selling a Cobra with a Chevy.

[Buzz]

It's interesting how easily people are divided and manipulated, and fall prey to corporate marketing schemes. For someone to actually identify himself as a "Ford guy" or a "Chevy guy" and actually argue about and defend these brands as if there really is some material difference in righteousness between the two is not only hilarious, but it illustrates how the corporate marketers have the consumers dancing to their tunes instead of the other way around.

Why the hell does anyone care so much about what engine another person chooses to cram into their own custom built hobby car? I can see the point of arguing that someone is ruining the pedigree of an original vintage Cobra, but in anything else, it just doesn't matter.

I was very lucky to find a Unique Motorcars Cobra down here on this tiny Caribbean island. It was built with a Chevy engine as presumably that's what the original owner preferred. If I had built it from scratch, I would've used a Ford FE powerplant as a nod to building it the "way it was". At one time I seriously considered making the swap, but then I asked myself what's the point. The car runs like the blazes as is, the motor has been bulletproof, and I could think of no compelling enough reason(s) for me to go through the hassle.

The truth is, I love the looks, shape, character and performance of the Cobra. The history is interesting, but I'm not drawn to it because it's a Ford (well,sort of) that beat Chevy's and Ferrari's, etc. If it had been originally produced by AMC or Studebaker, I'd still love it today.

In the spirit of the original formula, if I were to build a new Cobra today I would do exactly what Shelby did - I would look for the most suitable chassis and pair it with the most suitable powertrain for my needs. I'd stick with fiberglass because I don't want to stress and obsess about people getting too close to my fragile coachwork. I'd have the best of modern suspension, chassis design and brakes that could fit without compromising the beautiful shape and proportions. For an engine it would be between a supercharged Coyote and a supercharged LS. Comparing the two options for example as sold by Edelbrock as crate engines, the Chevy would win hands down. Same price range, more displacement, power and torque in a much more compact package.

So, for me, my perfect Cobra built today would have Chevy power. Not because I'm a Chevy guy, but because I think it's the better option to suit my needs. Shelby didn't give a rat's arse about Ford vs. Chevy back in the day. He did what he had to do and would just as easily have used GM or Dodge or AMC (or whatever) engines if it had suited his objectives to do so.

Stop being a cheerleader for conniving marketing psychologists and feeling invalidated and threatened by different choices that other people make. Just because someone decides to buy a Vette doesn't automatically mean your Mustang sucks. Spend your money, build your Cobra the way you want and quit giving such a big painful shyt about what other people do with theirs.

IT ONLY MATTERS WITH ORIGINALS. ALL (AND I MEAN ALL) OTHERS ARE CUSTOM CARS BUILT TO THE OWNERS' INDIVIDUAL TASTES.