Excalibur Owners: Please Reply!

[Laurie1770]

I'm looking to buy an Excal soon and I've found these postings to be incredibly informative, interesting and even entertaining at times.

Anyway, I see an Excal on eBay VIN 1XACA2316SM123090 which, if I read you guys right, is probably Excal # 090?? so about 1995 vintage? I was just wondering if anyone has any info on the history of this particular vehicle. It looks like the current owner is pretty straight up, but I don't think he's owned it for very long....I guess I should check the carfax report, huh!

I'll take any advice anyone wants to offer!

[cobraduke]

Here is what I know about 090. Location New Hampshire as of Dec 06 when offered on ebay and got to $32,900, but did not sell in that auction. The current ebay listing is not the same ebay user name or location as for the prior listing. From the '06 listing: custom two color interior over riders, Shelby three spoke moto-lita wheel and shift lever, Shelby front & rear emblems, dash mounted rear view mirror, two factory side mirrors, white faced gages, silver wheels, head rest seats, black switch levers center of dash, no exhaust heat shields, sun visors, no door speakers, Hella disabler security system, AC switch right side of heater vent controls, lighter right side of dash. It was produced with a VIN right at the transistion from 1995 and '96 (085 is a '95 and 099 is a '96). The owner can tell you by looking at the title or registration. In Dec '06 it was reported to have 5100 miles. I can't explain why the current listing is stating and insisting it has 1300 miles. My guess is that the speedo was replaced in 2006 when the interior was redone and that is the mileage put on it since. 1300 miles is 100 miles a year, not likely for a car that had a custom interior redo just prior to it's apparent sale in 2006. The steering wheel, shifter, gage faces, heat shield removal, factory bumper removal, Shelby badges and dash mounted rear view mirror are most likely later upgrades/changes from the original (most of these are popular with cobra replica owners). I have several photos of it from the ebay posting last time. While they are fewer, they are better quality than the ones in the current listing. From the photos, the only change I see is that the upper intahe has been painted black. This is a rare color combination for these cars. Of the 80 or so I know details on, only three are white, one white, one white w/ red stripes and this one. Hope this helps. If you want copies of the earlier photos, send me an email at mduke@blinn.edu and I'll attach them to my reply. As stated in earlier post, I have some informational documents I can also send if you are interested.

Best wishes on your quest,

Mike

[Laurie1770]

Thanks, Mike. That's a lot of really helpful info. I am curious about the mileage and I'll ask the seller that question, again.

Would really appreciate the additional photo's. The one's on eBay are pretty ordinary photography. I'll send you an email so you can respond.

Thanks, again. Really appreciate the help.

[cobraduke]

One other question I'd check on is the convertible top and side curtins. None of the pictures show them, but the trunk photo shows the tonneau. An ebay member asked about a convertible top and the answer said "no hard top just a covertible top." The description describes the tonneau, but makes no mention of a convertible top or side curtins. Some folks who don't know what a tonneau is call them convertible tops .

One other change (minor) that I noticed is that the wooden shift knob has been replaced with a white ball . Another more important thing I just picked up on is that it has an open valve cover breather where it originally had a sealed oil filler cap. I'm not completely sure how this affects the crankcase ventilation system, but other things being original, it might set up a large air bypass into the intake, high oil use and poor driveability. Apparently this isn't the case as the '06 engine photo shows it as well, so something else in that system must have been changed to prevent the intake sucking in air through that thing or what appears to be an open breather is actually just for looks. At any rate I'd want to know what that is all about. The current ebay engine photo also shows one of the vacume lines at the fire wall loose. That can't help either .

Mike

[cobraduke]

Apparently 003 is for sale (located in Milwaukee area) with a good history. Probably need to act quickly as the current owner is seriously thinking about trading it in to a dealer This is one of the first 10 cars that were hand assembled by Bob Bennett as the Excalibur factory assembly line was being set up. Reports are that these 10 cars were especially carefully built as the demonstrator and press introduction cars. Some of these are the ones actually shown in the brochures.

Mike

Edit 3/18/2008: If interested, contact the current owner Bill Meyers billmeyers@meyerselectric.com
Car is dark blue with white stripes and black interior. He can email photos and answer your questions!

[cobraduke]

The owner of 145, the unique stretched, specially commissioned 1996 Excalibur cobra is alive and well (actually gorgeous) and in the USA (Northeast). It is still owned by a family member of the African diplomat who commissioned it. If you'd like to see photos, they are posted at http://www.elisif.smugmug.com/gallery/3747075#215459109

If you haven't made contact to get your Excalibur listed in the registry, contact me at mduke@blinn.edu

You'll also get a spread sheet copy of those that have been located. Leads are greatly appreciated. We need more owners, data, photos, info, history Take a few moments and contribute to this effort.

Mike

[Laurie1770]

I was just told by the current owner of 090 (via Ebay email) that he currently has an offer of $38000. I never saw it in the flesh, or drove it obviously, but the photos looked pretty good. No top, though, so that puts it in the $40,000 range for a comparable unit. Seems pretty high, but good luck to him. Just thought you'd be interested.

And I'm not really looking for black, so 099 is off my list too.

I'll keep looking! Not really in a position to travel all over the country on a whim, so I'll be looking out for something in the mid-atlantic region....could take a while, but I'm not in any hurry either.....after all, it's still cold up here in Virginia.

Laurie.