Rare Find 427 Prototype

[decooney]

Originally Posted by lamaluv

You need to ask Duane, of decooney fame, how the flip-top handles at speed. Rich Mason was kind enough to let Duane take it around the track at the last Western States Cobra Bash I guess now we will have an answer to my question some time ago about " what is the flip-top worth".

Dick

Hi Dick, yes indeed. Even today I feel that I still cannot accurately describe how suprised I was by the car, but I may give it a try for old WSCB time sake there old buddy. Many times I wonder what would happen today in a real vintage race rematch at speed at Laguna Seca with that new motor in there, with all the right drivers in the same cars as back then. Obviously a different motor now, built by someone here locally here in my town. I will openly admit I was partially expecting somewhat of an older rattletrap race car feel. NOT the case at all. I quickly learned it was completely the opposite. Before leaving the pits, I mentioned to Rich that if he was going to actually let me drive it, and if I felt good with it on the 3rd or 4th lap, I was going to lay into it a few times to see how it felt. He said okay. Being an ex Kart racer, and I've ridden only a few real fast modern sport bikes in my life for comparison, the car felt more like like a low slung go kart with the ability to accelerate at sport bike speed as compared to other big block Cobras I've driven. Cornering was a whole other level that I did not even attempt to get into at higher speeds. The car and value is well beyond my skill and willingness to drive over my head but I could tell with a few days of solid driving, i would be in pure heaven. My ERA with an FE by Tom at FE Spec is no slouch by any means... but my car compared to the fliptop is not even on the same playing field, not even close. There was one point where five Cobras were humming along pretty good on a decent back stretch, it was a nice wide area, so I decided I had plenty of room and wanted to pass around the outside of all of them. The transition happened so quickly, pretty much like they were all tied to a fence post. We were not racing, just running some good hot laps, but it gave me a pretty darn good idea of what was underneath me and it was absolutely like nothing I had ever experienced before and probably never will again.

The new owner better have a box of Depends ready if one actually plans to put it on a track again and drive it at real race speed.

[lamaluv]

Duanne it is great to hear about your fun time behind the wheel of a great car. I do remember that big s*** eating grin you had on your face the whole week-end. Now all we need is for Bob P to finally tell us the story he teased us with about Rich getting a good deal on the car by purchasing his wife a Very expensive hand-made purse.

Dick

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by decooney

My ERA with an FE by Tom at FE Spec is no slouch by any means... but my car compared to the fliptop is not even on the same playing field, not even close.

All other things being equal, is it purely a low chassis weight that gave the fliptop this feel?

[CobraDan]

FFR Replica of the Turd
http://www.ffcobra.com/forums/showth...flip+top+cobra

[decooney]

Originally Posted by Gunner

All other things being equal, is it purely a low chassis weight that gave the fliptop this feel?

Here is my translation for what its worth:

1. Totally different chassis and setup; as others have advised me.
2. ~700lbs less weight than an ERA with FE (Fliptop is now 100lbs less than original at 1900lbs); now 1800lbs or so.
3. FT was designed and built as a race car rather than a street car design.
4. A true 675HP in now 1800lb FT car vs. an average 500hp in 2500lb FE ERA
5. Added excitement/fear/adrenaline generated driving a car at speed that I could never afford to replace if I wrecked it (maybe that too ); but it still did not prevent me from letting it rip on a few sections on the track. A once in a lifetime experience and I knew it. It did take me at least a day to calm down from it all; honestly. The hair was standing up on my arms like self generated static electricity. Wohooo!

[Cobra Lite]

The beautiful Flip Top comes to auction today:
http://www.rmauctions.com/LiveVideo.cfm?SaleCode=AZ10
The Flip Top (CSX2196) is lot #265 and the auction begins at 11am MST with a Nash Metro (lot #201) so it will be hours before the Flipper hits the block.
If I were a rich man....

I watched the live (on line) coverage last night of the British cars...

WOW!

What a difference in auction action compared to Barrett Jackson...

No auctioneer babble, no "in-your-face" assistants, the auctioneer identified who the high bidder was and clearly what the price was. Even the audience looked, uh, higher class. Nicely dressed and everything. I am used to watching the BJ Auctions on Speed TV and what a zoo that is. I would never enter my car in a BJ auction after seeing how RM handles it. Not that I have a car that anyone would pay serious money for...

I am used to attending and bidding at our local auctions so I am not familiar with how the "big boy toys" auctions are run other than BJ on TV. Is RM always like this? What are other high end auctions like?

[PatBuckley]

I always thought that it had a really nice windshield.......