Cobra Kit Car Question

[Veinot]

Hi......
I have been looking into doing some sort of roadster or kit car/restoration and I came accross a Cobra Coupe (66 Roadster Coupe) from Street Beasts. I was wondering it anyone had any dealings with them that they could tell me about? If anyone knows if the product is of good quality? customer service issues? anything that might be helpful....
thank you all for your time

[joyridin']

You REALLY need to do a search on here before asking. There are a ton of posts on here about StreetBeast and it's predecessor, CMC. After you are done reading, you should be able to answer your question without a problem...good or bad.

Good Luck!!

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Veinot

Hi......
I have been looking into doing some sort of roadster or kit car/restoration and I came accross a Cobra Coupe (66 Roadster Coupe) from Street Beasts. I was wondering it anyone had any dealings with them that they could tell me about? If anyone knows if the product is of good quality? customer service issues? anything that might be helpful....
thank you all for your time

Street Beast has a soiled reputation, as does their old company (name change and some management changes, but the owners are still the same family) CMC. As suggested above, do a search of this site and the web and you'll see why what you think is "the deal of the century" is really not such a great deal after all. Enough said.


Bill S.

[mr bruce]

What are your skill sets? We had a CMC Porsche speedster kit years ago, and the body would put to shame just about every big name Cobra company thats out there today. If you can fabricate parts, and can steal it cheep, it might be a good deal. Resale will be nuthing tho, due to their rep.

[Veinot]

My skills are really low, but I have alot of cousins and uncles who are skilled with mechanics and some have machining tools, I'm thinking it will be a fun learning experience/hobby. I am not under any dilusion that after 2 weeks babam I'm done, I'm actually thinking 3 to 5 years of work before I get it to move under its own power.
I have looked at a lot of different kits, rebodies, and restorations but I always find something I don't like that kills it for me. I saw the cobra coupe they offered and thought wow it looks good, has a roof, and windows. I just don't want to end up with something that can't be registered or inspected, and I have not seen any other companies offer something that looks similar. Although the Kirkham Motorsports has one with a hard top that looks really nice.
Anyway thanks for your help I'll search on here, but from what I am hearing I doubt I'm going to buy from them

[Silverback51]

A Street Beasts to a Kirkham.

Wow. You have pretty much gone from one extreme to the other.

[Veinot]

I have been looking at Jags, Cadillacs, lincolns, pontiacs, camaros, firebirds, trans Ams, porsches, and beyond. I always liked the look of the Cobra, but with no door windows or hard roof it makes it difficult to justify getting one living in Nova Scotia where the weather changes faster than my wifes mind. But yeah it seems that everything I look at for either kit car, re-builder, or brand new there is something about it I cannot stand.

[Veinot]

Even the MkVI Cobra AC Cars is coming out with, love it looks great... Can not stand the gull wing/Ferrari style doors, blah... they are so useless Ferrari doesn't even use them anymore... Sorry, thats just my opinion, I'm sure the people who have them appreciate the fact that they can get in and out of their cars in tight parking situations

[Gunner]

When it comes to Cobra kits, a quality end product is going to cost you much the same no matter which route you take. The more complete the kit and the better the initial engineering, the more you'll pay for that first delivery. If you buy a lesser quality or less-complete kit, you'll spend the money down the road acquiring parts, having donor parts reconditioned, and reworking the kit engineering to adapt it to alternative parts.

One of the problems with buying a minimal kit, or, say, just the frame, is that a few years down the road the maker may no longer be able to provide you with the rest of the key components. We had a few discussions recently with people who were trying to complete 10-year-old kits and for which the original fitting body or other major components were no longer available.

If your own skills aren't good, you probably want a better, more complete kit - there's certainly plenty of work and learning to do even when all the parts are there and fit together first try. If you get into something that needs heavy fabrication, adaptation, scrounging for a mix of donor parts, etc. you're likely to find it a slow, hard slog.

Good luck, though, whichever way you go. You'll find this forum an absolutely invaluable source of information and advice... some of it even useful.

[TINNMANN]

If I read it rite and you live in Canada the only kit car that you can import is a unbuilt Factory Five. Transport Canada has very restrictive rules about what you can bring into the country. Another option is D&D Cobra in Quebec and if you search the manufactures you will find Turn Ten Racing And D&D Cobra and Don's phone number is in one of the threads. If you click on the camera icon under my name there are some pics of mine.
Cheers Greg

[Veinot]

I figured a kit with minimal fabrication would be best for my skill level or learning curb. I definitely want something with most or all of the major parts there leaving me with engine, tranny, breaks, and interior modifications to do along with assembly.
Although I have stumbled on to two other manufacturers Shell Valley and Hawk Cars. They Both have a Cobra with a Hard top thats sharp looking, and Hawk apparently deals with Kirkham as well, and to my rough calculation the kits are starting somewhere in the 15000$ range...
Anyway must look more later I have to study

[Ralphy]

As a recent shopper, I can tell you look nationwide. You will find more StreetBeast kits being sold unfinished. To me this alone speaks volumes.

As far as your weather conditions, you can enclose a Cobra. As an option you may want to look at a used Classic Roadster Austin Healey kit. They have rollup windows.

[Veinot]

Austin Healey... I will check into those thank you

[tcrist]

Veinot,
This is a user group for the Classic Roadster AH replica.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Sebringowners/
Hope this helps in your search.

[mdross1]

After dealing with CMC back in the early 90's,the frustration level was high dealing with their management.Can understand a lot of them not finished.The CMC Cobra kit was everything I hoped for and after seeing several other kits,made me very pleased.Streetbeasts are a whole different story much better to deal with.Bought another hood to install larger scoop,several years after the car was finished.It fit the car like it made especially for it.

[Veinot]

You can get a lot of quid tied up in these kits, I would hate to make a 22000$+ mistake. I would really like to see how your StreetBeast kit turned out if you could post a picture.
I did find a company I can't remember the name off hand, their kit over all cost has got to be in the 30Grand range completed but you can buy in Phases which I thought was neat...
But the StreetBeast Coupe I really like but what I have been reading does not vote well for them, but I would still be interested in seeing your build

[Veinot]

You can get a lot of quid tied up in these kits, I would hate to make a 22000$+ mistake. I would really like to see how your StreetBeast kit turned out if you could post a picture.
I did find a company I can't remember the name off hand, their kit over all cost has got to be in the 30Grand range completed but you can buy in Phases which I thought was neat...
But the StreetBeast Coupe I really like but what I have been reading does not vote well for them, but I would still be interested in seeing your build