Hemi Powered AC Cobra!

[BAsque1]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Jay,

At one time back in the early 70s a guy near here put a 60s era 426 Hemi in his original Cobra and had it in there for about 4 months until he learned that he was destroying the value of it. He had kept the original 427 so he had it all put back original. He sold it some time ago for just over $600K.

Ron

Hi Ron:
Call me a purist, but in my opinion a Cobra with anything other than Ford in my mind is sacrilegious. No offense to those who have installed any other brand of powerplant.

[HemiSnake]

Originally Posted by BAsque1

Hi Ron:
Call me a purist, but in my opinion a Cobra with anything other than Ford in my mind is sacrilegious. No offense to those who have installed any other brand of powerplant.

I respect your opinion and yours looks awesome!

As far as my objectives, I never wanted to replicate something. I was out in a few that were very close to original and the question "is that real?" started to get annoying. My neighbor has a real one and when out in that one..., well you get the picture.

I was out to build a trackable hot rod that happened to have a Cobra body. Once the E-M kit offered a custom coilover suspension based on a Chevy, I figured I'd spread the love across all 3 of the Detroit Muscle and drop in a Mopar. Besides, the HEMI has been my favorite power plant since I can remember. The build was a lot of fun and the car is still running strong. Lucky I couldn't figure out the electronics, otherwise I'd be running a Cadillac Northstar V8 Twin Turbo...

In fact I'll be a Blackhawk Farms raceway this weekend turing as many laps as possible. It's hard to beat a 528 with side pipes running flat out.

[BAsque1]

Originally Posted by HemiSnake

I respect your opinion and yours looks awesome!

As far as my objectives, I never wanted to replicate something. I was out in a few that were very close to original and the question "is that real?" started to get annoying. My neighbor has a real one and when out in that one..., well you get the picture.

I was out to build a trackable hot rod that happened to have a Cobra body. Once the E-M kit offered a custom coilover suspension based on a Chevy, I figured I'd spread the love across all 3 of the Detroit Muscle and drop in a Mopar. Besides, the HEMI has been my favorite power plant since I can remember. The build was a lot of fun and the car is still running strong. Lucky I couldn't figure out the electronics, otherwise I'd be running a Cadillac Northstar V8 Twin Turbo...

In fact I'll be a Blackhawk Farms raceway this weekend turing as many laps as possible. It's hard to beat a 528 with side pipes running flat out.

Oh please don't get me wrong, if there is an engine that I love as much as I do my Side Oiler is the 426 Hemi, I would love a 1970 Charger with a Hemi, I just prefer to stay within the brand name. We restored an 83 Jeep CJ-7 and kept the 258 in line 6 not to install a Chevy SB 350 and not been able to find a decent AMC 304.

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by BAsque1

Hi Ron:
Call me a purist, but in my opinion a Cobra with anything other than Ford in my mind is sacrilegious. No offense to those who have installed any other brand of powerplant.

No offense taken, all in good fun and certainly no offense intended, but this is what makes me smile about the whole "sacrilegious" thing: Here's a guy with a very nice but big, long, heavy, bulging, solid axle fiberglass car with a cushy custom interior that bears only a loose resemblance to a Cobra claiming to be a Cobra purist because he's running a 427 FE engine.

Could I then stick an FE into any old 2 seat fiberglass kit like - say - a Devin, slap on a roll bar and side pipes and declare it a Cobra? The West Coast cars are well liked by their owners for the extra size and comfort, but to me a low-slung, lightweight, 90" wheelbase, IRS equipped car with a spartan interior and an accurate looking body is far more "Cobraesque" in spirit and character, regardless of the brand of engine - or transmission for that matter (as long as it's manual) - that the owner chooses to use.