Feast your eyes upon the first Shelby Cobra ever made

RM Sotheby's is calling this the most important modern American automobile.

It's only an American automobile because Carroll Shelby had the wise idea to shove a V-8 into a British AC Ace chassis. The result is the first-ever Shelby Cobra.

This, in fact, is the first-ever Cobra, with a chassis number of CSX 2000.

The car was built in a California shed in 1962.

CSX 2000 has lived a long life, serving as a press loaner, a marketing tool and a development mule.

Shelby convinced folks that he was making multiple cars by painting CSX 2000 over and over again, for different events.

Sporting a 0-to-60 time of 4.2 seconds, the Cobra was brutally quick for its day, despite having just 260 horsepower.

The car has been with the Shelby estate for its entire life.

Its current home is the Shelby Heritage Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Don't expect to walk away from auction with this car for anything less than a princely sum.