What the hell?

[209]

Somebody or everybody tell me why someone buys a long awaited cobra and never drives it?? Am I missing something? If you have 1k or less and it's five years old, why don't you drive it? You don't even have the bugs out of it yet. The motor isn't even broken in. I can't see it. I bought mine Feb of 09 and I'm on my 2nd motor and if I don't drive it, my motor warranty will expire. It's been at the installers for 7 of those months and I've racked up 8k just yesterday. Granted I live in a place where I can drive 11 months of the year but still. I don't do shows 'cause I'd rather drive it. Please tell me. The ONLY reason I can see is "I'll be driving my new GT40 that I may purchase soon)". 209

[Mooch]

To make you feel better, I got mine 7 months ago and have ~3400 miles on it.

Some short course auto-X:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklqkBoFFv4

[WardL]

The story I got when buying my SPF with 1,700 miles in 3 years was "The first time my wife got out of the Cobra she burned her leg and would never get in it again" He wanted to go for a ride with his wife. Oh, another story was the wife got allergies when they got out. It must be a spouse thing? I agree with you....

[tkb289]

Originally Posted by Mooch

To make you feel better, I got mine 7 months ago and have ~3400 miles on it.

Some short course auto-X:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FklqkBoFFv4

Mooch ... looks like a nice way to exercise 1st gear in your ERA ... sounds great

[JST4FUN]

I bought mine in May with 1100 miles in a little over a year with a similar story to WardL's. Everyone has their reasons I guess!

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by 209

Somebody or everybody tell me why someone buys a long awaited cobra and never drives it?? Am I missing something? If you have 1k or less and it's five years old, why don't you drive it? You don't even have the bugs out of it yet. The motor isn't even broken in. I can't see it. I bought mine Feb of 09 and I'm on my 2nd motor and if I don't drive it, my motor warranty will expire. It's been at the installers for 7 of those months and I've racked up 8k just yesterday. Granted I live in a place where I can drive 11 months of the year but still. I don't do shows 'cause I'd rather drive it. Please tell me. The ONLY reason I can see is "I'll be driving my new GT40 that I may purchase soon)". 209

Same thing with the Ford GTs. People in 2005 and 2006 were buying these for close to 200K and most of them seem to have less than 5000 miles and frequently under 1000, with a fair number in the less than 500. Especially true of the Heritage (Gulf Oil color) cars.

Many of them have not even had the TSBs performed and the primary one (axle bolts) are no longer available from Ford.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by WardL

The story I got when buying my SPF with 1,700 miles in 3 years was "The first time my wife got out of the Cobra she burned her leg and would never get in it again" He wanted to go for a ride with his wife. Oh, another story was the wife got allergies when they got out. It must be a spouse thing? I agree with you....

My wife doesn't like mine either, but I managed to put almost 6000 miles on it trying to convince here before I threw in the towel.

[tin-man]

Originally Posted by WardL

The story I got when buying my SPF with 1,700 miles in 3 years was "The first time my wife got out of the Cobra she burned her leg and would never get in it again" He wanted to go for a ride with his wife. Oh, another story was the wife got allergies when they got out. It must be a spouse thing? I agree with you....

I do believe it was perhaps after she burned her leg the guy took someone else for a ride and his wife got allegies from the seat, ya think?

[FredBMOC]

Have you guys ever looked at Ferraris? Owners of certain brands/models seem to think it's a crime to drive their pride and joy cars. I have 2 partners who have Lambos and Ferraris and both keep them in the garage all of the time afraid to put miles on the cars and lose value; such a waste..... I'm driving my Cobra to the office this morning again ;-)

[Silverback51]

My car was 8 years old when I bought it and it had a little over 4000 miles on it. The original owner drove it to car shows and that was it.

In the 3 years that I have owned it I have put 20,000 miles on it and have loved every mile. Last summer we put close to 3,000 miles on it during our vacation and will be doing the same this year.

Personally I buy cars to drive them.

[mic n gill]

wife got snake bite, used powerade as we had no water, healed up within a couple of days, great stuff---Mic

[azfordman]

I always wondered the same thing the last few years when I was shopping for one. Seemed like so many cars had only a couple of hundred miles on them. My car is close to 20 years old and had just over 900 original miles on the odometer when I got it.... I've owned it just over 3 month now and have put almost 4,000 miles on it already!!!! I spent the first 42 years of my life cobra-less, so I have a lot of time and miles to make up for! These cars were meant to be driven and enjoyed. I am sooooo glad I live in a state where I can drive it 365 days a year.

[mdross1]

When we first got ours on the road it was part of our primary transportation,the other a pickup truck.Now it sits a lot because of so many other summer hobbies,that's Okay too nothing to prove to anyone!!!

[tin-man]

Originally Posted by azfordman

I always wondered the same thing the last few years when I was shopping for one. Seemed like so many cars had only a couple of hundred miles on them. My car is close to 20 years old and had just over 900 original miles on the odometer when I got it.... I've owned it just over 3 month now and have put almost 4,000 miles on it already!!!! I spent the first 42 years of my life cobra-less, so I have a lot of time and miles to make up for! These cars were meant to be driven and enjoyed. I am sooooo glad I live in a state where I can drive it 365 days a year.

I am really looking forward to meeting with you when I eventually get my Cobra, John, AKA, tin-man

[joyridin']

I didn't drive mine at all this year. Didn't even put plates on it. It is kind of a hassle. Moving cars around to get out of the garage, keeping it clean, worrying about rain plus a few other things.

The motorcycle is so much easier. Hop on it and go. There is still the rain thing, but I don't really worry about it on the bike.

[Tommy]

A close friend of mine has four cars in his five car garage, all of them bought new and none of them a current or future classic. One is his daily driver and the others just sit there. His five year old Mazda Miata has only been to the gas station once. Try as I have, I cannot understand his thinking. It seems that some people like to buy things without regard to using them. It doesn't make sense to me, but it's his money, his garage and his cars that are depreciating without use. He often talks of buying a Cobra too. To each his own.

[bran3b]

I have to admit that I am one of the offenders here. My car hit the road in 2002 and has about 4,000 miles on it, a little less. Most of those miles came in the first few years, maybe 200 miles a year since 2005. a few years ago job change meant that I cannot drive it to work any more, 2 kids means that the Mustang gets the cruise duty and lack of time means that I can't get out with the club as often as I would like. It has gotten so bad that I have considered selling it to someone that can enjoy it since it just depresses me when I think of it sitting in the garage day after day.

oh well, there is always next Cobra season, I will drive it I promise!

[JBCOBRA]

Now that it is cold, I am already going into Cobra Driving Withdrawl!
Praying for a warm spell.
JB

[Wbulk]

I believe there are a certain amount of people that just do not fit in these cars and driving them is just to painful. I see a guy every year at car shows that's about 6'2" and in his sixties. He told me he only drives his car to the shows because it's just to painful to drive it more than 30 minutes. I have set in a few other cars and can't tolerate it more than a minute or two. I bought my car to build because I like building and I could fit in the car, not because it was a better kit. The options for bigger guys has gotten better over the years, but there are a lot of older cars out there that look geat but hurt really bad. These are ideal for short guys.

[patrickt]

I think the time that you spend under your car fixing it, because it is broken, should count for double time over that of simply driving it.