Educating Cobra Buyers?

[Tommy]

Some time ago, a friend and business acquaintance volunteered some financial advice. He had the best of intentions and did not benefit personally from my actions. His advice seemed sound and I followed it. When the market abruptly shifted, that advice cost me about $100K. I didn't hold it against him because the decision was mine, not his. But I would have been better off if I had remained ignorant of his advice. .... My point is that even well informed and well intended advisors sometimes get it wrong. It's up to the person making the final decision to live with it. So if someone asks my advice or opinion, I'll oblige. But I'm hesitant to suggest that people should do what I say just because I'm more knowledgeable than they. .... So my comments usually reference what I would do in similar circumstances, not what they should do.

[NewYorkGuy]

the stories are worth $1mil

Shelby Kirkham Cobra | eBay

[awfink55]

Did I read this right? $1Mil for a $200K Kirkham? If it were me, for $700K I'd wait the year for the build............

[Hotfingrs]

My take is that the ebay ad is to give exposure for their auction, not to sell on ebay.

[mrmustang]

Please ignore the "Nissan" owner/troll above and his attempt to derail this thread for only reasons he would know.

Let's stay on topic.


Bill S.

[BOBOCobra]

Here is my problem. I came to this forum for help and found a bunch of arguing about what is real, what is not, and everyone defending the build they have because they think it is best. I found a lot of sniping and opinions that were simply out of bounds and no help at all, just amusing, and a waste of time. I found people trying to talk people out of buying a cobra because it is so difficult and dangerous (and to some extent they are), but it was as if "the only people that can own one is me because I am so awesome at everything I do". In today's world you can google anything and get a ton of feedback, it's not that hard. In everything you do it is always Caveat Emptor. IMO, it is not someone else's responsibility to make me smart. If one could get good honest feedback that would be great, and your intentions MrMustang are honorable, but in my experience that was almost impossible on this forum. Just look at the Nissan guy that appears to have no practical experience but for some reason feels compelled to comment on all things Cobra, and someone may not know that has not even ever owned one (I believe). If I am selling my cobra, and BTW it is a great car, and someone gets one here and f@#$ it up because you don't like the fact its not original enough then I have a problem with that. A car is only worth what the buyer is willing to pay, my opinion makes no difference. And since most people on here cannot even agree to disagree like adults, then I feel sorry for the person that even asks the question. This is not the place or the responsibility of this forum to comment on buying and selling. It has been a WONDERFUL resource for tech help and tech feedback. For that I say thank you to everyone that responds to tech questions because that is why I come here and for some reason I clicked on this topic, sorry. I usually don't comment but this one hit home for me.

[Joe's Garage]

Well said, my thoughts exactly but articulated much better than anything I could have composed .

[Ohio Ken]

This could be a bit tricky... There are owners in several different classes from an an original Cobras, to a continuation, to super performance, era, fact 5, lone star, classic roadsters, etc.
values from over a million dollars to $50-70k, on down to $25k. Some Owners of the higher end cars, are likely to snub owners of the lower end cars.

On the other hand, buyers are also of different economic classes as well. Some will want the most truest representation of an original priced Above $60k, while others can only afford the older less authentic models at $25-30k.

Being that every class of cobra I mentioned still looks like a Cobra, and any carefully built car can run and drive just fine. There will be a buyer thrilled to have an older less authentic cobra for $25, and others happy to lay out $100k

I would not diss anyone wanting to join the hobby at any class level. However, I would not be against warning any buyer of any class that maintenance and good basic repair knowledge is needed and to be Carefull, that these are light weight, hi powered, short wheelbase cars, that require more respect and care when driving over most muscle cars...

Ken
BTW, I own a Classic Roadster $30k range and love it. I would love a Super Performance at over $60k, but just can't swing it. Especially when I have to park it for over 6 months in the winter, and many rainy weekends in the summer.

[xb-60]

Advice can't be forced onto the novice buyer, just like experience can't be 'uploaded' to a buyer who is new to Cobra replicas. That takes time (and disappointment) as most of us know. All we can do is encourage a novice to ask questions and respond on a case-by-case situation. How to make them aware what life should have already taught them, that this or that particular car isn't an unrepeatable bargain, and there's always another one just around the corner? I don't know the answer to that.

Cheers,
Glen

[mdross1]

Educating a perspective buyer is the right thing to do leaving out the bias for some seems impossible. Real or not Real let's be Real we all cannot own one for many reasons again leave out that bias. So many perspective buyers do not have a clue or care about every detail of the cars history other than the cars looks and mystique.

All we can do for those seeking advise is give them all the information we can to help them make as educated an opinion as possible about a certain car. Without holding their hand or actually being present that is all we can do, otherwise I would give them the "Club Cobra" web site.

[just dreamin]

In my life I have found that giving advise to anyone , on any subject, is a minefield of unknown proportions.
Hindsight is wonderful, and is usually the method used by the potential buyer to asses any advice received by him to thank or hate the advice giver, regardless of his own decision as to buy or not in the end.
If we do give anyone advice it should be of a general nature only. After all we are trying to help by offering an opinion, and that's what it is "only our opinion'.

[Tommy]

There are some pretty strict rules against commenting on the values of cars for sale over on the Corvette forum. I suspect the forum owners are protecting themselves and recognizing that a lot of their income comes from Corvette professionals who make a living buying low and selling high. But one thing they do not police is private messages. If I think someone in particular is about to make a bad mistake as either buyer or seller, I can alway send him a PM.

[Buzz]

If someone asks on an open forum for opinions about a prospective purchase, then that is exactly what they should be prepared to receive. It's up to them to sift through all of the information they get from a combination of these opinions and their own research in order to arrive at an informed conclusion.

If someone asks for my opinion, I can choose to respond (or not) without accepting any responsibility for what that person decides to do with the information I do or don't provide. That is - as long as I don't represent myself as as an acknowledged expert or authority in that particular field. Once you present yourself as such (as opposed to an ordinary person with some knowledge and experience) then there is some reasonable expectation that the information you supply should at least be factually sound. Even then however, people must be prepared to accept full responsibility for the decisions and choices that they themselves ultimately make.

[olddog]

Bill,

I value your experience and stead fast opinions. Seems to have little bias one way or the other.

I have noticed that people tend to pick a car for sale apart, where if they were the one selling it, they would have a different opinion. Certainly that may be human nature, but you obviously try to ovoid that.

Sellers seem to pop up with ridiculous claims and prices quite frequently. I have never heard of buyers advertising they want to pay ridiculously low prices. So I do believe that buyers need protection from unscrupulous sellers. I have no sympathy for the predators.

I do not believe one man can impact a market.

[Tommy]

The famous Stanford Prison Guard Study showed the dark side of human behavior when some people are put in positions of authority over others. If no one has yet studied the behavior of Internet forum moderators, its only a matter of time before they do. I doubt that the results will surprise me.

[Joe's Garage]

Lord Acton, 1834-1902
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by Joe's Garage

Lord Acton, 1834-1902
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"It's good to be king." Mel Brooks

[mrmustang]

"Is it true what they say about the way you people are gifted? Zzzzzzzip! Oh it's Twue.... it's twue.... it's twue!" Lili Von Shtupp

Originally Posted by Jamo

"It's good to be king." Mel Brooks

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it" John Acton

[750hp]

I like to help those who appreciate some advice, guidance, or simply another point of view. I will stop helping someone when it feels like I'm the one doing the homework/research instead of them.

[Mother]

In truth, I believe that if advice is given on the purchase of any Cobra, there also has consideration as to the owner's ability to safely handle the power to weight ratio of their desired purchase.

Another consideration is that nobody sells a dream unless they are tired of the problems that pop up in ownership of any vehicle.