Driven to succeed

[Diner]

Driven to succeed
By Elizabeth Malloy/ emalloy@cnc.com
Wednesday, December 1, 2004

When it debuted in the early 1960s, the Cobra sports car, designed by race car driver Carroll Shelby, was so fast and so pricey, the Chevrolet Corvette became a known as a kind of poor man's Cobra.

But come next year, you could own one of the speedy two-seaters for just $25.

Marshfield High School metal shop and auto repair students are raising money to buy supplies and build a Cobra, which they will then raffle off for $25 a ticket. Metal shop teacher Al Crooker said he hopes to have the car built by the end of this school year.

Crooker has managed to buy Cobra building kit at half the usual cost, but that is still about $6,000, so his students have been raising money by selling snacks at school sporting events, and this week they will host a fund-raiser at the China Wok Restaurant on Ocean Street. On Thursday, Dec. 2 the restaurant will give the students half their proceeds from that day, so Crooker is hoping as many people as possible will eat there that day.

Crooker got the idea to have his classes build a Cobra a few years ago when he was attending a World of Wheels automotive show. The company Factory Five was selling Cobra kits, and Crooker said he thought it was something his students could do. On his own, Crooker has been rebuilding old cars for years, including a truck from 1930 and a 1954 Plymouth, but he has never built a new car.

"It's very exciting," Crooker said. "People are always going, 'Oh you'll never do it,' but that just makes me more excited about doing it."

The Factory Five kit helps a builder construct a Cobra frame, and then Crooker said his students can use parts from a Ford Mustang - any year from 1987 to the present model - to construct the car's engine, transmission and other systems.

"You take all the Ford Mustang parts and attach them to the frame," Crooker explained. "There's about 1,500 fasteners to put it all together."

Local auto body shops have all volunteered to help with the project Crooker said, offering to do the more complicated systems like the wiring and the fuel tank and donating parts like alternators.

"There are certain things you have to get professionally done," Crooker said.

The car will be professionally painted as well. A friend of Crooker's offered to do the paint job as soon as the student put the side panel on the two-seater car.

Crooker said building the car is a huge undertaking but his students are very excited about it and if they can save the money for the kit and additional parts by the end of the year, it could be completed by the spring.

"You need to know how to approach it," Crooker said of motivating his students. "I just tell them, 'I don't think you can do this,' and they say, 'Wait a minute, yes we can!' and they get very excited about it."

For now though, raising the money is the main objective for both Crooker and his students. While they will save a lot of money by getting the Cobra kit from Factory Five at half price, they still need money to get a Mustang for the parts and other supplies. Crooker said he is trying to get Ford to sponsor the project and donate parts (Shelby himself used a Ford engine in the originals) but until then, Crooker has orchestrated a more grass-roots style fundraising system.

The metal shop and automotive classes at the high school have about 200 MHS students, Crooker estimated, and many of them have gotten involved, selling refreshments at sporting events, jokingly referring to the soda they sell as "Cobra-Cola." Crooker says the rest of the student body has become involved as well, with the art department helping the technology education students make flyers.

"Everyone in school knows about it," Crooker said. "They're getting very creative."

Crooker said one good thing about the project is there are ways for students at every level to get involved, and he has noticed some students who may not otherwise be very involved with school activities or particularly enjoy going to class have been energized by the project and have become involved in the fundraising.

"It really gives some kids a reason to come to school," he said.

Marshfield Mariner
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