Most Cobras are a bit frantic and mildly exasperating from time to time.
They take a bit of patience and perseverance to enjoy. They can even be embarassing and frustrating depending on preparation and demands.
But, when they are nice, they are indeed nice. Some days things just go so nicely and the ride is perfect (or the race is just perfect). Other times, it isn't the same fun and my to do list gets slightly bigger as a result.
Well, sort of like an aircraft, about 1 hours use for perhaps 2 hours preparation/repair/changes. (Nothing like helicopters, where each hours use requires perhaps 5 hours effort.)
Remember, they are fundamentally British cars, with big improvements in reliability from FORD. Yet, they are idiosyncratic and a little fussy. Skill helps. Money is necessary. Work is mandatory, sometimes just to get home.
Not an all weather car, i could never quite understand how open roadsters were ever originated in the UK, where the weather is so frequently soaking.
To really enjoy my Cobras through the years, took the occasional patience of Job; what's else today, Lord? There was always the hope of making enough improvements to get it to really handle just right (rather elusive, but occasional) and not overheat with that beastie up front. Or make a good hot start. Or not understeer (without throttle). Or not oversteer with a little. Lots of tire combinations, lots of ignition systems, lots of "prodifications". All "fun" to the interested.
Sometimes, i would prodify it beyond the radiator limit, change the rad and finally have enough power to have rear carb bowl feed problems, then when that was fixed the
oil pan baffles were not quite enough... you get the idea.
It was always a work in progress. The car will demand your involvement or it will be a hangar queen.
It is intense, if you are really a driver and it does not suffer silly foolishness mildly. Most folks that scare themselves silly quietly decide to sell it after a while for whatever reason.
Sort of like flying. Or horseback riding. Get back on, get some dual instruction on outside spins transitioning to inside spins, get some seat miles. Otherwise, it isn't fun anymore.
Many great cars have been done by guys that aren't really that hot to drive them, but love to build them. Many hot drivers used Cobras to spingboard to bigger and better iron (aly?).
There is no single route to our own Nirvana, but building or driving the ideal Cobra is certainly one of them for some of us, dispite any disappointments and delays along the way. There is a certain degree of suffering that will be required as the price of joy along the way. Lots of patience is a real aid, because you can tolerate the imprefections of what is, in order to plan for what it might become.
You have to like the smell of wet leather, wet wool rugs and burnt
oil vapors off the pipes and gaskets. You have to learn what nice balance means in a road machine, no matter how fast. You have to accept that if you DO wave at some one, they are gonna feel good the rest of their day. And, therefore, you need to wave a lot! Make 'em happy, says i. ('Specially if you pass 'em on the right here in the US of A. A nice wave is good politic.)
Not everyone will agree, however. My first wife couldn't stand it. Certainly couldn't stand me. Can you imagine anyone not being simply enthralled with riding shotgun position in a rough & clapped-out 289 factory team race-car, with open side pipes, going sideways on the hilly roads of southern New Hampshire in the frosty fall, passing 36 cars at once as they were gawking at the changing foliage?
Fortunately, not all leaves are wet, nor all corners bumpy.
(Can't quite recall that girl's name...)
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Nice thread, mostly. Please keep.