Average Age?

Just thought I'd bring this thread back up to the top since we have a whole bunch of new members since the last post here.

Maybe they'd like to add to this interesting thread?

Thanks!

Neal

I'm 53 have loved cars since I was a kid have dun a little drag racing in the sixtys at detroit dragway. tried a little roundy round on dirt in mt.clemons mi. tried a little off road racing dunebuggy type in fl. road course racing at road atlanta so farI like the road course the best.

Hi all, I'm 32 years old and have great memories of my Dad rebuilding cars when I was young.

I always wanted to build a car myself but never did because I never found that "right car".....that is until about 4 or 5 years ago when a friend called me to come to Dallas and see his new toy. He said it was a Cobra and I instantly thought Mustang Cobra. When I got to Dallas we went to his garage and there sat the most AWSOME car I had ever seen....a blue ERA Cobra with white stripes, chromed roll bar, 5 point belts and a 427 side oiler. Until then, I can't really say that I had even seen a Cobra before. I knew then what I needed to build.

After 4 or 5 years of off and on research and prodding by my friend, I bought my engine block (428) Feb 6 of this year and my frame was delivered a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks Steve E. for helping me find my way...to Cobras

I am 43 and have had a soft spot in my heart for the Cobra since my teens. Thrilled to have the chance to finally own one. Just began driving around the neighborhood, and it is as much fun as I thought it would be. Actually a little scary at first.

I hope this thread never ends.

Some of the stories here are the best, hearwarming, and enjoyable look into our collective personality. Me, I'm feeling younger all the time.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (that enough?)

I would hope some of you guys (and girl(s)) would visit my "Cars For Kids Volunteer Network" site at www.cobra65.org and put some of these stories in the feedback page. They would do a lot to jumpstart my new (non forum-Club Cobra is it) site!

This is really great stuff!

Regards, Art in Baton Rouge

Art,

Make ya a deal - if I don't bring this thread to the top every so often - you do it! And vice reversa!

Deal?

Neal

(this message edited by Neal Jackson 3-23-99)
(this edit edited by Neal Jackson 3-23-99)

My wife says I'm stil going through mid-life
crisis and I'm 61 yrs young. Probably will
never get over it! I've owned at various
times a TR3,TR4,289 65 Mustang conv (not the
Hi-po version) and a 68 390 GT Mustang fskbck
that I bought new and sold in 91 to finance
my Cobra. The Cobra was finished in 92 and
driven every year except during the winter
month. The Cobra is like a yacht, a botom
less money pit with the on going modification
and performance improvements.

OK,OK,I may be 50,my problem is I still think I'm 20.My love for cobras started when I used to walk by the Ford dealer on the way home from school.They finially got tired of me sitting in the showroom cobra and kicked me out.It might have ended there except around 71 I met a guy that took me for a ride in the Sausalito hills in a jet black 289 #50 Shelby,I was hooked.
After restoring and selling a 65 mustang,I started on a 67 fastback when I realized for about the same money I could build my dream,so I bought a ffr.
Life is sweet,now all I need is a GT-40.
PS anybody want to buy a 67 fastback?

[This message has been edited by russ thompson (edited 03-23-99).]

The average age so far is 41.93 years. The standard deviation is 9.69 years. The youngest is velvet hammer at 21 and the oldest is Ken at 61. Thanks. Matt (not feeling like working, and purveyor of useless information) M cheers

I'm 44, have a great wife and 5 kids (4 boys) three of which will be driving by next summer (we don't agree as to whether or not they'll be driving the cobra).
I've owned a 65 Jag XKE Coupe, 70 and 72 Opel GT, 1974 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, 75 CJ5, 78 Trans Am and then kids...Vans (4), Mercury Montego, Caprice, Chevette, Corsica etc. Originally was going to buy a kit car in 1980 but the one I liked turned out to be about $50k, too rich for my blood...when I heard about the F5R I figured the price was right and (like my brother allways says) "I deserve it!"...so...it's at the paint shop now. Curious can see some build pictures at
http://members.aol.com/gjdunn5895/auto/index.htm
Oh, and to the Velvet Hammer...I don't blame you a bit...I'll be taking my Cobra to the dock, do a little morning fishing and then back to the car for an afternoon and evening blast. I wish I could have afforded a Cobra, Fishing and had the time to do both when I was 21...your a lucky man.

[This message has been edited by Greg Dunn (edited 03-23-99).]

just had to throw in my two cents worth here. i'm also a member of that mid life (crisis? what crisis?) group at 41. i first got the cobra bug back in the seventies when attending Southern Maine Voc Tech school. My instructor told us the story of his experience with an original 427sc belonging to his former boss. he would visit the local drag strips and run the quarter mile, from a standing start in 4th gear, and burn rubber the whole q mile! ever since that day i've wanted one of these cars of my own. that realality is now taking shape this year...starting with a visit to the FFR factory open house 4/10. soon...my cobra will start taking shape.....soon


scootr

Ken,
I'm with you, since I finished my car I've driven it everywhere on every sunny day, but I still have the need to spend more money on it.....one more piece of chrome......a few more #of torque here, horsepower there, change gears for town, gears for trips, more chrome, then start over again with a bigger engine. It is great stress relief to work on it, and even better stress relief to drive it! I'm 47, one teenager driving,one BMX racing, and a wife with a closet that is never full.....I need the stress relief.
Brett

Thanks Velvet!!! If it wasn't for you they would allcould be calling me "kid". I just turned 25 in the middle of March. Picked up my kit at FFR in may of 98. She is currently in paint shop and should be "done" by first part of may. I realize that most of you envy my age. I envy yours, see I figure you guys for the most part are closer to retirement that I am!! By the way, my version of retirement is: Have enough cash that I never have to think about cash, and drive the crap out my cobra all while relaxng and having fun!! I have a wife and one great little boy who is one and a half years old. He can say daddy and cobra both!!! (so can my wife but whe won't LOL)

This is a great thread, took me 30 minutes just to read it!! I just found this forum and think it is great. Looking forward to making friends and hopefully meeting some of you at Run & Gun. Maybe while we are there one of you can show me how to drive??? I have never in my life been on a real race track!! (just good old back roads in Indiana)

Nice reading all of your post, feel like I know you already.
Jason Knepp
FFR #1413

I am 37, I saw 'Gumball Rally' in high school and was hooked. I pick up my car on Monday or Tuesday next week. 66 Butler, 428 CJ, Jag Sus. etc. An old dream come true.

Yearjoy

I'm 52 and entered my midlife crisis at 17 and have never looked back, well, I AM sorry I sold my GT-350. Better recalculate that average age

Mid-life crises, I don't think so. Extended childhood, a good possibility after all toys are toys.
I'm 46 and a product of the 60's. Though born in 1952 I recived my license around 68' in the middle of the muscle car era.
I remember going to the Chevy dealer with my dad to look for a new family car to buy, we got to the showroom and I got behind the wheel of a light blue 65' corvette coupe (I was only 13 at the time) all the crying in the world couldn't keep my dad from buying that white w/blue interior 6 cly. chevelle malibu. From that day on I have been a muscle car nut and have had a few of the great ones in my time but with the price of an original cobra always being just above the financial limit line I never acquired one.
I have followed the Shelby legacy since the 60's and have been following the kit car industry since the early 70's (you remember the VW dune buggys and the bradly GT don't you).
For me the cobra has always been like the highschool sweetheart you never got together with and spend the rest of your life wondering about.
I have helped others over the years build there dream and with the completion of the major remodle done on my home I can now focus on my dream. By this fall I will have ordered my kit and like so many others have already done it will be a FFR cobra. For me the FFR is a tried and true kit with a large following, good bang for the buck and I won't worry about beating the hell out of it on the street or track. It's a driver and I'm going to drive it.
Don


[This message has been edited by Don DePontee (edited 03-27-99).]

well, Don, when you get that bad boy built, y'all come on over and see 1502. He'll be a little hongrie about then! cheers Matt

I'm 32 and my midstates cobra project(60% complete) will be my first V-8 powered car. Wanted a 427 cobra since I was 10 years old-can finally afford one!

53 here, A word from my wife to other wives and girlfriends, " I'd much rather have my hubby working on and driving a cobra than chasing some other woman, lol".

WOW! So many cool stories and so many points that apply to me also. I'm 37 but really have not decided which car yet. My little boy isn't even two yet ( didn't get married 'til I was 32- too much stuff to do and it took that long for the right one to show up). Finally got to the point where I make a FEW bucks more than I need to live, but I'm not wealthy by any stretch. Hopefully this forum will be a lot of help over the next couple of years as the project starts and progresses.
I first became enamoured of the snake when I was 14 and my brother showed one of our uncle's car magazines from 1963 that had a road test of a 260 version cobra that was amazing. Well, as happens to many, life gets going and things get pushed aside. Until a few years ago I saw one on the street and it all came back with tsunami force. I love building things and want to finally get my version of the "coolest car ever made". Being restricted to a tight budget, I'm still debating building or buying the frame. If someone out there can tell me the dimensions of a backbone frame that fits under a standard cobra body I will set about building it.
Well, I've rambled long enough. I'll post tech questions in another section later. Thanks for coming up with this site and for all the great stories. Hope to join the owners and end the dreaming soon. John