Heard it all now

[wtcobra]

Guys not all cobra replicas are built in a factory in South Africa, or in turnkey form. Many Superformance owners have very superficial knowledge about Cobra replicas as they rely upon their relationships with the dealers to repair and service their cars. Have you ever wondered why there are so few FE engines in their cars?

I know Bruno Angers and his car is simply beautiful. His attention to detail was some of the best I have ever seen on any automobile. The year that he was at R & G, the NASCAR & BUSCH guys had the track from 5PM on for testing. Included in the group was a couple of the Bodines, Dale Jarrett's Busch car driven by his son, Schrader and several other drivers and their crews. I gave my garage to Jason Jarrett for the evening as others gave up their garages to the various teams. After practicing for about 1/2 hour it started to rain, and all of the NASCAR & Busch cars came back into the garages. The drivers and crews started talking and visiting with all of the other cars in the garages as the rain continued. They were impressed and enjoyed all of of the Run & Gun cars, and then they came upon Bruno Angers car. They couldn't believe it. All of the crews examined his car with disbelief as they looked at it from every angle, and said it was some of the best workmanship that they had ever seen. Jason Jarrett gave me an autographed hat and all of the crews and drivers helped themselves to our coolers and food. A good time was had by all and Turk is assolutely right about Bruno's car, even if he is fuzzy about other things sometimes. A good machinist is like an artist in my book.

wt

[ToyCollector]

Originally posted by Turk



He was there with his wife.
She was cute too.

TURK

Are you saying therefore HE was cute, if she was cute TOO?

WT, you have to admit, (I am someone who is fabricating/rigging a Hemi drivetrain set up for a Street Rod right now), that you would take what Hal initially heard with a grain of salt not knowing the person. I have met a guy who did a 3 wheeled Morgan all from scratch and many others. They are out there, and when I am retired, I hope to be one of them. Hal is the last guy BTW you want to group into the SPF "off the rack" category, and I haven't been far behind lately.

[casaleenie]

PSB,
I went to the website on the Daytona Coupe... This guy is not normal... He should not be walking the streets alone..... He's not human....
In Japan this guy would be considered a "national treasure". They honor people like him....
He probably grew the trees for the buck and built an aluminum smelter..

unreal...

[Tom T.]

Chuck is indeed a fantastic guy...and he says someday that puppy will actually be done.

TT

[ToyCollector]

I checked out Chuck's site. That is one amazing project and some great dedication. The guys that build homebuilt planes would get along great with him

[wtcobra]

Toy Collector- I hear you, and if you noticed I said many not all. Most of my friends built their cars, and are always fabricating something to get them the way they want them. Of course, most of us are 50 or older, so in our experiences it is not unusual for someone to have the skills to build from scratch. It is usually a time issue more than anything. I would have admired the guy's ambition. Now, I admit I also admire your selection of engine for your car, as you are in a distinct minority.

wt

[Carroll DeWeese]

I remember that not too long ago Brent made a post of a person that built a working, true-to-life model race car that was unbelievable. A small model like that where everything had to be fabricated is harder to build that a full scale car. I believe that a knowledgeable peron with the desire and time can build most anything from scratch.

[ToyCollector]

wtcobra, 1st off, cheers and thanks for the fine reply.

This post is rather timely. I spent some time today polishing my spinners (2 hours went down the drain so quick it was unreal, but I hold 4 shiny polished spinners in my hand which will last for sometime), ripped apart my cooling system so I could get a weld redone where my expansion tank bracket meets the tank, and I removed my steering wheel so I could realign it--ALWAYS bugged me. If I was retired, I'd be building a GT-40 from scratch--or maybe a 935 race car.

On a side note pertinent to this thread, I watched the video of the guy that did the 1/4 scale working Ferrari. A frightening concept in and of itself!! As I sit here and reflect, why not do it in 1:1 scale and be able to drive the darn thing?? The fine man is probably now spending his time trying to build a shrinking machine Then again, "Why?"...."because we CAN!" Have FUN.

[Neal Jackson]

McBuana,

You know 2 guys who have built Cheetahs from scratch, body, chassis, the whole nine yards. And so do I.

[Turk]

Wayne,
I am glad you are up and about and back to being yourself. Happy and fast recovery. I guess there is no need for me to contact Mrs. WT with an offer for all the FE parts you have been hoarding all these years.
I thought I could get a better deal from her.
Glad to have you back!

TURK

Toy Collector,
you KNOW I meant the car. Not him!
I live closer to Sacramento than I do to San Francisco!!

[cdog]

My buddy runs a race car chassis shop and they can do ANYTHING from scratch...

The problem is that that cost to make a jig and build a Cobra frame (based on say SPF plans) would take longer and probably cost more than just buying the damn thing.

They were going to build a custom chopper frame based on dimensions from a West Coast Choppers frame. But, they figured that with the jig, welding, etc. they would need to sell 10 frames just to break even.

So, while building your own Cobra chassis can be done, in most cases it probably shouldn't be. Why re-invent the wheel?

C

[JWheaton]

All these replicas started from someplace. Arntz, ERA, Contemporary all had someone who could do these things. Look at all the street rodders that build their cars. Very possible to build. Takes time, talent, patience and money to make it all happen.

Maybe the gentleman that Hal was talking with had three eyes, 8 fingers on each hand and whatever else that made Hal question his abilities. Who knows

Now I built a ca..... aaaha I built a hou.....aaaahaa I built a lawn mow... Damm I have never built a friggin' thing but I will COMPLETE my ERA when it gets to me.

[mickmate]

If you have the skills and access to the right equipment building a car from scratch is quite do-able. It is definetely my new addiction and you meet some great people along the way. I'll try and get a few more pics posted of some of my projects other than the Cobra . I have a couple of pictures of Bruno's car and another guy who builds them from stainless even closer to original than the EM chassis style. The guys that build these from scratch are few and far between. One of the hardest parts is getting good numbers that jive with each other. It seems there were a lot of variations on these cars. If anyone wants to trade info on these I'm always keen to talk. The building part is relatively easy if that's all you did and didn't have kids, wife, house, job, etc taking up build time! It's like everything in life strike a balance that works for you.....................

[wtcobra]

Thanks Turk. When I returned from the hospital, my wife was helping me into the house via the side door of the garage when she exclaimed "surprise" and to my dismay my garage had been emptied and was once again suitable for the parking of cars, but all of my blocks, trannies, cranks,intakes, etc. were all gone. My wife gave it all away to an itinerant handy man for cleaning the garage and hauling the "junk" away. She was so proud of the fact that she had the garage now available for parking, what could I say? Oh well, I don't think I will ever tell her, it wasn't really "junk". Handy man is probably retired now. So goes life in the fast lane. Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. I am just thankful that I had the Shelby block engine installed in the car. I am going to miss those H-M blocks and that set of 6 Thou Kuntz SK heads.

Wayne Turpin

Heck I forgot about the original 427 FE dry sump system, all aluminum. I have never seen another one, although Dove made a replica of it for about 4 Thou.

[Satanpez]

Check out what the Lotus 7 clone (locost) guys have been doing. Building cars from scratch is pretty much how they all do it.

I'm actually in the beginning stages for one.

-steve in nj-

[Great Asp]

"Many Superformance owners have very superficial knowledge about Cobra replicas as they rely upon their relationships with the dealers to repair and service their cars. Have you ever wondered why there are so few FE engines in their cars?"

I'm sure you don't mean that as an insult.

Wayne,

At least my SPF doesn't look like the roll bar is set up for parasailing, or recieving radio signals from Mexico.

I bought my SPF (both of them) because they can build a car for less money, and better than if I built it myself. It's the smart thing to do for me, and many others. Contemporary still making kits?

I have a 418 SB in my car, which beat out every other car on the last dyno at DVSF II. I picked a "modern" SB for the same reason I picked a SPF, .........."it made sense". It's a modern car, chassis, and body. It just looks old. Thats the way I like it.

I built and raced a half dozen FE's when I was in high school. There are limited speed parts for them, a SO block is a lot of money, if you are planning on running it hard. You know, it breaks and you spend more money than a 351 truck block. And rev it to 7500 rpm and hold it there, I'll rev mine to 7500 rpm, and lets see who has to buy a rebuild first.

I had someone else build my engine too. He did a great job.

Sorry to come off like this, but I work on my own car. So do "Most" of the guys I know (and I know a lot of them) that own SPFs. I just did not have the skill, or the time to build it.

Eric Brown

ericbrown1@hotmail.com

[750hp]

If a guy has gone out and built a car from scratch, then they deserve all the attention coming to them.

BUT, if a guy comes up to you on the street, all talk about what he's GOING to do - it's just that - ALL COBRA TALK. We should have a Forum named after that!

[wtcobra]

Great Asp- What is "Contemporary still making kits?" intended to convey? I agree with you that you have the best and most modern car and engine.

wt

[Art Burtt]

I met a 68 year old man at a truck show that had Ford pickup
that he hand built the frame from stainless steel and then hand polished the whole thing The aluminum engine was entirely polished as was the trans and rear. The whole body lifted up and displayed the chassis. He had engineered it so that nothing had
to be disconected to do this. He told me he worked 4 years for
about 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week to finish it. Of course he took 1st. place in the judging. So I guess given enough time and the talent you could build a Cobra from scratch,but you better have a lot of time and patience.

[Great Asp]

"What is "Contemporary still making kits?" intended to convey?"

Only that SPF might be doing something right as compared to building a up-scale replica your self. Contemporary can be finished to look "very" original, but at what cost? Most likely more than a SPF. So why do it?

Thats all.

Great Asp