The United States has a comparatively short but robust and rich history, complete with highlights and lowlights, geniuses and madmen, as well as a vast array of inventions and designs that have infiltrated every corner of our culture. The U.S. government makes an effort to preserve the most historically significant artifacts from America’s history, and for the first time this will include automobiles.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Heritage Documentation Program, in conjunction with the Historic Vehicle Association, have launched the National Historic Vehicle Registry. Similar to the National Register of Historic Places that has designated more than 80,000 buildings as historically significant, or the Library of Congress, Hemmings Auto Blog reports that the first vehicle added to this new registry is none other than the Shelby Daytona Coupe.

Though just six of them were made, the Shelby Daytona with chassis number CSX2287 set multiple speed records at Bonneville and won the first FIA GT championship for an American team. Those are some pretty big accomplishments, but what helped it get into the new registry was its link with a number of historically significant actors in the auto industry. Though this obviously includes Carroll Shelby himself, Peter Brock and Phil Hill were just some of the racers to seat behind the wheel of this ride.

CSX2287 was in fact the prototype Daytona Coupe, and was the only one built entirely at the Shelby American headquarters in Venice, California. After some complicated legal shenanigans and some crazy history that saw this historic car sold for as little as $1,000, and even given away for free, it now rests fully restored in a private collection, with an estimated value of some $3 million.

This Daytona Coupe certainly fits the bill of a nationally historic car, and we’re eager to see what other cars end up on this new registry. What candidates would you nominate? Tell us below in the comments section.