Help a semi-starving student out

[SickOfRamen]

Hello everyone,

My name is Will and I'm a Doctoral student at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve here in Ohio. As part of this program I was required to declare a minor that had at least a loose association to my major. In addition to my thesis I'm required to submit a capstone paper for the minor.

Not to oversimplify things, but my capstone will be exploring how replicas/knockoffs/copies can help build a strong brand for the original. And as I've held a long fascination with Mr. Shelby and his products (except for that God-awful chili) I've chosen the Shelby Cobra as my main example.

If anyone can spare the time I would really appreciate it if you could help out a fellow enthusiast and semi-starving student out by answering a few simple - and completely anonymous - questions.

What I'd like to know is why you chose the brand of replica you did.

In addition to this I'd also like to know what considerations came into play to support the decision. I'm looking for things like cost, authenticity (or lack thereof), chance to work with a particular manufacturer and/or finishing agent, the challenge of the build, and so on. I'm also interested in those intangible things that drove the decision. Did one make speak to you more than any other? If so, why? Did Shelby licensing affect your decision? Did you scratch-build? If so, why? I'm basically looking for why you went the way you did in regards to the purchase of a roller or kit.

Or did none of this really matter and you just wanted to build/own/drive something that most people don't have the cajones to own, maintain, and operate?

If it helps in any way in answering (and thank you in advance if you chose to do so) my capstone will be exploring in part how replicas/counterfeits and so on communicate the fact that even those who don't have the means will do what they can to obtain a dream, and how that psychological response drives and strengthens the original brand. Yes, that is a major oversimplification, but believe me you'd be bored to death in reading the proposal for the thing.

Now, for those that do take the time (again, thank you) I am not at all interested in the small block vs. FE argument, real vs. replica, or any of that really. There's ample enough threads already. Just why you went the direction you did.

Lastly, if anyone would be willing to share how their appreciation for these cars began, it would go a long way in helping to flesh out my preamble; i.e. pad the crap out of. I have found several threads that do this, but its mostly a handful or a single forum member doing so in an unrelated topic.

Who knows? There may be a lively discussion hiding in here somewhere.

Thanks for your time, and if there's a way to do it I'd be more than happy to post the final paper, or at least a link to it, if anyone would be interested.

/r

Will