Average Age?

John K.,

Welcome To Club Cobra!

It's a great group of people from all over the place!

Our frame is more a copy of the original - 4 inch round tube, ladder style. Would be happy to help you if you decide to go that route.

Enjoy the Club!

Neal

We need more people on this thread. So far, I am the oldest adolescent in the thread!

Regards, Art

Well OK Art, here we go with another story. I am 55 and have been a Ford nut all my life. In the late 60's I had a 289-271 high performance Mustang that was just about the fastest small block street racer in these parts. Marriage and kids put the performance stuff on hold but I could never forget the first Cobra I ever saw. One Sunday afternoon at the local drag strip a Caddy pulled in with a 427 Cobra on the trailer. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. He fired it up and took it off the trailer for tech inspection. It failed because it didn't have an approved bell housing. The owner fired it up again, put it on the trailer and took off. I never got to see it run but I never forgot the sound.

Years went by and the kids grew up and one day when I was looking for a car, my wife said that she liked the looks of the T-Bird. A week later there was a Super Coupe in the driveway. That was sold a couple of years later when I bought a '97 Mustang Cobra. I always felt that kit Cobras were too expensive but after a year of research, I have made the big step. It will be delivered in a few months and the "project" will begin. I guess that I will have to sell the Mustang to complete the Cobra but that's life.

Fords and Mustangs must run in the blood since both of my daughters drive Mustangs and one has just bought a Cobra kit with her boyfriend.

I guess that I have rambled on long enough.

Regards, Wayne

Wayne M.

Great Story! I could hear that Cobra trailered behind the caddy at the drag strip as you were describing it!

Anxious to hear more about your kit and how the build up goes.

Also, please have your daughter and her boyfriend get involved in this forum if they could/would.

Thanks!

Neal

Well ill jump in, im a regular contributor on the other forum, first post here. Im 30 and have loved cobras since i was 14 or so. Told the wife one day that it was my favorite car but id never be able to afford one. Figured id never get one untill i saw the price of an ffr. Mentioned it to her half seriously a few days later and she says "so ya gonna do it?" thats all it took. Im almost done! I work at Ford here in Dearborn Mi. doing body design.

Another newbie here! just found this site the other day and have been waiting for time to type something up. I did'nt build mine as I did'nt have the room or the skills... did'nt want the wheels to fall off at 100mph:-) Never thought short of winning the lottery that I would ever own my dream car. We had a 96 Mustang Cobra that I was getting to the point of wanting to modify and just drive on the weekends but miles were adding up quickly and I wanted something different. Met a guy in Oklahoma while attending a car show that had a Saleen Cobra and was getting very interested and started saving my pennies. One day my cousin (who I lost lastb year to cancer) and my wife were talking and my cousin said Mustangs are cool but always changing. Why don't you go after something you have wanted all your life? My wife said you get the Saleen and it will be cool and your car. You get the Cobra and it will be OUR car. That's all it took. We were going to have one built by Cobra Restorers out of Georgia until me and the credit union went to war. Seems after telling me no problem for several months, reality kicked in right before we were going to visit them. Seems they were not going to give me ANY money until it was finished. Well let's just say we parted ways. Started looking for a used one which we found in California. It was close to what we wanted and the price was right so I sold off all of my collectibles, traded the Mustang in for a Dode Stratos for my wife, took all I could get out of an old IRA that was'nt doing anything and put a big enough down payment so I could obtain financing. The rest is history as we have had it a little over a year and I'm allready gathering parts for the eventual transformation. It is set up as a street car and I want to change it to the S/C variety. It's an ERA 427S/C with a 427 sideoiler stroked to 450 with more goodies than I would have been able to swing had I had it built as I would have had to go with the 428 to save money. Looking to take it to Tulsa Oklahoma this year for the Mid America Shelby Meet we have attended the last 2 years as spectators. Almost forgot it's blue with white stripes, black roll bar and sidepipes. Will send a picture to Brent as soon as I figure out how:-). Sorry to ramble on but have been waiting for a web site like this since I got the car.

By the way i'm 44 in the Dallas Texas area.

Time to Bring this thread back to the top - got some new members and we'd like to hear your Cobra story.

Thanks!

Neal

My cobra dream started when I was in school. I had a 1970 Pontiac Firebird with a 455, all restored. It was FAST. Then I decided I wanted a 1995 V-maxx motorcycle, that was FAST. Then I decided to purchcase a Cobra. I sold the car, I sold the motorcycle, then my wife sold her 1991 convertible RS camaro. We now have REALLY FAST Midstates Cobra with a Gessford Racing 428. Wow!!! I love my Cobra. I just got my Cobra back in early March from the paint shop, Pace car blue with stripes and the meatball. I also purchased the hard top for the Cobra. Oh, I just turned 28 this past March. Also thanks to Brent for designing this web site and for helping us get our new club linked to Club Cobra.
Mile Hi Cobra Club
Denver, CO
Charles Howard

This is a great thread. It's very interesting to read how the desire to build or at least own a Cobra got everyone.

I am 44 but my average age is much younger . I started my pursuit of a Cobra in 1982. I wouldn't have believed this except I still have the brochures in their original envelopes with postmark dates.

For me I've been involved with my career for a long time and really had not been thinking about Cobras or any cars for that matter. Anyway one day my brother said, he was thinking about building a Cobra. I started asking him what he had looked at and told him what I had looked at some time ago. He told me everything he had been looking at was on the web and gave me the addresses so later that night I went and checked everything out.

It seemed at the time to be a snap decision but it wasn't, I had wanted to build a Cobra for a long time I had just forgot. Anyway looking at all the information brought the desire back and I was committed to building a Cobra. In fact at that time I couldn't see why I shouldn't build a Cobra. That was June 1998 and am nearing completion of the project and it has been a blast just building the car. I can't wait to drive it.

See you on the road,

-Irv

[This message has been edited by Irv Lennert (edited 04-10-99).]

Due to the elevated age of most of you I'll make sure I pack some extra lawn chairs in the back of my Cobra so you guys won't get so tired at all the Cobra events.

OK, here's my story: At 10 years old, I was summering in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and while hanging out on the boardwalk, a British Racing Green Cobra, with sidepipes rumbling the earth I was standing on, pulled into the parking lot. Having been raised around cars all my life (my Dad owned a junkyard - I still say it's the world's greatest playground for a kid!) I was very excited and fascinated to see this little car that made so much noise! I was just starting to realize what the word "bikini" meant at that age, and my God, the bikinis that surrounded that little Cobra fascinated me as well! Other than a couple of other chance encounters, I never saw the beast again, and the years passed.

I've had sports cars and motorcycles all my life, basically had put together my own cars from the junkyard, then went on to college and got serious with life. I had toyed with the idea of building a kit car back in the late 80's (my junkyard genes were acting up), but the bride got prego and I stopped thinking about it. 3 kids & a vascectomy later, I'm still driving motorcycles and starting to think that I should try a hobby a little less dangerous, the kit car idea started again. My natural (bikini)selection was the Cobra.

I sold the Harley 2 weeks ago, and I've been tearing down a Mustang 5.0 (junkyard genes again) after work. Yesterday I put a deposit down on a Burtis F8. Now, the fun begins.

46--that's how long my teenaged mind has been on this little round ball. The wife wastes her time on PTA, watching the kids, and volunteering for all kinds of things for the unfortunates of the world. Not me! As far as I'm concerned, life revolves around which car to drive today. If the sun is out. the Cobra wins. I've been autocrossing a '92 Vette since new--but the Butler (351 Cleve., Tremec 5spd., MG/Jag) now kicks its butt. I also use an A6 Quattro for road rallies, the 96 Impala for cruising, the 65 Mustang for club drives, and the 76 Bronco for stomping on Mother Nature. Couldn't do all of this when I was young. Gotta go--one of them needs to be driven very hard and then put away wet.

Ronbo.

We have gotten a lot of new members over the past week or two - how about sharing your Cobra story with us?

Thanks!

Neal

Reading all of these great stories really hits home with me too! I'm 50 and bought my Midstates in October 1993 and picked it up the day before Christmas as a rolling chassis. It took 400+ hours for us to finish it but my first drive was August 15th 1994 a day I will never forget. The cobra even has a picture posted on our Family calendar along with everyone else in the family. My first memory was riding in a real Cobra in 1966 in Hastings Nebraska. My cousin from Lincoln had one. I remember him getting rubber in every gear going over the old overpass by my house. I could never get that ride out of my mind. I had a 67 Mustang 390 new in 67 when I graduated fom high school and two years later it was painted orange and called the "Phony Pony". When I joined the army in 69 my dad sold the car.I had two different Vettes in Germany while in the service. I thought I had just about got fast cars out of my system and figured they would never make another Mustang like my 67. Then in 87 I laid eyes on the New 5.0 Convertible with the ground effects package and the urge for power started over again. By 1990 we added a SHO Taurus and a Shay 31 Model A. In the summer of 1993 I broke a drive shaft on the Drag truck I had (59 ranchero) and it blew the M/T Slick at 100mph, My wife said that would be the last time she would tow me back to the pits and perhaps we should build something safer.....Donated the Ranchero to the community college drag race team and called Midstates...Now three Run & Guns later words will never be sufficient to express the feeling every time I "Get my attitude Adjustment Fix". By the way the Lettering on the Drag Truck was "Absolute Adolescent", and that still fits like a glove. Owning a Cobra is a dream come true. I think the biggest joy is meeting all the new friends who share this great love of cobras. It matters little the manufacture, the engine, the color....it's just the fact we all love our cobras and enjoy the happiness it brings into our lives.

[This message has been edited by GEORGE ANDERSON (edited 04-24-99).]

Okay, guess it's my turn.
I'm 42 years old and up until a year ago I never considered building a Cobra. My life changed last year when I was diagnosed with a rather nasty genetic lung disease. It seems that I have alread lost the majority of my lung function and I will need a lung transplant down the road. Moral of the story: Life is short. I'm doing this Cobra project on a lark and I'm having a GREAT time. I spend more time reading books than I do turning wrenches because I know so little about cars, but I'm having fun learning. This month marks the end of the first year of the project and so far I have the frame, suspension and body with aluminum trim for my E-M. I hoping to have my car on the road in another two years, but that depends on my finance committe ( wife of 13 years ). I hope to make it to Run and Gun. If I do go I will have to be back on Wednesday to get my weekly medical treatment ( IV drug infusion ) . I'm looking forward to meeting many of you and seeing your cars.
roger in Lexington, KY

Roger,

You're an Inspiration!

Good Luck!

Neal

Fred,
I built a MiG 29 a few years ago but had to sell it because it couldn't pass emissions
roger

Fred,

What does that mean??? No cats on planes????
You must be losing it. I hope Burt gets your car to you soon, you're losing it!

AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO PICK THAT PIG UP THIS WEEK???

JM

[This message has been edited by John McMahon (edited 05-04-99).]

Fred:

Smoke signals??

Be gentle to poor John. Wasn't he the dyslexic student at semaphore school?

Fred,

Sorry old chap...seems as though I'm thick as a brick lately...must be the electric shock treatment! BTW, you are correct, there is no place to hide!

Scott,

If I could find my semaphore flags, I'd curse you out, but I made a left in my hallway, when I meant to make a right and now I'm lost!

John "I'm losin' my mind" McMahon