COB series VIN ?

Don · #1 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 07:53 AM

MotorSport Magazine ( UK ) has an advertisement for Winchester Motorsports ( UK ) , could not find their web site. Mentioned was:

" The Triple Grand Prix Car " 1964 FIA Cobra-Chassis Number COB 6008 with original 60's UK registration, 131 YNN

" COB 6008, is one of handful of independent Comp Cars built. Period built right hand drive FIA bodied car, cut back doors. The car was specially prepared by Bruce Ropner and Wilkie Wilkinson ( Ecurie Ecosse ) and built to the same specifications as the Factory Team Cars "

A quick web search of COB 6008 returned only the sites below, some of the pictures have the AC logo/banner. There are pictures of other Cobras and documentation. Is the COB series of VIN, those Cobras made by AC in England, or ?

http://www.brooklandsmotorcompany.co...fwframeset.htm

http://www.brooklandsmotorcompany.co...f6frameset.htm

SunDude · #2 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 08:51 AM

It's my understanding that there were only five original leaf-sprung competition Cobras completed by AC Cars for Britain/Europe: COB6008, COX6010 (the LeMans hardtop), COB6033, HEM-6, and A-98 (the AC LeMans Coupe).

Trevor Legate · #3 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 09:19 AM

6008 is an original race Cobra built at Thames Ditton in 1964 for Bruce Ropner who owned the Croft racing circuit in the north-east of England. He collected the car from the factory and recalls it was built with FIA cut-back doors from new. Some self-appointed experts seem to doubt this but it was his car, he brought it so he should know! I've known the car for many years and it's a genuine Cobra with lots of 'patina'!

It crops up on the Brooklands website as they did some work on it a few years back. It's definately NOT a replica/recreation/regurgitation car.....'tis the real deal.

Don · #4 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 04:59 PM

SunDude & Trevor..........thanks

The advertisement I mentioned at the start of this Thread indicates COB 6008 is entered in the 2009 Goodwood Revival TT Race, and is also For Sale

http://www.goodwood.co.uk/site/conte...f5d2f9%26Z%3D1

Trevor Legate · #5 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 12:51 AM

The guardian of 6008 believes in using the car properly and drives it all over the UK and Europe on rallies and for fun. It's definately not a garage queen! Hopefully it will survive the TT unscathed - it's done four of five so far so it should know its was around. It was driven by an ex-F1 driver a while back and he posted some competitive times with it. However, it's a genuine 'unmodified' (legal) Cobra so it normally cannot keep pace with the more 'professionally-prepared' (!!) Cobras that run at the front of the field. Will be co-driven by one the UK's most experienced racers Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams. Sadly he had a big 'off' last year and greatly modified another Cobra that had just been rebuilt after another indiscretion.....

A-Snake · #6 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 04:31 AM

"professionally-prepared"

Such a great wordsmith you are Trevor

Trevor Legate · #7 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 05:12 AM

..and the fact I look like James Bond is just a bonus........

A-Snake · #8 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

..and the fact I look like James Bond is just a bonus........

You da' man!

....by the way, which Bond, the original or one of the replicas?

Don · #9 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 07:10 AM

Trevor.....

Quote from Winchester Motorsport:

COB 6008: " You will not find a more original example of a racing Cobra. Very well prepared car has run 1.28 at Goodwood, qualified 5th, 2007. "

computerworks · #10 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 07:26 AM

COB6008 ?

Don · #11 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 08:14 AM

Ron, Trevor, SunDude Etc

The picture of COB 6008 has " II " before the COB, Same as in the rear license plate in a picture in the advertisement I have been mentioning, any meaning ?

Mentioned also that COB 6008 has been raced by Sir John Whitmore,Dan Gurney, Jack Sears. Derek Bell, Jochen Mass, Richard Attwood , Jackie Oliver, Tony Jardine, Gerry Marshall and Mark Surer, the names appear on the Cobra.

Recent period races have been at the British Grand Prix, 2006, 2007 and 2009

Sure has been an interesting learning experience..........

SunDude · #12 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 08:49 AM

I'm pretty sure the "II COB" is simply the car's license plate / vehicle registration number. I've never been to the U.K., but I think it works differently from here in North America; that is, the vehicle registration / license plate is tied to the car, not the owner, and is passed on when the owner sells it to another person. But Trevor would know better than me how it works in Ol' Blighty.

Trevor Legate · #13 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 09:11 AM

Was just about to post but had to pick up son no2 from the gym! Yeah, that's a UK registration plate on the car, 11 COB, which was probably first issued back in the 1920s or maybe earlier when just a few letters and numbers were used. The numbering got longer and more complicated as more cars were registered! The very first cars were registered A1, A2, A3 etc and then B1 and so on and those very first plates are now worth a fortune (I know who has H1 and that's on an Aston Martin DB4 Zagato!) There's a huge industry that grew on the back of these 'personalised' plates and they change hands for crazy money. That one is worth five-figure sum and they have sold for close to half-million dollars. Personally, I don't understand it at all. It's a car and thats a plate - so what if it spells your initials? Some witty chap owns a car with the plate PEN-ONE-S which when it's on the car reads: PEN 1S. My, don't we laugh.... :-(

Anyways, that's Kevin and that's the car but he's removed the plate (you can keep it on a retention certificate) and has put the earlier plate 131 YNN back on it. Shown at the AC Owners Club sprint at Goodwood, November 2005. Lots more photos of the car and stuff about it in my 40 Years book! It also has an aluminum (?) cover for the passenger side to go with that cut-down screen to make it enclosed in the way that D-type Jags were in the 50s.

1ntCobra · #14 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 10:03 AM

The information on 6036 on the Brooklands Motor Car website is interesting. If you look at the authentication document, it appears to show that a completely new car was built instead of rebuilding the old one, with timestamps on the pictures of '85 8 28. The latest restoration seems to show a completely new body being made. It seems that Brooklands continues with the Brian Angliss style of oil cooler scoop for leaf spring cars instead of FIA style used by Shelby. Based on the 2003 copyright of the document, it would seem that 6036 fixed the frame built in 1985 and then added all new pieces to create the car as it exists today. I'll have to check the registry tonight to see what it says.

Don · #15 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 10:26 AM

The link for the Brooklands Motor Company web site:

http://www.brooklandsmotorcompany.co.uk/index.htm

Trevor Legate · #16 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 01:51 PM

6036 - tangled web - best left - registry tells all - same old story - goodnight

Nedsel · #17 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 02:24 PM

Trevor, I suspect the only reason there was ever any question as to the provenance of 6008 resulted from the AC factory records listing it as a street car when sold to Ropner. There was no mention of it being constructed as an FIA-bodied car, hence much discussion ensued.

Trevor Legate · #18 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 03:05 PM

Fair point Sir Nedsel but I was with Kevin and Bruce (and Keith Schellenberg) at the car and owners reunion at Croft and we had a long conversation about the car and his recollection of the day he picked it up. I saw no reason to doubt his word as he seemed an honest gent. However, the manner in which the scribes at AC recorded such things...? Maybe room for error or maybe the chap who made the entries into the chassis record book was given some innaccuarate info? Who knows after all this time? I don't - and nor do a few other folk, he said, naming no names ;-) but I think too many genuine cars have been brought into disrepute, often on the flimsiest of 'evidence' and tried and found fake in their owners absence. I prefer to believe Bruce but we may never know for certain. Maybe I should go see him again - but its a b***** long drive! And life's too short....

Don · #19 (**permalink**) 09-12-2009, 06:41 AM

Steve at Brooklands Motor Racing mentioned the following regarding COB 6008:

" We know the car and owner very well , its a great car . Ned Scudder (Saac) Robin Stainer (Ac Owners club Cobra Registrar ) are the guys to talk to for their opinions on all Cobra`s . See our website www.AcHeritage.co.uk theres some good stuff for the Cobraphiles on there, best regards Steve "

AC Owners Club:

http://www.acownersclub.co.uk/

AC Heritage at Brooklands Motor Racing

http://www.acheritage.co.uk/

Nedsel · #20 (**permalink**) 09-12-2009, 09:07 AM

Trevor - last time I was asked, which was by someone selling the car, I took the same position you did, which was to point out that if Bruce said the car came that way, I wasn't about to argue, since he ought to know, and by then he had nothing at all to gain.

Don - never heard of those guys.