Buying a Cobra Kit
 

I'm looking to buy a Cobra kit and I've heard lots of stories of kits that are difficult to put together. Can anyone reccomend a kit maker that has proven to be reliable? This is my first kit, and I am looking for something that's not too difficult to put together. Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Domenic

Dom,

For a kit, I'd say that the ERA and the Unique are probably the easiest to assemble but are on the more expensive side. There is no fabrication needed to finish the kit, and everything is available through the company. For a turnkey, go with Superformance. They are one of the best looking cobras out there. Really, the deciding factor here is the budget, and what do you want to use it for. Racing, cruising, shows....

Glenn

In response to Glenn,

Thanks for replying. Mainly, in college and I'm building this car to learn what it means to build one. I intend just to drive it for a month and sell it, hopefully for a small profit. I'm hoping to make a career out of building Cobra and Lamborghini replicas, any advice?

Thanks

Domenic

Domenic,
I don't want to burst your bubble, but as a general rule, usually the only person who loses money when they sell a kit car is the person who built it. You can just about always sell a kit car for receipts, i.e. what you have in the project as far as out of pocket costs are concerned, assuming that you built the car correctly. Most often you can sell the car for a bit more, but you will almost never get back your labor costs, at least at anything approaching a decent hourly wage.

People who build cars for a living will tell you that they only build cars on commission, never as a speculative project, and that the only reason they can make a little money at it is because they know how to do the job quickly and efficently.

I've run into a few guys who thought they could strike out on their own and build cars for other people, while working out of their garage in their spare time. Usually after they finish the first build they say; "never again".

If you're still interested in building a kit, you might want to check out Factory Five Racing as well. Perhaps not the fastest or easiest build, but a very popular kit that comes with a pretty good build manual.

Also, you might want to post your question on the "all Cobra talk" area of ClubCobra rather than this site. This area is for people to report problems (or heap praise) on the different replica vendors.

Cheers
Jim

Rather than building a Cobra from scratch, and if you want to maybe make a buck, look for unfinished kits you can pick up cheap. Also look for finished Cobras that people are selling cheap. Recently a friend of mine found a Superformance with a big block for 25K and can easily turn it around for 35K.
And nobody said it would be easy.
Roscoe

All that's left to say is... Amen! Ditto on everything said. This isn't a money making venture, you do it for entertainment, experience and love, for money... nah.