Hi there.. new to this forum.
 

Hi gents, i'm new to this forum.

I'm an avid Mustang lover and a proud owner of a 69 fastback and have recently thought about buying a cobra. I need a bit of advice as to what are the pit falls in buying a built kit or importing one from the states.

I've been through the process before with the Mustang and wondered how the (kit) car system worked? Any help here would be good.

PLus does the club have Club registration for registering cars that just attend club events?

Thanks in advance Mac

Hiya Mac, welcome to the forum.

Which State do you live in?.

This is certainly the place to find all you need to know.

Have you looked at any Cobras as yet?.

I'm in Victoria. Have looked at many at shows and stuff but none as yet to buy. Figured i would need advice first...

Sorry Mac, I should have looked at your profile. :eek: You're in Victoria.

Sad....very sad. ;) ;) That place is just full of chev powered Cobras. :cool:

Anyways, you'll note another thread regarding the Vic Cobra Club Chrissy function. Just roll up and introduce yaself.

I'll let them advise you on club meetings, contact details etc., but the president is Tony Cram 03 9841 0274 or 0416 084 664

Cheers and welcome again.

Hi Mac,

The Victorian Cobra Car Club has just got registered for the club permit scheme. So yes you can get club reg just to attend club events etc. This is a good way to enjoy your Cobra without all the hassles of sourcing an engine that complies with the current emissions regs.

Lobelly a Vic member on this forum did all the hard yards on getting the club permit scheme up and running. Hopefully he'll chime in here and offer some sage advice.

The next Vic club meeting is this Thursday evening and you are most welcome to come along. It's held at the German Club Tivoli, 291 Dandenong Rd Windsor. People start tuning up from about 6:00 PM for a beer and a chat and the meeting proper starts about 7:00PM. Should be 30 or 40 people there with a wealth of Cobra knowledge.

Hope to see you there.

Cheers

Welcome Macka.

Why would you want to import a kit?

Whilst it can be done, there are plenty of good ones over here that are set up to meet our ADR requirements.

Cheers,

Ben

Hello Mac

Welcome to the forum.

As Mike said the Vic Cobra Club is a member of the Club Permit scheme allowing permit holding members to use their vehicles for club events or in preparation for an event. The club is authorised to issue club permits and to organise events.

The Club Permit Scheme is operated under the Victorian Legislation and the governing rules as adopted by the Vic Cobra Club.

To participate in the Club Permit scheme with the Vic Cobra Club the Club requires that you be (and remain) a financial member, and that you comply with the Clubs governing rules.

I would encourage you to come to the club meeting, get a feel for the club and also have a talk to the members about their build experiences, kits, rego etc.

Look forward to meeting you

LoBelly

Thanks Gents i'll have to come along and have a look.

As for US cars, i love the left hand hook feel.

I know that there are some nice cars made here but after seeing whats about at some of their shows we are so small in our availability to cars whereas their market is massive and so much better. Our dollar was doing pretty well but will probably drop now with our new goverment in.

I'd like to hear the pro's and cons if anyone has some info.

Mac

Isn't Queensland just a retirement home for old Victorians anyway?;)
Richard

Who are you calling old :eek: :(

now where did I leave that bedpan.... :JEKYLHYDE

Cameron

I'd like to hear the pro's and cons if anyone has some info.

Mac

Mac, I'm certainly no expert, but here is my take on it.

It's the difficulty of approval & registration that stops most people importing Cobras.

You can always go the club rego path or bring it in as a race car, but I would think that a Cobra that cannot be fully registered would be hard to sell if/when you decided to.

I would check with Vic Roads on the rules for importation.

I know in QLD they actually check the year of manufacture, so just because it is titled as a 1965 Cobra, doesn't mean they will treat it as that. I know that they do contact the manufacturer or other 3rd parties to verify the vehicles age.

There are some allowances for age, so if you purchase a Cobra replica that is made before a certain year, approval can be a lot easier. 1989 from memory is one of the key years. So you would be looking at old Cobra replicas in the states, but they are not hard to find.

Importing can be done but is not simple. I've only seen personal imports brought in and successfully fully registered here.

The simple way, would be to buy an already approved & registered local Cobra. Transferring registered Cobras between states is also not a big drama either most of the time.

Good luck with it.

I've never imported a car before so I don't know what would be required. That said, since I have been going through the engineering process myself atm, I could imagine that you will need an engineer to complete rego. If you are after full rego and not something like club rego, then the engineer would possibly require a full chassis test, calculate side intrusion, require the correct ride height, E markings, tyres and rims, offsets, drawings of mods to donor parts, etc. The list could be quite long which equals dollars for the engineer. There might be ways/exemptions to ge around some of these issues but you will need to speak to an automotive engineer to be confident for exactly knowing where you stand. I'll PM you the details of my engineer. There is only one person that I know of on this forum who has imported a cobra for full rego and I believe that was quite a few years ago. Unfortunately regs and ADRs change over time.

That leaves two other options, buy or build.

In short, if you buy, buyer beware, but should be a straight forward process to transfer rego. Easy if it's in the same state perhaps less so if it's interstate. Others can tell you about interstate transfers, I built mine.

If building, apart for the process of building, building a recognised kit, which your engineer has passed before, is not too costly or hard to get passed and regoed as all the computations and chassis testing and drawings of modded parts etc etc have already been done, if you build it as per the manufacturer's specs.

This is only a summary, intended only to get you thinking. It's by no means exhaustive. You've got lots of questions to ask.

Cheers

Even for club reg you are going to need an engineers report that includes torsion and beaming tests on the chassis. Michael can probably confirm this but I think it's the same for club reg plates and special reg (street rod).

Cheers

Foreign Kits/Cars
 

(my understanding is)Foreign Kits/Cars do not necessarily require an engineers report to any greater or lesser degree than a local kit/car, and; that to meet Federal rules for ICV reg a torsion/beam test is not necessarily required (but some states have set specific levels).

In the specific case of the Cobra Car Club of Victoria the Club decided when forming its rules that it may require a member seeking club rego to get an engieers report.

This is basically a safety condition to stop people presenting with their home made chassis - which may never have been independently assessed - and then expecting to be able to automatically participate in the Club Permit(Reg) scheme. Which will likely involve driving on public roads.

This is not to say that there is necessarily anything wrong with home made chassis, just that the club thinks that a professional review would be a good idea.

In this regard the bar that the CCCV has set is actually higher than the governing legislation requires.


LoBelly

Well it took awhile and heaps of looking, but i've found my car and now have it registered. Its a long time in between drinks, thats for sure. Now looking at joining a club so i'll be keeping an eye out for any events coming up.

Fantatic news! What did you buy, and show us some pics please!

A Factory Five Racing cobra. A nice car and well put together.

Ffr
 

Macka, Congrats for finding the car that fits the bilL and welcome to cobra ownership and the joy and heartache that comes with it! Was just checking....did u say registered???? 347 live pipes etc etc. if its the car I'm thinking of thats impressive being a converted spec racer.

I think I saw your car in snaketales??? Im curious as I did alot of background research on a similar looking car many years ago. The car I'm thinking of was owned by a qld?

Spookypt.

Spooky, its on the club scheme now which is an affordable way of keeping a car that is not driven very often. The car is a big block, live pipes with plenty of go quick bits on her. She's fun to drive and ticks all the boxes. There are not many here in Oz, so it always draws a crowd.