I know I can make a loaf of bread by buying flour at safeway and yeast at Kroger and rye seed at sprouts. But the first timer wants to get everything at one place. It might be the best low volume reproduction but it's the best kept secret and that will severely limit the TAM and thus the price

If you're going to drop a hundred grand on a toy like this you either: 1) need to have some reasonably decent mechanical skills; or 2) have enough money that it really doesn't matter to you. I kind of think that if you, say, managed to bend a suspension component on a car like this all you'd really have to do is get it off, post a few pics of it with an "oops, who can help me with a little fabbing" post, and I think you'd be ok.:cool:

If you do your homework you'll find that somewhere between 10% and 20% of the cobra owners know about this place. I don't know how many at car shows I mentioned it to. Same with the ford gt forum. Most people aren't into forums. Facebook is where it's at

Naaah, any decent hotrod site where old guys like us are doing their own work out of love for the task. The real key is not that you're a five star metal fabricator, but more that you've been doing as much as you can for 30, 40 or 50 years. If you can pull a transmission out and replace a clutch then you can do 98% of anything that ever needs to be done on an Exact, ERA, KMS, SPF or FFR. And OTOH, if you're comfortable dropping Bugatti type repair costs regularly, then that's fine too. But you and I both know that it's pretty cheap to keep these cars running like a top if you just know how to do it.

If you pay that much money for a car you’re in one of two groups, you know how to fix the car and have been into cobras for a while or you have a bunch of money and someone that works on cars and is familiar with where to access the parts they need is going to fix it

There is a 3rd group, one who does not do their homework, but has the funds, and just wants it. They do not have mechanical ability, nor are they even car guy/girls, only take their cars (if they even own one) to the new car dealer for service, and have never been in a auto parts store in their lives, can't check their own oil level, but can pump their own gas. These are the ones that scare me the most, as to them, the car in question is just another "shiny bauble", like the 5 carat toe ring they bought their significant other because they saw it in a store window.





Bill S.

Uhh, how do you wear a shoe with one of them on?:confused:

Of course you need open toe high heel shoes to show that off. Be sure to install with a lead hammer and safety wire. :JEKYLHYDE

Potential HiTech Buyer is who?:

We had a local in my area who built and years later tried to resale his HiTech 289 FIA Cobra for over a year. He had it in a few shows, people appreciated it, it was a beautiful car. The original owner was an absolute perfectionist, and then some.

When it came to finding the right buyer, it was a real struggle for him to sell it. Someone got a deal on that car. With a defunct manufacturer, no parts supply to back it up in general - seems new buyers who've never built a custom car before bowed out. They all liked it though. It took the right eye and experienced buyer to pick up on the overall design and built quality. Takes the right buyer for it, someone who appreciates it and willing to keep it for a while, and enjoy it.

That’s untrue
HiTech parts are same as Cont cars and KMS
The Bolick car the same.
Cars that use the same parts as original may have a few oddities but they are few.
I’d rather have the Bolick car than a hoard of others as parts are easily found.
It’s Like saying don’t buy an early KMS as now they are billet.
Avoid originals too as they are gone. lol
Plenty of resources.

Someone here a while back some years ago was trying to complete an unfinished Hi-Tech complaining they could not get parts to properly fit from other sources. IIRC this included doors not fitting and mounting up properly, and some rear suspension parts not fitting, some refab required, to make it work - not a direct bolt in, etc. Your absolute confirmation might be helpful to others who land in this situation again thinking it's directly interchangeable.

Duane

As you know there is always a bit of fitment to all these cars, I own two HiTech's and Contemporary while I never had issues with lack of resourced parts. Have I replaced everything, nope, however I have rebuilt a fare amount and found whatever I needed. Additionally two full built cars as well as long as a car is accurate there are plenty of resources. My brother is fixing his 1973 Maverick and I can say it is not any easier than anything I own....

Example on the door, HiTech used the same frames as a glass 4000. Fitment yes, however same would hold true for a FFR door. Same would also hold true for a KMS, not surre every KMS door fits between each car. These cars are not Corvette, Porsche or Mustang however I can say they to can present challenges. Heck, all my ERA purchased items fit on my Contemporary years back. These are hand built automobiles thus carry a little bit of character.

I think discounting a cars manufacturer because they are gone is short sighted as HiTech, Exact, Contmporary and Aurora to name a few were great cars and still better than many in original quality and replication. I do agree that some say less coslty and older less known brands may carry a larger degree of difficulty as they used more brand sepcific parts than those forementioned.

BTW the majority of the chassis in "Goldie" is HiTech 289 and I can say it holds true for the buggy cars too, just a little scarier as they are less replicated.

Money aside, would one discount owning CSX3006, CSX3021 or even CSX2001 as they too fall into "Out of Business" classification and are limited variants? :eek:

Exact/Bolick cars are beautiful cars. If I could budget one I'd proudly and happily own it in a NY minute.

Talked to Roger bollick a long time ago on fe forum to see maybe if he was going to build anymore cars, he wasn’t sure and I waited because I wanted to get one. Finally had Tom d’antonio build a frame for me and collected most parts to replicate an original. If it’s what you want the parts can be found.

Talked to Roger bollick a long time ago on fe forum to see maybe if he was going to build anymore cars, he wasn’t sure and I waited because I wanted to get one. Finally had Tom d’antonio build a frame for me and collected most parts to replicate an original. If it’s what you want the parts can be found.