I just love the versatility of American English. Take a perfectly good word, e.g. ironic, misuse it throughout several decades, and all of a sudden it becomes a substitute for another word, e.g. sarcastic although the two bear no relation to one another in British English. When I saw the post above, I felt compelled to look up the word 'ironic' in an American English ditctionary, and sure enough, it's become a synonym for "sarcastic". I suppose ~300 million wrongs now make a right...
(Mis)use of the English language aside, I do believe a BotB list is possible. As indicated in the original post, it's not easy. In essence, one would have to strive for a good balance of subjective and objective data, and the list/database would need to be updated regularly. Let's face it, there's a lot of emotion tied to cobra replicas, and in reading through the 1000s of posts scattered throughout the forum it's often difficult to discern the true motivations/knowledge of those posting.
We all know there are 10s of dodgy kit builders out there. We also know that it's generally accepted that Shelby, Kirkham, ERA and Superformance produce the highest quality replicas in terms of quality of materials, the "authenticity" of the total look (interior and exterior, fit and finish of panels etc., strucural rigidity of framce/chassis etc., but one has to dig deep (as a newbie) to find this "data", and even then it's often represented as nothing more than an opinion from some unknown (e.g. me). You may disagree with my listing, but that's besides the point (I just reference the above to wind you up).
The Cobra replica guide (forget the exact name) is an OK place to start, but it's not so much a guide as a short advertisement (in the manufacturers own words) for a number of kit builders/OEMs who happened to "make the cut". In reading through this thing, it's not the least bit clear whether Jimbo's Cobra is of the same overall quality as the Kirkham, or whether the SPF looks more or less authentic than an ERA. Why not begin compiling this type of list on this site? Heck, the editors could even charge for access, or produce a standalone monthly mag for Cobra enthusiasts based on those listings - just like a regular car magazine. The pros/cons of the best cars (along with indicative pricing) could be listed, along with customer references. The fact that it'd be put together by a relatively small group of experts, would lend an air of objectivity to the whole thing. Of course the subjectivity could never be done away with completely - it's simply unavoidable.
Anyway, that's enough from me. Let the criticism continue....