Superformance celebrates 30th anniversary with a special MkIII Roadster

Superformance says it “has distributed specially constructed cars in the United States since 1994.” That means we’re coming up on the Southern California company’s 30th anniversary, and it’s going to celebrate the feat with one of its icons, a Cobra. In partnership with Carroll Shelby Licensing, the house of rolling chassis will produce 30 examples of a Superformance MkIII Roadster. The open-top two-seater based on the 427 Cobra debuted at SEMA this week, benefiting from updated materials and build techniques that the company learned over the past three decades and that a lot of modern buyers are after.

The front and rear crumple zone designed into the ladder frame chassis, the adjustable coilovers among unequal-length A-arms, the power steering and Wilwood brakes,and the LED headlights are all better than anything that could be had on an original 427 Cobra. And Shelby’s original ran on 15-inch wheels that were 7.5 inches wide, on tires up to 8 inches wide. The Superformance birthday car rides on 18-inch wheels designed to look like those 15-inchers, wrapped in Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires measuring 275/35 (10.8 inches) in front 335/30 in back (13.2 inches).

Outside, tweaked shapes on the fiberglass body are found on the front splitter, rear diffuser, and padded headrest swooping up from the trunk that the regular MkIII doesn’t have. Standard color combinations are Carbon Flash Black with Sterling Marlin Crystal Laurit main stripes and Monza Red pinstripe. or Sterling Marlin Crystal Laurit with a Carbon Flash main stripe and Monza Red pinstripe. Inside, one’s eye runs over smooth new additions like the carbon fiber steering wheel ahead of analog gauges, leather and Alcantara surfaces, and aluminum rivets for accents.