ERA or Superperformance 427 Thoughts and Observations

[D-CEL]

I always think of us, the Cobra guys, as hammer fisted, gun toting, red meat eating, Cigar smoking, tough F'ing bastards.
You have to be, if driving a Cobra is your choice.
These are essentially old race cars on the street.
Am I the only guy that read that page in the book?

I was on a drive with a with my local Cobra group one day and somehow, I ended up the last car in a 20ish car string.
We limped laboriously down a long, dead straight two lane road, surrounded by farm land, stuck behind a old jeep going about 40mph. Nobody around us in any direction, yet the leader wouldn’t lead the charge.
I grabbed second gear, stepped out and dropped the hammer. The big drag radials hooked, the 4.10's let the motor spin. Shifting at 6800, the line of cars trailing behind me.
With the motor screaming I flashed by the lead car in fourth gear at about 6500rpm. (To this day, the driver of that car says to me as he points "I'm deaf in this ear because of you"...Yea, sorry about that.)

I thought to myself, "This is a car! This is what Cobras are for!"
I shifted into 5th and held my foot hard on the pedal. I watched the tach needle climb and climb. At 5900ish rpm I lifted.

Noisy: Yep
Windy: Yep
Complete concentration: YES SIR!
Scary: Nope
Capable: Yes
Lots of cars that can run at these speeds with less effort. Cars with better aero, a/c, quiet comfy cabins with radar assisted parking.

If those things are high on your priority list, a Cobra is not for you.

The wind, the heat, the smell, the roar..that is the Cobra, less than that is just that. Less
These cars are capable of incredible things, they just require a lot. Input, muscle, concentration, skill..
Doing it the hard way.

That’s what makes us Cobra guys

Jason

[timpound]

i could not have summed this up better, well done, thanks

[jhv48]

Makes me want to go out and kill a bear with my bare hands.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by jhv48

Makes me want to go out and kill a bear with my bare hands.

Well it was a nice post. 5900RPM with his set up is about 135mph, which is not bad at all. Now with my gears that would be 200MPH, which I hit all the time. Yep, even pulling out of the garage, driving with my knees, while picking my nose....

[jhv48]

OK, I'll just go out and strangle a squirrel!

[TButtrick]

Originally Posted by jhv48

OK, I'll just go out and strangle a squirrel!

That's some funny sh!t there.

[D-CEL]

And for what its worth:

I love my SPF. It never disappoints me. I love the design, the chassis, the brakes, the rear end (8.8 ford) make for a fantastic Cobra experience.
Easy, relatively inexpensive to work on.
But to me, ERA (or Kirkham)is a prettier car. The front of the cars is very similar, but from the mid-door back the ERA is what a Cobra should look like..

Patrick,

135mph? If only your math skills were as finely honed as your interpersonal communication skills.

4.10 rear gear
.68 5th,
325-50-15 tire
5900rpm

Since you weren't there
Stick to what you know

Nothing

Jason

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by D-CEL

Patrick,

135mph? If only your math skills were as finely honed as your interpersonal communication skills.

4.10 rear gear
.68 5th,
325-50-15 tire
5900rpm

I used .82 for 5th gear. No need to get huffy.

[RodKnock]

With all the bear and squirrel strangling, eating red meat, smoking cigars and hammering fists, what were we talking about?

Oh yea, Patrick picks his nose.

[D-CEL]

Patrick,

Your pompousness, sarcasm and well published distain for any Cobra not an ERA powered by an FE preceded your "Nice story" and "wink".

If that was not the intent of your post, I apologize.

That being said, I would never comment on the performance of your car, as I have no history with it. Maybe you would be better served if you didn’t either.

Jason