ps374

I know that several guys on this forum have had several C1 or C2s and then bought a Cobra Kit car or built one. My experance with the Cobra which a friend of mine owned built by ERA in CT. was very dissapointing to me anyway. Yes I found it lightning fast. Faster than any other car I had been in. But I found it little more than what appeared to me anyway to be a cheap English sports car with a massive engine. It was to small for me to fit behind the wheel confortably in. I found its interior components seemly fragile and cheap and to me the car seemed usless for anything but a Sunday spin. So I have to ask so many Corvette owners who could afford one why did you shell out the 60 grand (what my friends side oiler cost him) just to get one?

vettedreamer50

I dont have one, but my best friend does. He has a different kit (Factory Five) and its certainly not fragile or cheap looking. No doubt it is small. Very solid and comfortable ride which surprised me. The speed is scary.
I think the difference is a C2 is a sports car, a Cobra is a race car. Its supposed to be small and spartan. Guys who like them are into a race car experience.

1snake

First off, let me say that Cobras aren't for everyone and neither are Corvettes.
The comment about cheap English car with a massive engine is exactly what the originals were. The kit/repo. cars have far superior suspension, steering and brakes. I'm 6'2" and fit very comfortably in mine. The interior quality depends on the builder/manufacturer. Mine is very nice. About all they are good for Sunday cruises which is what the vast majority of Corvette owners use theirs for as well.

To answer your for question as to "Why?", I say "Why not?" They are a fun car to drive, faster than most anything on the road, they're loud & obnoxious and pizz off the local tree huggers.

Jim

Frankie the Fink

Shelby used a backwards mounted '65 Mustang shifter in them for a while....does that tell you anything? Never have been a big fan. I understand the brutal speed but beyond the weekend car show and a few blistering runs around town they are pretty impractical (which may actually be their appeal)...

There are also so many around you lose track...at least 70 at the last local "Fantasy of Flight" show I attended in Florida...I was the sole C1...

DZAUTO

When you build an engine that is excessive, is too big and has too much power, then it is just right. Unfortunately, SOME engines just are not practical, but the power they produce is still just right! For example, a Top Fuel HEMI is just not practical for a street/performance/driver, but the power it produces is just right!

Tom Parsons

1snake

That's the exact opposite of the Pacific Northwest. You see way more C-1's & C-2's than Cobras. In fact, there are 8 C-1's within 5 miles of my house (and I live out in the sticks) and I don't know how many C-2's but I'd bet it's close to the same. I would bet that there isn't 70 Cobra's in the whole state.

Jim

Mike Terry

The reason they have a Ford Cobra is because the need something to Fix Or Repair Daily

JohnZ

Because they're light, fast, loud, totally impractical, and loads of fun. I built an E.R.A. and two Uniques back in the early-to-mid 90's, and powered all of them with 358 Windsors with Robert Yates heads and Top-Loader 4-speeds. At 2250#, it doesn't take a lot of power to go fast. Drove my Uniques from Detroit to the Unique Cobrafest in Gadsden, Alabama and back twice, and to the SACC (Shelby) National Convention once at Indianapolis Raceway Park; had lots of fun . Sold each one for about what I had in it ($50-$60K), then built my Grand Sport.

MikeM

A Cobra is a car I always wanted but never owned. I suppose if I REALLY wanted one, I'd have it.

It'd be the SB version though. Several have told me I'm too big to fit. I looked at one a few weeks ago. I forget the name of it but it's built offshore,(Australia?) I believe and shipped here. Quality looking, no frills piece. Just the way I like cars.

kellsdad

I've had my 63 Corvette since 1978 and my replica 1966 Shelby Cobra 427SC since 2002. Both have been completely apart in my garage and I've touched virtually every component of each. I bought the Cobra because I wanted a car to beat up at SCCA gymkhana events and at track days. I bought it at a very good price off Ebay by taking my time and bidding on a lot of cars until I got one at a price I liked.

Now days I mostly go to cruise-in events. If the weather is perfect (not too hot, too cold or wet), I take the Cobra. It always draws a bigger crowd and more interest than the Corvette. Other times I take the Corvette. It attracts mostly older people who had an earlier connection in their life with a mid-year Corvette. The Cobra is without doubt quicker, faster and more exciting to drive. But the Cobra replica has not appreciated in value like the Corvette. And because I've had the Corvette for so long, it feels like a member of the family.

If I had to pick one to sell, I'd sell the Cobra because it can be easily replaced and, like my current one, can be built to suit my personal taste. My Corvette has a history that makes it unique. If I sold it, a replacement 63 coupe just wouldn't be the same.

wmf62

the C1 has similar origins (American, not English)... the 53 was 'little more than what appeared to be a cheap American sports car with a anemic engine'. see what it evolved to be...

at least the Cobra had a "massive" engine..., think what it might have become... (maybe the kit-cars are the Cobra evolved...)
Bill

1snake

I have the same experience between the two. The Cobra ALWAYS has a crowd around it. The Corvette gets more when I'm driving it.
Nothing wrong with having one of each, or even two.

Jim

Out There

It is the least practical of about anything you could buy. After 9 corvettes I bought a Unique Motorcars with a 427 Side Oiler just to see what they were like. They are quite different to drive. A total blast but they could easily be a death trap with a crazy driver. There are huge differences in the quality of different manufacturers with some of the better ones being factory built. After the Unique, I bought an 07 C6 Coupe which was also a great car but did not realy excite me for weekend type driving. So a year and a half ago another Cobra. Superformance with a big block 485HP Ford Crate Motor. Even better car with a top! 5 speed tremec and even more power then the side oiler! But totally reliable combination. Recently, I bought a 64 Coupe that I plan to put an new LS drive train in. So the Cobra will be going. Part of the fun for me is experiencing a particular car then figuring out what the next one will be!
I think maybe I'm loos'n it.......

Larry N. Johnson

JohnZ,
I had no idea that you, too have build replica Cobras.
As always, yours look fantastic and I'd bet the details were perfect, as well.

I build an FFR in 03. It has 28,000 miles on it now after 7 seasons.
- IRS w 3.27 gears with Torsen T2
- Pin drive wheels, 2 sets
---polished Magnesium Halibrands w Billboards and
---Chrome Trigos w M/T S/T tires
- Blue w white stripes
- 95 Cobra 5.0 EFI engine
- T5 5-speed
- Ceramic sidepipes w Lowbak mufflers
- Leather seats w Simpson racing harness
- 4 wheel disk brakes
- Coil over adjustable Koni shocks
- VPM roll bars front and rear
- Great street and track car
- Warm weather only
- No creature comforts like radio, PS, PB, A/C, etc.

In Oregon


In Utah


In Las Vegas (best of show award winner 2004)


With grand daughter:


At the track:


Nice car in many ways. Stark, stripped down race car adapted to the street. Fun to assemble, no worry over part numbers and date codes.
We have driven it on many trips, some over several days. Gets around 25 mpg on trips; turns 104 in the quarter on street tires in 13 seconds. (stock 302 Cobra engine)

The C2 I just got in July I hope will be even nicer.
Definately hold value better.
The Sting Ray is a "real car" with door windows, top, and a heater so maybe we can use it more year round.

But like is was said above, these things are everywhere:
In SoCal:

1snake

Not fair posting a picture of the annual FFR get together, unless you post C-1's are EVERYWHERE as well. Having owned 16 Corvettes but only 1 Cobra, I just love these foolish debates about which car is better. Other than both being cars, they are not similar in any way.

Larry N. Johnson

Jim,
So when did life become "fair"?
(Love your C1 picture BTW)

1snake

WHAT????? Life isn't fair????? Since when????

Thanks. I want to finish my 65 so I can get a family picture in the same spot (and the Cobra will be there too).

Mike Ward

Mark Knopfler,

The Car Was The One

In summer '63 I was staying alive
hanging at the races, hoping to drive
When they were done with the weekend and loading the cars
I couldn't get a pass so I went to the bar

I'm up in the corner nursing a beer
who should come a laughing and joking in here
but Bobby Brown, the winner of the sports car race
with some friends and a girl, man, she lit up the place

Bobby was a wild boy - one summer
he knocked down a motel wall with a hammer
He'd do anything - one night for a bet
he raced through the cornfields in a Corvette

I thought it's got to be a thrill to be like that
with the beautiful girl and be king of the track
But the truth is when all was said and done
it was his Cobra I wanted - the car was the one
it was his Cobra I wanted - the car was the one
The car was the one - the car was the one

Kerrmudgeon

Hmmmmm, I'm wondering if anyone has a guesstimate of how many of these wanna be Cobras are on the road now? More than street worthy C1's....? That shot of all of them together is amazing!
K

Dan Hampton

I own an original SCCA National Championship car (CSX 2189) that was owned and campaigned by the legendary Robert Lyle "Columbus Bob" Johnson. The Shelby Cobra has one of the most impressive histories in the world of autos. That is what drew me to the marque.

Many replicas are overpowered relative to the original cars. My car, as well as the Daytona Coupes, which have the same engine, had normally aspirated Weber carbureted 289s putting out around 385 hp. That was pretty much the upper limit.

The Cobra mystic, and the price originals bring today, is built around the track performance of the SB car not the 427. The Factory never raced or campaigned a 427, domestically, or for international competition for that matter. The SB car did all the yeoman work.

Many of the great Corvette drivers of the 60s--Johnson, Bondurant, and MacDonald--switched to the Shelby Team after the '62 Riverside race where Billy Krause--for awhile--really tore up the track in the second Cobra built. For Shelby, it was literally off to the races after that.

But make no mistake, the original cars were very crude affairs. No roll up windows and the heater output was tantamount to having a mouse pant on your leg. At $5,995, it was a lot of money in 1963. No wonder only 600+ of the SB cars were produced over a three period. GM was producing almost that many Corvettes a week to give you some idea of the difference in scale.

But properly prepared for the track, they were unbeatable--just ask Enzo Ferrari......

The Shelby story is pretty incredible and it is one of the major reasons I never read fiction.