[Barnsnake]

I was working as a summertime "gopher" in a Ford dealership in a small Kansas town in 1965-66 when the Ford sales rep rolled in with a 427 Cobra on a trailer. The local highway patrolman was in the service department having his patol car serviced. He asked the Ford guy how fast the car would go. The answer was "I don't know". The trooper said, "Want to find out?" The rep said, "Sure, but I'm not going to drive it. It scares me.". The Service Manager pointed to me and said, "He drives sports cars, is it OK if he drives it?". (I was driving a '59 bugeye Sprite at the time. Comparable, right?) The rep said, "If he works here it's OK".

When the trooper's car was ready and the Cobra was off the trailer, the trooper, the rep, the service manager, and I went out on highway 96 and ran the car past the radar. Many times! Every one of us ended up driving the Cobra, including the trooper, until it was nearly out of fuel. I didn't know what the redline was, so I didn't run it over 5000 rpm in 4th. The trooper made the fastest pass, although our 30 second training on police radar operation might have played a part in that.

My most vivid memory is rolling along in 3rd gear at 80+, snapping the secondaries open, and fishtailing. Wow!

I have lusted after a Cobra ever since. Now at 54 years old I have the means and the facilities to build a replica of that Cobra. Hopefully by spring I'll be re-living that memory.