Why do people sell their Cobra?

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by philminotti

Other than the builder who does what he does, that is builds and sells, why do people get rid of what should be their dream car?
phil

I frequent the GT40s website and we had a build thread on an incredible project. Soon as it was finished, it was offered for sale. This was a private individual, not a business (I assume your comments above referenced commercial businesses whose focus is building and selling replicas). We were all amazed he would sell and asked him why, his answer was simple:

"Some guys play golf; I build cars".

Sounds like a hobby to me....can't be a moneymaking operation in this economy, we all hear accounts of people having twice as much invested in their "For Sale" offering than they can get for it.

BTW...that guy on the GT40's website...he has not been back, I guess he settled on a different type of project for his next creation.

Cheers!

Dugly

[Silverback51]

In my case I will sell it as I get close to retirement. Just does not fit in my retirement plans.

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

In my case I will sell it as I get close to retirement. Just does not fit in my retirement plans.

What he said, or when my left knee finally gives out and I can't depress a clutch any longer. Whichever event comes first. More than likely just hand the keys to my son and tell him, "Somehow I managed not to let it kill me. Now it's your turn."

[philminotti]

So it seems that, logically, that the people who frequent this site have had to give up their rides for financial, age related or other tangible and quite understandable reasons. I guess I've always been interested in the people who have a high dollar Cobra built for them who suddenly turn around and inexplicably sell it. I'm sure long time clubcobra folks remember that guy who was having a high end Kirkham built and asked literally thousands of inane questions until it was finally done, and then sold it. It would seem by the replies here that these people are the small minority.

[4pipes]

Each Cobra owner is as unique as their specific cars. It is futile to try and understand why some sell their cars ad some don't. The variables of money, wives, health, skills, age, attention span, .....add up to a formidable matrix.

[gsharapa]

I'm on my 6th Cobra and I sold either to build another Cobra, get a GT40, Kirkham Aluminum Cobra, GT350R Race Car, New GT500, back to Cobras. My wife says I love the build and chase of buying and selling.........

[Dimis]

For the same reason they sell Ferrari 458's.
Cos they need to cough up after losing a bet.

Surely you guys remember this...
Drag race - Kirkham 65 side-oiler vs Ferrari 458 italia &

Continuation of Thread: Drag race - Kirkham 65 side-oiler vs Ferrari 458 Italia

[sspano01]

im not sure why you would sell a car that you built from the ground up, definately the first car from the ground up! aside from an illness or financial calmity....

that being said....i might build a second cobra soon with a different engine combo. I could see selling that at some time. but not my first one :O

[menace1]

And then there is the small percentage of owners that don't now how to repair the Cobra once something goes awry. If I had to pony up $$ for all the repairs that i've done,I'd sell mine too! Also wifey burned her leg on the side pipe and she still gets in without complaining too much...

Glenn

[WildBill3]

Man it ripped my gutts out to have to sell,and still does I hate it.Money Money Money its ausome when its ther and totally sucks when it's not.

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by WildBill3

Man it ripped my gutts out to have to sell,and still does I hate it.Money Money Money its ausome when its ther and totally sucks when it's not.

Dear Wildbill3,

I wish you all plenty of money, but more so, I wish you good health, because without it my dear friend that totally sucks

Anth

[cobrakidz]

I had fun with mine, sold it to buy a Cobra R, had fun with that for a couple years and then sold that to buy my Tiger recently. I usually keep a car for a few years then sell it to buy another----when I die I want to say I had ALL the cars I wanted.

[charles roybal]

Selling my ....soon to rebuilt cobra.... would be like selling my golden retiver. I am supprised as to how little my cobra buds drive thier cars.

[Ron61]

I sold my Roadster because of Health reasons and age. I am to old to race competitively any more and it was just to hot to drive in our 115+ degree Summers with the humidity we are now having. I hated to sell it but sometimes you have to do things that you wold rather not.

Ron

[G-Pete]

How about "don't fit in the car anymore"
or "wife don't fit in the car anymore"

[mkassab]

I just sold my Unique Motorcars Cobra that I completed a year ago.... key reasons:
-Just sits in Garage most of the time.
-My love is the build... so I have two other projects going on, A restomod 70 Mustang Boss 529 and just purchased a 68 Corvette Convertible, 427/4spd. The Mustang is a rotisseries restomod and the Vette will be a frame off restomod.
-In Flordia, with the straight/flat roads, the heat and threat of rain… The Cobra just isn’t that much fun to drive.
-So little time, so much to do.

Build site for the Mustang Project Mustang Boss 429 | FordMuscle.com
Build site for the Cobra Mark's Build - Unique Forums

Mark

[psychoSEAL]

Time to move onto something else.

[jwd]

Originally Posted by psychoSEAL

Time to move onto something else.

Exactly. Cobra's are cool and I enjoyed building/driving mine but it came time to move on. To me, there's no "best in the world, end all, now my life's complete" car. I feel sorry for those that feel that way. I know a guy who says "I want to have owned one of everything before I die". That sounds good to me.

[digginfool]

After one year of ownership, I'm in the process of a half-hearted attempt at selling mine right now, for most of the reasons listed:

Wife literally hates the car. She loves the attention we get when we're out and about but hates everything else about it; noise, wind, comfort (or lack thereof). Hasn't burned her leg but only because I caution her every time she gets in or out.

The weather in South Florida can be brutal; 95 degrees/95% humdity, rains all the damn time. Try to beat the heat and drive at night, you'll be cleaning bugs off and out of the car for a month. There's really only about 4 months out of the year you can reliably expect to have an enjoyable day in the car (but it is some glorious weather).

Boredom. It's hard to stay excited when most of the time the car is just taking up space in the garage. Plus, there are so many other activities the whole family gets involved in (fishing/boating, camping, off-road, sports) whereas the car is only one or two of us at a time.

I'm reluctant to sell because I have a great time with the car. There are three top quality tracks (Miami-Homestead, Palm Beach International and Sebring) within 150 miles of the house, Miami and Palm Beach are within 50. I love hitting all the car shows we have down here, have made many new friends due to the car and with Reg and the guys just a few miles up the road, there is tremendous dealer support. I know if/when I sell, I'll miss it tremendously. But, then again, I missed my airplane, which was the dream of my life, and eventually got over it. I'll be honest on that one; airplanes are an expensive hobby. Cobras (replicas, anyways) are cheap in comparison.

[Bob In Ct]

I drove my SPF for 11 summers here in Southern Connecticut. But in the end I let it go due to all of the following -

I am not a good wrencher and I had nobody nearby to work on the car,
The traffic and roads in my area suck and I was sick of sitting at red lights,
A 6 month driving season, in the winter my daily driver sat outside (covered in snow and ice),
Driving the car would sometimes upset my back (I'm 65) and I would not be right for weeks,
Lack of interaction with other Cobra owners.

Bob