I worked as a R&D and computer tech for the old Bell Labs. Also worked on satellite and other related things in that field. Did some work on Nuclear stuff in the military. I tried for years to buy an original 289 Cobra just after they changed to the 427 body style but the people that had them then wouldn't part with one for any amount of money. I didn't want a 427 because they didn't handle that well I didn't think and there were several of setting on used car lots in the Los Angles area with very low miles. So I wound up with no original cobra and built my own to race.

Ron :(

Ed - if the shares I bought in 2007 are ever worth anything (!?) I will have my Cobra :eek: I call the shares my 'cobra fund'. I am back to what they owe me now...

Tenrocca - my eldest daughter is 6. Do you reckon I will be ready for her formal? Hmmmmm....?

Ron - you were on the money back then - those 427's will never catch on. Pigs!! :CRY:

Its great to read about everyones background and how they came to own their dream cars.

My dad is a boilermaker and built a DRB when I was 15. I collected all the memorabilia at the time and waited for weeks each month until the first weekend of each month when the QLD car club would meet at Sanctuary Cove when dad and I would drive out together. He couldn't afford to keep the car and sold it within a year much to my disappointment.

After becoming a doctor and moving back to the Gold Coast last year with my wife and kids I thought building my PACE427 with dad would be a great way to learn some workshop skills from him and spend more time together. Its been great so far spending half a day a fortnight working on it but he gives me a fair bit of **** about my soft hands or when I don't know the name of a part or certain tool.

I know guys at work with Aston Martins and Lambos but I wouldn't trade my cobra when finished for any of them.

Good stuff Doc.

I think you might have been at AP with your dad when I first visited... June I think it was...

I am trying to talk my 6 yo into becoming a doctor - a backup plan in case my Cobra strategy does not work out!

My father is not into cars at all. You are lucky...

I am struggling to determine what my occupation actually is.
Started as an apprentice carpenter, then move onto contracting, that rolls into being a builder lots of staff etc. Then you wake up one morning and decide that this is not what you want to do for the rest of your life. You just want to go back to the stress free life and just work by yourself. Then you forget that wanted a stress free life, so you decide to expand your business, then it just expands and expands and your back to doing way to many hours a week. All that said the one thing that has not changed since the first time I saw a cobra when I was 14, was that I knew that at some stage in my life I was going to own one.
I had to wait till I was 46 till I finally get one, then another six years till I finished it. (actually I don't think they are ever finished they are always a work in progress). I don't think it matters what you do for a job. If you have a realistic passion for something, you will a find a way to get it. Having said all that I am happy to work the hours that I do (as we all do to enable us to finance our dreams) but you know when you take your cobra for a drive you know it has all been worth it.

Rod

Hi Rod - almost sounds like you are in management now...

And by the looks of the poll, so far, that is where I need to be ;)

Tony

Kit delivered Aug 2005, mostly finished Oct 2009, registered Mar 2013 (A few years waiting for RTA to sort stuff out). Did more K's on track and permits in those 3 years than a lot of registered cars.

You can bolt an AP cobra together in about 2 weeks apparently, so plenty of time :)

I think I was born to be a driver, first job at 16 was driving a delivery van, Joined the army at 18 to drive Armoured personnel carriers, drove local trucks and then went Melb-Perth for a while. got tired of that so towed a caravan around Oz for a change. More local work and then towed a caravan around Oz again (other Way) Did 3 road trips to Perth on dirt Nullabor in one year in an EH Holden. Drove the Tanami, Plenty, Cape York, Kimbely, Darwin and all other capital except Hobart. Must do that one day when I have some time.

Under fat head

That same question my mother has stopped asking me. I thank God for an older brother who became a financial architect to hold everything together.

Good one!

I started as a carpenter in the 70's and since riding in a Cobra back then I had always kept the dream alive. Somehow after 35 years of hard work, going broke more times than I care to remember, raising two great kids and managing to stay married (29 years now). I worked my way up to manage a large construction company and be able to build some significant projects in LA and elsewhere.

I found myself able to pull off (barely) being able to fulfill my dream and get the Cobra. It was a long road with many struggles and sacrifices. Some continue, but I am grateful everyday.:)

I wasn't sure which to tick, I'm a qualified marine mechanic but haven't done that for over 20 years and I don't really have a title for what I do now. I almost cut my fingers off when I was at the end of my trade so decided a job change was in order so ended up selling realestate working ridiculous hours and 7 days a week and have been doing that ever since, except now I own the company rather then working for it. (Not sure you ever stop working for it when 14+ hour days are normal).
I have wanted a cobra since I was a kid I started looking at DRB kits around 2000 but the waiting list put me off in 2005 I was sitting at Brisbane Airport waiting for a delayed flight and spotted a cobra that ticked all my wants so I called the guy and as luck would have it the car was 5 minutes from where I was going in Sydney next thing I owned my first cobra.

My Current employment is with a large Engineering Company, my title there is E&I Designer. Currently I’m involved in Maintenance Upgrades, Engineering Improvement Mods and day to day fix ups for Water & Sewage Treatment plants. Some say……… it’s a 8hit of a job!
I started my working life as an Instrument Tech, did an apprenticeship, move into construction work then engineering where I’ve been for the last 20+ years.

I’ve been a car nut for as long as I can remember. As a kid if I wasn’t drawing cars I was building model cars or in the shed with dad helping him with his Speedway car. At one point I wanted to be a car designer. The dream to build a Cobra has only really come about in the last few years. I guess the seed was planted many years ago when as a kid I use to have nightmares about King Cobra Snakes!!!!!!
A lot of people ask me, “Why are you building a Cobra” my answer is “Why Not”

I am an electrical contractor/gas fitter in country Vic.

A lot of my costs are met by my very unreliable work car and scrap copper.

When I was in high school I can remember ringing Robnell one day when I was supposed to be sick and getting their brochures sent over. I have always been a GM guy but definitely still had a soft spot for a Cobra.
in the early 2000's I was on the lookout for a C3 Corvette, I was getting loads of magazines and buying up books on Amazon (as you do), anyway my wife was none too keen on the Vette's but spied a picture in one of the books of a C3 and a Cobra racing one another from back in the 60's, she said that the Cobra looked much nicer and that was something I should be looking to buy instead.

I have always been one to do as I am told :)

Hi Daniel

The real reason is because i CAN

Tonus asked me to post some photos so i will to try and get some more soon.

I am on 2 weeks holiday from Friday so i hope to spend lots of time working on my beauty.

Cheers

Brad

This has been an interesting read.

like with most, the Cobra thing started young, when I was 14 and I remember the exact moment clearly.

I always wanted one however was side tracked with other cars, jet ski's, mountain bikes etc.... In 2008 myself and my wife, put our jobs on hold for a year, sold house and car and traveled the world for a year. During this time we met so many people and discussions went all over the place but the common responce was always about not putting things/wants/experiences off for later.... and to do them when you know you still can.

This led our travels to places which we had not planned on but thought 'why not'. Also let to starting a family rather than waiting for the right 'time' and then the purchase of a cobra. Whilst I always wanted to build... I didnt have the space... or paitence.... or ability without getting many experts involved. The more I have my cobra the more I realise that in the future I know exactly how I would like to have one.

With regards to time..... juggleing a 3 year old and life is not easy and I want to be a part of her upbringing rather than the dad who keeps saying... 'we'll do that later'. However on a weekend I will never be sitting watching cricket or football all day...... always doing something or working on the car. After all I have 'daddy's little mechanic'.... who is a great 'help'.

Oh... and as far as affording it.... other toys were sold to raise funds and also I dont have reckless spending. For example.. coffee drinkers who 'must' have a coffee or two a day.... 250 working days a year.. a $5 coffee a day... $1,250-...... I got better places to put that money.

Occupation... I am in banking... so yeah... I really should not encourage reckless car spending/investments.... but they are just so much freekin fun!

I started out working with my father on building sites as a carpenter did that for 15 years, went out and did my own contract wall framing, got fed up with the irregular income , got a permanent job building theatre scenery for producers both local and international,you may have seen some of our work, phantom of the opera, les miserables, Lion King most recently Strictly Ballroom just to name a few.
My title is supervisor, I cost, construction, design, draft and supervise the construction and up to 20 tradies, my manager is in retirement mode so I do his bits as well.
Not sure exactly when I fell in love with the cobra but I know my mates were drooling at panel vans and gtrxu1's I was reading a book with a bunch of road tests on the Cobra and from then on I was bitten. Just recently (10yrs ago)found myself an empty nester both kids and wife,
Found a new wife with no kids, we both have Ok jobs so that enabled us to build her dream house and I get the Cobra

That's the EASY bit... I don't drink or smoke... You do the math!


I hear you brother!
I'm in the same boat. I'm happy to delay working on mine for spending time with my little one. Mine's 2 and mum thinks its hilarious when she grabs a spanner and starts whacking the lawnmower. :LOL:

Mmm no wonder we cannot achieve much..:LOL:

To many Managers and Professionals..:3DSMILE: