39 several times. getting older but not getting old at 56. billy the kid.

26...Everyone says to take your time, but the longer you do that, the more of your life you miss. There are too many things to see and things that need to be done. Look at it this way, I'm getting my mid-life crisis out of the way early... either that, or I'm in for one hell of a crisis later on. :D Besides, as soon as a kid's on the way, I get cut off. I better hurry! :JEKYLHYDE

54 in the morning before the ben-gay and advil kick in
21 around happy hour( or shortly there after)

Rickwv

ER, UH, SAY WHAT
 

DRIVERS LICENSE SAYS I'LL BE 67 THE END OF THIS MONTH BUT IT STILL LOOKS LIKE 32 FROM THE INSIDE.....

STILL ADICTED TO OLD CARS, OLD WHISKEY AND YOUNG WOMEN, AND I STILLL REMEMBER WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. (OF COURSE THATS ALL THAT I REMEMBER - - I THINK!!!)

Y'ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY,

BLACKJACK

age
 

44, so far

I am 14 and my father and I have been wanting to build a car for several years now. We at first looked at the cobra, but not seriously. After a couple years we started looking into the cobra again. We decided to go with an ERA. Nobody else seemed to come even close to the quality of them. Well we are about a month away now, and I just can't wait.


Glenn Jr

42
 

had a Cobra for 6 years now so far, didn't kill myself yet!

Colin

age again, ho hum.......
 

had my replica since 1973, loved them since 63. going on 57. started not to add to this since there are so many good ones. have watched this site for several years only found time to join in this fall, it's kinda like having like a big family to share this with, naaaaaaaaaa.....it's definitely not middle age crazy!

37. Anyone computing an average?

I'm 54 and have been in love with Cobra's since 1965. Never thought I would own one, but I do. I have 6 kids and a old picture of a blue Cobra under glass on my work table in my gun room, I have two hobbies. I offen told my younger boys, I had them instead of a Cobra. Now I've got both, uh seven.

After snooping around this thread for the last 24 pages I'll finally admit to being 50 however, I'm not as old as either the Bishop of the North (he is really old) or Walt Tomsic. I seem remember stories about Walt waiting for dirt. I arrived the next day.

Geeeez, I thought this subject had run its course.... anyway I'm 69 and as far I'm concerned if Paul Newman can still race at 72 it'll be a few more years before I turn my Cobra over to my son.

I was introduced to Cobras in '65 while doing a job for Shelby in El Segundo. We used an abandoned taxistrip along side LAX. They(Max Mulhman) were kind enough to let me have the use of a factory GT350 for a few weeks and although my own car was a 3000 Mk3 I never recovered from the experience. My daughter has the AH now and it still looks factory new.

Spanky....

I am 36 .....Married with 3 boys, ages 10, 5 and 2. I have always been into vintage race cars and have had the cobra bug for years and did the research and met the Kirkhams and the rest is history.

Almost 60.

Saw my first Cobra in '64 or '65. 289 was my favorite. All my friends were into cars. We put a 283 in a Healy, 289 in a TR-4, 427 into a '57 Fairlane Cobvertible. Drove a Griffith, British TVR with a 289 in it. Drove a Sunbeam Tiger, an Alpine with a 260 2 barrel. Almost drove a GT350 home when our involvement in that hot, sticky place in S.E. Asia interviened.

Even then, who can forget the sleazy used car lots like Victory Blvd. coming out of Ft. Benning. There was one 289, and two 427's. Repos, most likely. Nah, I'll wait till I get back (from Nam).

Labor day weekend '01, beastie first saw the light of day under its own power. No hood, no doors, no trunk, no tags, but I was driving it. Man, that was a long wait.

True Cobra Story
 

I'm 35. I really hadn't planned on buying a cobra at all. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of the old grouch and was born in the heyday of the American muscle car. My first car was a 1967 Mustang GTA Fastback. (the first one I paid for) But since then college, and then life sort of got in the way, house payments, etc. I always imagined myself getting maybe a 10 year old Vette once I had a few bucks, then maybe a Viper would be within reach, and maybe someday a cobra.

I skipped steps 2-4. I have a friend that was in an industrial accident, he was ok but pretty much fried his back. He got a pretty sizeable settlement and so he did what any guy with tons of money does and bought a cobra. That was in 1992.

Prices were sky high and he paid for, and got the best replica he could find. a Contemporary built just a few years before. It was beautiful, Eight base coats Deltron in british racing green followed by Wimbledon stripes and then four coats of clear.

Power was a 1966 428ci Police Interceptor motor bored .030 over, a steel crank, forged pistons, a roller cam topped by an 8v med. rise ford intake polished inside and out. The expansion tank alone took 12 hours to polish. A four speed toploader, Center Force clutch, a Salisbury IRS... 235's up front 295's in back.. All said and done the thing cost him a hair under 49k, plus tax and California fees it set him back $53,000. They say money is the root of all evil. It isnt. Ignorance is.

He lost it all. The money, the house, all the toys. The Cobra was the last to go. I found it under a pile of useless rubbage that had been stacked like cord wood on top of the non descript car cover hiding a familiar yet hidden siloette of a once proud specimen.

He said he would take 40.. hmmm. "Maybe if it ran", I said. "it needs a battery" he said. "It needs more than that" I opined somewhat out loud... I told him I would think about it..

I stopped by a few weeks later. Hmm.. Nobody home.. Hmmm.. The doorbell doesn't seem to work. No, the place was totally dark as if there was no power. I went home and called.. Funny the phone is disconnected, and the business line too.. I think I may have lost the car I thought to myself. Curiosity took over and I went back to the place the guy lived, er... use to live. No, his truck is there.. He still lives there, for now.. I went back the next day. He was home.. Sure enough the power had been turned off.. The water too.. " I sold the place but turned off the water prematurely I guess" he said with a not so convincing voice. "Oh.." was all I could say. "It is two weeks to Christmas and you are without power" I noted. "Want to use my generator?" I asked. I brought it over the next day.

The day after that I got a note on my car. "if you want that car it is $XX,XXX obo" My mind bent at number on the paper in my hand, I couldn't imagine a lower number if I dreamed it up myself.. Could it be true? I bought dinner for him and his daughter that night. Pizza Hut stuffed crust in his livingroom room, a huge fire in the fire place for heat (the heater was gas and that had been turned off with the power). The generator wirred away in the garage. A single lamp burned in the Family room as his daughter watched TV for the first time in two weeks.. "Thanks for letting us use the generator, I love this show", she said...

A number was agreed upon pending a clean title, the title was lost when his wife left after the money dried up. In fact all the records were gone. Nothing remained but recollections, not a receipt, not a single work order.. nothing.

My task was simple. Verify value based on Comps, and like sales and find some cash fast.. No matter how I broke down it came up the same.. like cars were selling for 39-42k conservatively with some as high as 54 and as low as 35.. Ok.. It needs work.. Call it 35k.. Damn, This is a deal.. Lets see. If I built one.. Hmmm.. 26k in parts.. Labor.. 10k or a year out of my life.. Damn.. 36k..

Can I get the wife to let me refinance, rates are low.. Hmmm.. Parents are always looking for an investment.. "We are getting 3% on our CD's" Dad said, Give me 4% as long as you need it for.. "I will have a cashiers check for you tomarrow", he said..

A week before Christmas It was mine.. I guess there really is a Santa Clause

More Cobra
 

more photos..

Hello, my name is Bartek. I'm from Polad [this a country near Russia ;-) ;-) ;-) ] I'm 23 years old and I have my own snake since 4 years. I know that You can say that my engine is small but I'm proud of my cobra :-)
In Poland we don't have yet any cobra clubs because there is only a few cars (I think there is about 10 or 15 cars in whole country!). People don't know this car very well.

This site is the best I saw!!! Greetings from Poland, Bartek

Love the color. Mine is Goodwood green with white stripes.(a 1967 corvette color.) Enjoy.


Keith

not too old
 

I'm 54.

I had wanted a Cobra since mid-64 when I was a 16 year-old high-school junior, and I saw a red slabside with chrome wires outside a VA Ford dealership. My Dad offered to buy me one upon graduation if I would go to the Naval Academy and save him mucho tuition bucks. I thought I would do it, but then I went on a Sea Cadet cruise one weekend on a Navy destroyer where they served bad chicken and the whole ship came down with ptomaine poisoning.

After three days sitting on the throne with my head in a bucket, I decided the Academy could make it without me. So long Cobra.

But 37 years later I still couldn't get over it, so I bought an already built Unique FIA. It's probably this way. Back then, I would have wound up a$$ over tea kettle in some ditch.


**) **) **) **)

Alan, . . . and, the Cobra you have now is probably better and faster than that one back in 64 anyway!!