Thank you once again for your insightful responses, guys.
John (1SwtRide), I haven't written backdraft off completely. The number one reason being my father lives within 35 minutes of Boynton Beach... Not far from Backdraft US Headquarters. I look forward to taking a look at your thread. Attention to detail is the kind of thing that I really like as an engineer by education and at heart.
On financing, woodside will do a 6% fixed rate loan for up to 12 years. Not amazing but not terrible either.
No need for a hard money loan, Rodney! As I said, if I really squeezed every drop of somewhat liquid assets and sold off a few cars from my collection, I could probably come up with the entire 150-160 for a kirkham. I just don't think it would be prudent to do so. I'd never take on liability more than I can scrounge together in cash if needed.
RodKnock, that's definitely the most responsible way to do it. It's all about finding the right one. It seems Cobra country is a great place to do that. Just need to get two cars sold to keep the ole' lady believing I'm still sane.
Am I a little impatient? Maybe, but it's for good reason. I can wait a year though, whether that's for a new era or to find something used. It gives me time to get other projects finished and get finances lined up.