the Cobra-inspired body moulds were created, the first fiberglass bodies were produced and fit to the chassis. Soon after the first car was completed and tested, having deemed it ready for production Jim began offering kits under the name the “Kellison Stallion Cobra.”
It’s believed that 117 of these cars were made in total, the most famous of which is undoubtedly the car shown in this article, the original “bad guy” stunt car from Bad Boys (1995).
The Kellison Stallion Cobra Shown Here
The car you see here is the original, and very well-preserved stunt car from Bad Boys (1995). The scenes with this car were filmed in south Florida, and it was owned by South Beach Classics, a collector car dealership and vehicle rental business for the film, modeling, and music industries.
Larry Crenshaw from Columbia Pictures is said to have personally picked out this Kellison Stallion Cobra for use in the movie, and it was repainted in Midnight Blue within just 48 hours to meet the demands for the film.
There was a second stunt car made alongside it, though it was only ever intended to be driven sideways into a concrete wall at high speed at the end of the runway, as a result of this it no longer exists. After filming wrapped this car was placed in dry storage where it remained for many years.
Power is provided by a 427 cubic inch Ford V8. Though no power figures for this specific engine are available, the Ford FE can typically produce 320 bhp up to over 425 bhp depending on the state of tune.
The car is powered by a 427 cubic inch Ford V8 sending power back through an automatic transmission to the rear wheels. It has a Nardi Torino steering wheel, a B&M shifter, Moroso valve covers, and Cragar wheels.
It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in mid-January. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
