It just depends on one's own reasons for wanting one, I guess. Some of us grew up lusting after Cobras, before replicas existed, and probably have a different background, therefore, than those who perhaps came into the room from the other door, i.e., saw a replica, liked it, then learned later on that there was a car made in the Sixties that the kit was based upon. As for me, I can still remember seeing my first article on an ERA, something like 25 years ago. I had devoured every written word I could find on the original Cobras, and it suddenly seemed there was a way to obtain a car that was otherwise unobtainable. It was years before the proliferation of replicas of all kinds, based upon multiple donor sources. Now, there is something for everyone in our Cobra hobby, from the "purist" who wants to pretend it is 1965 again, to the guy who would probably just as soon own a streetrod but thinks the Cobra body shape is neat, to the guy who finds an affordable Mustang donor car and realizes an FFR is the ticket to a dream.
There is room for everybody, and I don't think being "stuck in time" is any better or worse than any other take on the hobby. It's just one angle on it. I know my car is not a real Cobra. I still want it to look like one; it just happens to be important to me. But it doesn't make me look down my nose at the guy with the purple Cobra with chrome Centerline wheels parked next to me at a Texas Cobra Club meet; he's just playing a different instrument in the same band, if you follow me. Sure, the people who are overly anal about "original detail" can be irritating, but so can the people who bash the people who are overly anal about it. It's a natural occurrence when you have this many people from so many backgrounds sharing a common interest. We're all one big, happy, dysfunctional family, kind of like Christmas at my house.
But hey, it's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Bob