Why do you own a Cobra?

[yamazee]

why you ask? Simple,,,,,, Its a sickness!

[4pipes]

Always wanted one from the time I saw one in San Jose in the 60's while attending college. Really wanted one when I saw the so-called continuation models at the Historics, they where trying to sell them onsight. Thought they were outrageously priced for a replica. Sorry Evan. Sat in many of them and thought I could never fit in one. Finally decided to get a Kirkham. This allowed me to have a close to original car, yet I could modify the crap out of it for my long body and not worry about bastardizing a real one. Glad I did, life is short and this is the one car I always lusted after (besides the 250GTO).

[Power Surge]

I don't own a Cobra, the Cobra owns me.

'Nuff said.

[Randy H]

If there would have been a 7th option on the poll..."or all of the above" My guess is it would have overwhelmingly won.

[hey,littlecobra]

from my first car, '66 MGB to the Cobra... wow!!

MG at 16, great 'starter' car for a naive, 'speed and cars' in her blood teenage girl.

Saw my first Cobra in August '03, and did a uturn in the middle of the road to turn around and go see it. What is this? I asked the man. A cobra......

6 months of research (well sorta) and ERA 291 was in my garage.
blind luck and thanks to Gary M.

If CC hadn't been online, i wouldn't have found 'my' Cobra. Months and months of research, and then a simple post of "cobra for sale".
well as ya'll know... the rest is history.

[petek]

"Much later (late 70s), I started being flown around in a client's plane by his pilot...a guy named Dick Smith. Most of the time just the two of us for 2-3 hours each way, so I'd sit in the co-pilot's seat and have to listen to him talking about freeking Cobra this and freeking Cobra that. Sucker never repeated a story. "

Jamo... I envy you the time you spent with Dick Smith!


For me it wasn't the racing history that attracted me to the Cobra but the combination of appearance and purpose. The Cobra simply looks and acts the part; it is what it should be, nothing more, nothing less.

For aircraft a P51, Spitfire, or DC-3 is the same as the Cobra. Precisely what they need to be.

Other cars? 246 Dino, Ferrari P3/4, GT40, Porsche 917, and maybe even a Countach (not perfect, but it defined a supercar for years).

[Clayboy]

It was love at first sight...Road & Track meets Hot Rod Magazine. The TR4A I had years ago was nice, it was fun to drive, but it wasn't a Cobra. Like many of you, I always thought having a Cobra was never going to happen. Then the realization that it's all going to end someday and to not have the pleasure, the experience of owning and driving this car that has been the epitome of a roadster...well. Long story short, let's get one!!! Haven't been disappointed yet. zoom, zoom, zoom!

[tmareina]

I bought mine because since 1967, when I was 20 and had my chance to buy an Original but had second thoughts and didn't, it has been the ONLY car I really wanted. I finally bought a Unique (38 years later) and havn't been sorry. I can't imagine why I didn't buy the car in '67, I bought everything else. It's the only decision I was sorry I balked at and truly regreted in those 38 years.

[427 S/O]

It reminds me of a 'woman' not a flat panel anywhere, then add the performance and brute power of the 427 S/O and you've got bliss...

But I built mine and everything is enhanced...

[rbray]

I not really not sure why I bought one. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time

[rattlesnakepete]

I bought mine because Cobras are the most beautiful, raw, highest performance, simple car ever built.

Never consider one for a daily driver but as a toy they are the ultimate!

[WildBill3]

I like all the cars Shelby has had anything to do with!!We also have a costantly dogged by a lot of so called Shelby supporters Shelby Charger we are original owners and the car has been fantastic over the years with several championships and tons of miles under her belt .Our coupe isnt one of the six originals but we love it the same and since I dont have the millions it would take to own one I like what we have..WB3

[tc_sj]

love at first sight, beautiful car I ever seen, own couple BMW/Porsche but do comparison to the cobra ever

I got more compliment on the cobra then my Porsche/BWM

[boblyon1]

FST FOX - What a neat thread - I've really enjoyed reading all the stories.

For me, as a teen growing up in the Detroit suburbs, and with a father who formulated racing fuels, I spend a number of weekends watching jags, corvettes and ferraris race on a nearby track. Then, one day, in the mid sixties, a Cobra entered the field and began wiping the others off the track. It was both love and lust at first sight. What an amazing combination of power, nimbleness and beauty. Like others, I could not afford such a beast. Later, as a "responsible" family man, I could only drool over the snakes I saw on the road or in shows. My (now Ex) wife could never understand why I would roll down the car windows just to hear those side pipes. Even today, that sound brings back such fond memories.

Well, more than 40 years have past. The kids have flown the coop, the wife is gone and I'm retired. I started dreaming, researching, then test-driving Cobras about three months ago. I finally settled on a small block SPF, deciding that they seem to hold their value so well that I can probably sell it for about what I paid for it, if pressed for cash. Now that SPF 633 is in my garage, I still can't seem to wipe the S... E....... grin off my face. I find myself flipping on the light and opening the garage door at night just to look at this magnificent machine. I listen carefully, and sometimes it whispers, "I want to run". My neighbors think I'm crazy when I take it out for a short spin at midnight. Oh well, 18 again in a 62 year old body. What a rush. I WILL NOT have to go to my grave wishing and hoping, and I would encourage others to take the plunge. You WON'T be sorry!!

[Slick61]

well... being single (no kids, never married) and middle-aged, it is the ultimate mid-life crisis car. I'm the envy of almost every guy (and a few gals) in the office. My neighbors all come out to pay their respects when I come rumbling down the street, once they figured out what was causing all their windows to rattle.

THIS is my mistress... beautiful, sexy, loud, demanding, impossible to ignore, and capable of providing hours of pleasure...

[Rob. Smith]

1965 I was 7. Dad said you should buy one of these and showed me a newspaper article. I said wow and that was that. 11 years later I saw one in Hot Rod Magazine and that refired the imagination. 31 years later I am building one. Pollution laws and now noise crackdowns are a bit stifling but... They have to catch you first!

[lineslinger]

I want to own one so all the babes walking by will think I am cool and want to jump into the passenger side and molest me.

[Madmiles442]

Good thread Patrick,

I had the Cobra cutaway poster in my room in high school. Everyone else wanted a Ferrari 308 or a BMW M1, I just wanted a Cobra.
I bought mine to fulfill one of my Dad's dreams that he never got to realize before he passed to the next plane.

Fsstnotch - I've also always wanted a Boss 429 Stang and a Pantera. No time soon. But you gotta keep a list, right?

[venum14]

I just love the old rounded timeless style of the beast! I have owned some rare classic mustangs and sold them to finance the Cobra. Every Ford fanactics wish is to own a Cobra and my wife let me do it.

Like any classic you get plenty of attention and of course the "I used to have one" stories from time to time. Believe it or not, it took me 14 years to finish it but now I just enjoy it. Most people would have sold it and moved on but I just love the Cobra.

Now my two sons which both have classic mustangs argue over who gets to ride to the store in the Cobra. I don't know where they get the love of cars...LOL

Nothing brings me more pleasure then seeing my sons enjoy working on their classics! My oldest son thinks his new 347 stroker is going to give me a run for the money. I see an upgrade coming soon.

[1985 CCX]