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My mystery Cobra
HELP, I need some help figureing what manufacture my car is. Its a registered as a1974 Ford. the vin # in on the left side of the window mid way up the post. Its is a square tube frame simular to the B&B, (but is not one) Has a Mustang II or Pinto rack and pinion steering and front supension. The fire wall, foot wells and inner fender wells are all stainless steel covered. Two things that seem unique are the rear suspension and side pipe feed thru on the body. the rear supension is a half leaf spring. forward end attaching to the body (sandwich between a botton plate and the body. Has a upper link control arm and single shock that is almost vertical. the exaust feed thru on the body has a fairing formed on the body. Most any hard parts are traced to 72 or 73 . ie gears in the rear end, steering, brakes ect. It DOES NOT have an oil cooler air scoop below the front. It does have a newer 351w, SVO alum heads and Tremec five speed. Tryed to post a photo but would not take. I can e mail some if anyone thinks they can help.
Mike Garvin |
Quarter elliptic rear springs? **) I haven't seen those since the MK1 Spridget and MK2 Jag sedan. That could be your biggest clue. Are you sure that the front suspension is Mustang and not Jaguar?
Not that I know of any British kits that use that suspension... |
Mystery cobra part II
Hi Bob, Thanks for the reply. I agree with you on the rear suspension design. The front rack and pinion has a Ford Oval emblem cast in it. It looks like it has been shorten. there is a weld seam down the middle. The front suspension has upper and lower control arms with coil spring and shocks. My best guess is it is a Ford Mustang II.
The urgency has increased ten fold on figureing out this mystery car. Last night I hit a deer and damaged the left front fender, contained most of the damage to the head light bucket and lower area. I'm not sure where to get parts now. AGAIN, any help would be great, this is my first Ford and Cobra car project. |
Lets get some pics up!
Ernie |
NAME THAT COBRA!!!
Check MY gallery for MORE pics of this DAMAGED Cobra to help IDENTIFY it.
Hit a deer. Out of time, pics a little big, gotta run! EDIT: It's NOT the blue and white one or the red and white one. It's the BLACK one with front end damage. Ernie |
In 1974 there couldn't have been that many replica's being made. I'm going to make a wild a$$ guess:
Arntz Butler NAF West coast When did the South African's start building Cobras? |
Still need help on mystery Cobra.
Thanks for the reply, I'm trying to get a hold of someone from superformance. Here are somemore info.
The VIN number is on the window mid way up on the driver side pillar. It is titled as a 1974 FORD. Has a Mustang II front suspension, with a FORD rack and pinion steering. (It looks like it has been shorten) Has a quarter elliptical rear suspension. (Half leaf spring, the front attached to the body and the aft end attached to the axle with a upper link and vertical shock.) There is no oil cooler inlet in the front. There is a fairing on the body where the side pipes feed thru. There are faux rivet pattern around the air scoop and on the front part of the hood. (as if to support the hinges.) The air scoop only has an approximately 3.0 inch diam hole cut thru the inner part of the hood scoop into the engine compartment. The fender well and fire wall are covered Stainless steel. The wire loom has a fabric type covering. I can't find any fuses in the system. but there are some relays ,( for head lights, radator cooling fans. This car lived in Mexico at one time.( I believe, due to filters and parts found on it. |
MPG,
Since it really doesn't sound like an Arntz could it be that it is registered as a '74 because that is the year of the engine block? I know some states do it that way.Unfortunatly if thats the case that brings a whole bunch more mgfs. into the picture. And that is what we need pictures. give us some and I am sure someone here will be able to narrow it down for you. Have a good one, Dan p.s. wasn't there a guy in mexico trying to sell a RUCC awhile ago? Don't recall will have to do a search. |
WHOOPS!
Did not realize Ernie had the pics. probably should read a little more carefully.
Dan |
1974 vintage.
I do think it was manufactured in 74, this is due to the cast numbers and dates found on some of the hard parts, Rack & pinion, gears in the rear axel, brake parts. the engine and transmission are "new"
|
MPG,
Half eliptic springs in the back, a Mexican vacation, and that windshield thats standing almost straight up....what you got there 's not a Cobra, its the dang missing link! **) |
Questions...
MPG,
I may be way off here... but from the looks of it at first, I was thinking it might be an early version of a "King Cobra" brand replica. My friend had a KC with a BB Chevy in it years back. Had the same type rear leafspring setup. One way to tell is the mounting and latching hardware used for the doors, etc. Just curious... Is the wheelbase of this car longer than 90"? Maybe its the picture, but it looks longer. The distance from the door past those large side-vents to the front fender opening seems longer than a typical 90" style body. Measure from wheel center to wheel center and let us know. No, IMO it's not a Butler/Arntz car unless someone changed a lot. The body is much different than a Butler/Artnz. i.e. rear fenders and low doors are a dead giveaway on a Butler/Arntz car. Also, can you post some engine compartment pics, to see how the motor sits/mounts, to see the firewall, etc... and to see what's in front of the motor, how radiator mounts, hood mounts, etc - if possible? |
Hi Duane,
Thanks for the reply, I want to say the cars wheel base 8 ft. I was modifying by car hauler and did a quick measurement from center to center of the axels and it was between 94 to 96 inches. when I go over to the shop I will get a more accurate measurment. For some reason I'm unable to post pictures on the forum, but can e mail some of the engine compartment. Mike |
Duane,
the door latches look like the replaca of the original cobra. Mike |
See Excaliber response and click on his site for more pictures.
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what it is...
MPG,
if it's the blue/white one in Excaliber's picture Gallery... I'm about 99.9% certain its an early Classic Roadsters Cobra. Giveaways: -shape of body -windshield -center hood latch mechanism -power brakes -side hood rests / angled -stretch 96" model -doors -dash with tweeters -dash with stereo/stacked a local guy here has one just like it in Red, with all the same items listed above. The dash definitely gives it away and so does the hood latch setup, etc... |
ENGINE PIC
HA HA,,the blue and white one in my gallery IS my Classic Roadster (94" wheel base AND 4 inches WIDER than "stock").
The BLACK one is the one in question, hit by a deer. Hmmmm,,,,being a long wheel base car does narrow the list of possiblities. Early "King Cobra" is possible for instance, but I thought they were all "live" axle rear end, NOT IRS? NO WAY Arntz/Butler, engine isn't "set back" at all. You know the "Club" NEVER DID identify Brent Mills Cobra as to manufactuer. How ironic that they guy that STARTED and MAINTAINS ClubCobra still doesn't know which one he's got! Ernie |
hard to say...
EC,
hard to say... need more pics of the black one to see. Interesting straight steering shaft in the one you listed here. |
The black one in the first four pics is definitly not a Classic Roadster. There are a couple of clues for this, with one being the rear wheel well flares. Classics do not have that small flare around the wheel well opening.
Paul |
My mystery Cobra had a Dana 20 live axel, The gears were manufactured in 1973, 3.02 ratio. I have put in a Late model Ford 9 inch, posi, 3.73 ratio, with disk brakes. If anyone is interested in this conversion, I would be glad to supply info. I had a local guy in San Antonio shorten the axel and clean off all of the old brackets. All of the work he did cost me $750.00. this was for all parts and labor.. I had to fabracate and manufacture the attaching brackets and install.
MPG |
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