[eschaider]

Your observation about not being able to modulate the braking to allow for use as an emergency brake when the primary braking system fails is spot on, Gary. However, I don't think Wilwood ever intended the system to be used in that fashion, and I don't think the replica manufacturers ever intended the mechanical parking brake they provide us in these cars to be used as anything other than just that, a parking brake — a proletariat task at best, yet a task with which they seem to experience significant challenges performing successfully. Naming conventions notwithstanding, these devices certainly are not emergency brakes.

I have never seen a replica (or original) with a true emergency brake. The mechanisms both purveyors have provided are, in terms of braking capacity, inadequate to perform even as a parking brake, let alone an emergency brake. The parking brake in our cars is, as luck would have it, at best, just a parking brake. That said, the Wilwood electronic parking brake does have substantially more clamping capacity and parking brake holding capability. Of course, there is also the fact that it is easier to use, maintain, etc.

From a parking brake perspective, the Wilwood product appears to be an easy-to-operate upgrade to our inadequate as-delivered parking brakes — which should not be confused with emergency brakes.

Back in the seventies, when I was youthfully stupid, I had a mind-expanding experience with a friend while he was running through first gear in a 302-powered street warrior based on a Pinto. I decided it would be entertaining to yank up on the mechanical parking brake handle before he could get into second gear.

As luck would have it, that generation of parking brake was actually a pretty impressive mechanism — I successfully locked up both rear wheels! The car immediately swapped ends, and we were instantly traveling backwards, smoking both rear tires! The look on my friend's face was priceless; we were both too young and stupid to recognize the danger.

I think an emergency braking situation in a Cobra could have the potential to play out in a similar fashion if the Cobra's 'parking' brake were up to snuff as an emergency brake. The use of the emergency braking alternative in a potential collision scenario, while intellectually appealing, may be practically challenging, both from a control perspective and also from a functional perspective.

The parking brake that comes with our cars is too weak to function properly as even a parking brake; it is certainly unsuitable as an emergency brake. However, if it were capable of effectively operating as an emergency brake, it is entirely possible in an emergency stop scenario our light Cobras would swap ends just like my friend's Pinto did so many years ago — uncool ...