Seeking Contact with Ron Stroke

[Robert Beede]

Dear Bay Area Cobra Folks: I addressed this thread to you, because I am trying to make contact with Ron Stroke, a very capable Autocrosser back in the 60’s and 70’s. I believe he was also affiliated with Coventry Motors, who sold my Cobra to Sam CARDWELL “NEW” back in 1964 or so. One of the owners of Coventry Motors was a fellow named Jay Brown. I am not sure if Ron Stroke was a partner in CM or not, but I am pretty sure he autocrossed Cobras for CM, as advertisement. I want to be careful that I do not write much more, because I do not know the story of Ron. My interest in contacting him is to find out the specifics of his relationship with CM, and learn more about the operation of CM.

In my past phone interviews with Roy Miller, the Sales Manager for Cobras at Hayward Ford, Roy suggested that CM got quite a few cars from HF, and then sold them to buyers. Roy did not go into any detail about how this worked, other than to say that selling a Cobra was not easy. They had so many of them on the lot at HF at one point, that Roy hired his son, Gary, to start and drive them around the lot to keep in from falling apart. Anyway, my intentions are pure. I’m just trying to put some pieces togethger. I have tried to do this over the 52 years that have owned my car, but I never got very far! Thanks for any help!! Bob Beede