John,
I understnd your situation, I was there a few years ago and these are the conclusions i came up with. What do i want for my cobra:
I wanted a big block with 5 speed trans,(like the way it sounds)
I want the real knock off rims( i think they are real cool)
I want the original stye guages
I want an original shape
I want a top
I want a glove compartment and visors.
I want a nice paint job
I want independant rear suspension (once i rode in one with it it was a must)
I wanted the
oil cooler with the lines in the front.
If you add up the cost all of these thing i wanted it just does not make sense to go with a doner car. Every where i looks it was an extra or a part that i had to find and eventually it would be a car of mixed mached parts. Dont get me wrong, some ffr cars are really nice and they perform very well. And then there was one last thing that is a real show stopper. I live in Mass and look into how i would get it registerd when i was done. FF didnt really want to help you in this area and i hear about some real nightmares.
After i added up the exspense it made sense to go with a roller chassis that had all of my wants with real good quality parts thant are band new and a show quality paint job.
I ended up buying a Superformance and installed my own Engine and trans. I paid $37,000 for the car and went over board on the engine and trans and spent $23,000 so total was $60,000. I put $15,000 down and finaced the rest so it was like having a normal car payment for 5 years. It is the way i decided to go and very happy i did. I have a freind that decided to do the doner and he has the car done but cant regester it until he puts a used engine in it and puts catalitic convertors on it and it must pass two differnt types of inspections. This is all just my opinion, If i were you just buy one already done and without the head aches. Let us know what you decide.