[What'saCobra?]

Thanks Gar.
Trev is very with it and not much AC etc. escapes his steely gaze.

Actually the 427 chassis and handling is pretty pukka good. Ask Sam Feinstein, who won the SCCA National A Production Championship in 1972 with his 1965/6 427, that both SA and FORD had thrown into the dust bin of history in 1967. It took Chevrolet 6 years after the Cobra was no longer in production to keep the championship.

The problem Trev and i have been bemoaning is the the BB weighs way too much, but the leaf-spring cars are too archaic. For a while after 1967 AC built a 289 Sports which had the 427 chassis and the 289 engine. (Get Trevor Legates's book and read about it.)

Knowledgeable prople that have driven them all consider it the best handling of all the various packages from AC/SA et al. Also read up a bit on the Lightweight version of the MKIV, which is pretty much a light 427 chassis with various SB engines, most commonly the 351 for US consumption (very, very few of these) and mostly the hot Mathwal-built 302 in GB/EC (not many of these either).

Mr. T,
Just a couple of random thoughts.

No, i don't think you are exaggerating. Those two boys from Provo surely will have their encores. Because they demand to do stuff as correct as inhumanly possible and we are all limited by the investment of time and allocated casheroni, they must pick and choose their encores very carefully and follow/lead the market rather sparingly.

Viz: The FIA cars are very sweet indeed and have had a market demand, but my guess is that the car is somewhat demand limited, after this current spate of interest in ANYTHING but a 427. In the end, the ****ing buggy springs are something of a limitation, hard to get control over and are very specialist indeed. And, when you just get the engine and suspension really working, the frame flex starts to eat the alloy body...trust me...i know the hard way.

Many intelligent revisions to the buggy bugger start to make it a different car altogether, as they have discovered with the 427 mods. People start to get confused...(The capital requirements to keep all those various mod bits and standard bits shelf or near shelf available is not insignificant, even when they are NC fabbed.) But, their FIA version is fine indeed. i saw one of their early FIA's at Provo and was quite impressed.

Viz: Their current consideration to supply glass bodies. Why not? It will be as nice as could be and their's will be the best. i had the first USA glass 308 years ago and that glass was just wonderful and made the Vettes of 1976 look like poor cousins from Ester.

But, if it helps move frames and bits from stock and keeps the total entry price down, whilst upping the other bit volume, it's smart.

But, in the end, like Brian's ACE, we all want to mold something for ourselves that CREATES a market...but, invariably we will sink or swim or both. Perhaps a particular version of the 289 Sports will do it? We wish!

Yet, the handling, comfort and cost advantages of such a car have escaped notice by both AC and Shel'. They are looking too far away, the truth sits under their noses. It would use K alloy bits and engineered stuff and be available in both alloy and glass...but, sold as a 1964 copy, reproduction, clone, continuation...

AND, it doesn't have to have a 289, but certain legal advantages would accrue in some states registrations. A nice little stroked 351 or hot tamale 302/347 would suffice, as we know. Small aly blocks are getting cheaper, since there are now at least 3 casters. Available from FORD, even.

And the 289 Sports bay would also fit a 390 (should someone of the uninformed insist), with the selection of alternative front spring rates to support the rediculous additional weight. But, proper FE 427 Tunnel Port Side Oilers are very, very dear, dear. i just sold one for £16K out your way. It was very perfect and historic NOS. So, maybe a not so perfectly historic could be bot for $16K or so here, but you would have to be very careful indeed. Several vendors wll make a modern pukka one from an old block for about that money. But, a 425HP 351 is available all day for $8K! And 425HP is what a street 427 put out. A race 427 was about 485HP or so. Look at the cost and weight advantages...

Yep, that Brock Coupe you moved is as beautiful as is possible. My only concern is that they weigh too much for my taste...i read 3300#. For that weight, i would rather drive a fully engineered Z06.

Needs a diet, but i don't know how...

And, please don't knock the Lada. Yes, here in NA and GB, they are as useless as any other old FIAT, but i drove several different versions on many, many different outings in the Soviet and their disputed territories of the Baltic States. i found them to be able to start in the most frigid weather and took my abuse and the rotten roads of all seasons over about a ten year period, before, during and after the revolution. i two-wheeled a few around MocBa's back streets, the eastern Urals and up and down the cobblestones of Vilnius/Tallinn and not one ever broke or let me down. Not once.

i used to pay...9¢ a liter for Rus gaz during the late 80's and into the early 90's. But, for that matter, i used to pay 26¢ a gallon US for 102 octane for CSX 2434 in the mid-sixties.

(Don't bother, 2434 doesn't show my name as owner, for some reason. But, i've got the repair bills and registrations.)