Hello from another (almost) newbie

[LoBelly]

And yes there are many Classic Revival members who would be very happy to talk about their cars

.

Try stopping them...

and welcome Gregg - the CCCV is the centre of excellence for Cobra builds in South-East Australia - bring your questions and ask away.

Your engineer has the last say in the minimum requirement - you don't need bumbers (who does)
You might want to consider the Aussie Mike approach and forgo the windscreen to bypass those requirements
If you have the money to buy all the bits and are able to source them before you need them then 5 months is do-able.

good luck

LoBelly