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Old 12-03-2008, 08:29 AM
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Yetiman Yetiman is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SE Wisconsin, Wi
Cobra Make, Engine: Arntz/SBC/Jag
Posts: 1,033
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Default Arntz

Make/Model: Arntz 427

Manufacturers Web Site: Yea, good one !

Owners Forum Link: http://clubcobra.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100

Year/Miles: Body and frame built in 1983, car has been on the road since 1989, and has about 14k miles under it.

Built by/Time to build: A friend of mine, about a year and a half and then some major updates farther down the road

Engine/Horsepower: Chevy 350, 420 hp

Pros: The Arntz cars are very well made and solid. The frame is remarkably strong and stiff, and has extra outer side rails for added safety in a side impact (though they are very low in these days where every other vehicle on the road is a truck). The wheelbase is two inches longer for improved handling. The engine is also farther back in the car for better balance and improved handling.
Body quality is quite good though it has inconsistencies that were in the original Cobra the mold was made off of. The shape of the body is quite accurate and the only liberty taken was a 2 inch stretch.
The doors are heavily reinforces (you can sit on them and they won't sag).
It uses a Jaguar XKE independent rear suspension which makes the rear easily tunable with shock and spring changes, and it also has a very comfortable ride quality.
Trigo wheels fir perfectly. I was a bit worried when I switched from the wire wheels the car came with.
Arntz's can be had for very attractive prices, and are still very good kits.

Cons: Company is LONG gone. It was later picked up by Butler, and some spares are reportedly still available through Ron Butler.
Most were built with Chevy engines including mine. This is one of the factors that keeps the prices down on these cars, though a Ford lump is pretty easily swapped in. With a Chevy motor, the distributor in under the cowl and cannot be removed with the engine in the car.
The trans tunnel is quite wide due to the engine being farther back which makes for a narrower foot box.
The pedal set supplied with the kit mounts the master cylinders under the floor which can be inconvenient, but can also be changed easily.
The frame uses rectangular steel tubes. It isn't 'authentic' by any means, but it is a really strong frame. The outer rails are visible under the body if, like me, you don't want side pipes.
The door latches supplied are not of the original Cobra type.
The kit was originally designed to use an MGB front suspension which is crap. There are options for high quality front suspensions, but it takes some engineering.
The kit came with very little in the way of directions or even suggestions for suspension setup. The dealer/distributor was of almost no help on these matters either.
You had to have some skills to complete the kit ! My kit went through several owners before it was built beyond the most rudimentary stages.

Comments: I was intimately familiar with the completed car I bought as I was there for much of the building and mods. I wasn't even so much into Cobra's when I bought it as I was into THAT specific car.
The price was right and I did a LOT of modifications to the car when I got it.
It has a custom built road racing front suspension (built for an MGB) that works quite well.
I personally like the Chevy engine/Doug Nash 5 sp setup my car has. I am not a Ford die hard. But you need to have a thick skin if you get around a lot of car guys with a bowtie under the bonnet.
I have had mine 5 years now and still love Love LOVE it !

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Last edited by Yetiman; 12-03-2008 at 08:43 AM..
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