Please Steal This Car . . .

[uptheorg]

I had Porsche's for years in my toybox and at one point about two years ago, there was nothing there (someone stole my toy!). So I looked at all kinds of vintage cars and suddenly it dawned on me that for less than an Austin Healey or 80's vintage Ferrari, I could buy a gently used Cobra. Still had the British coachwork and interior, no? I got an absolutely fantastic Backdraft (built with excellence in South Africa) with 1100 miles on the clock, BMW Suspension, Kieth Craft 408/410 Street Performance Engine that put 570hp to the rear wheels. A stunning car! Totally sorted for sure.

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Then I started to drive it. What a thrill! Fast as anything could be (certainly in the 3 second range for 0-62). And loud. Very loud. After 20 minutes my ears were ringing. So I went and got some earplugs. Then I went and got $25 earplugs (like rock musicians use). This helped. The car had no top, so I only took it out in beautiful weather.

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I never saw anything get the kind of positive attention this thing did. Literally you couldn't drive 5 minutes without at least one thumbs up or someone trying to shout over the pipes at a stop light to ask you if it was "real". More than once I saw a cell phone cocked to take a photo at 70 mph on the highway! I think because it was an "American" car and instantly recognizable that people felt related to it in a way that they wouldn't if, say, you were driving a Ferrari.

Of course my wife wouldn't go near it! I took her for one 10 minute ride (at reasonable speeds) and she nearly jumped out of her skin! Naturally there wasn't a radio, air, or any other modern convenience.

One night I was driving on the highway with it after dark with my earplugs firmly set in and I had an out-of-the-body experience. At that point it was dark so I couldn't see the car, only the road ahead. The wind protection was minimal and the noise was muffled but still significant. I became detached from the car and what it was. I realized that this was the limit to what I was ever going to experience with this beauty. Seeing the hot rod sitting in my garage was great, but I am a driver, no?

I put the car up for sale the next day.

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Yeah, it is true you have to put up with some inconveniences when you drive an early 911. But it still isn't a glorified motorcycle! Don't kid yourselves -- you don't want a Cobra in your garage unless it is the tenth car you have, and even then I would wonder. After a few hundred to a thousand miles, if you are anything like me, you would have exhausted the possibilities of the car as a road car. (As a track car, I don't know.)

I loved that car, but it was like the hot exotic girl you dated when you were younger. Certainly not marriage material. Certainly not a PORSHA!

My old girlfriend:

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My new long-term relationship (maybe marriage?):

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Cheers!

[sithot]

That is why so many of these cars are for sale.

The best one I ever saw was a real later production ACE Cars aluminum 289 body (5.0 Ford). Beautifully painted in a Aston-Martin blue-green with tan hides. The exhaust exited in the rear
like they were originally. It was stunning.

As a driver the 289 is much more satisfying and better balanced by a mile. This particular car was one of two ordered by Ford executives (Bill Ford being one of them). They went directly to Roush who sorted the engines and other details. Coulda', Woulda', Shoulda'. It was a smoking deal that slipped past me before I realize "how smoking a deal" it was.

Still like my 911 better.

[Mark Morrissey]

I sure wish I could find the shot I have somewhere of me driving my buddies real 289 Cobra... that car was a scream to drive. The photo's so old... I still have hair

[767driver]

I sure wish I could find the shot I have somewhere of me driving my buddies real 289 Cobra... that car was a scream to drive. The photo's so old... I still have hair

You had hair??

I am kinda liking the new slab-sided 289 from ERA...

http://www.erareplicas.com/cars/3002/index.htm

[sithot]

It just "looks right" in these proportions. A 289 is no slouch either. A crate 302 will pull to 7,500 and the balance is just about perfect.

I'd cheat a little and use a crate motor with a factory harness/computer etc..

[uptheorg]

For sure the rear pipes solve my biggest problem with the car.

I wanted to mention the "differences" between the enthusiasts of these cars and enthusiasts of early 911's. You'll never see the owners of these cars do much more than show them. There is very little driving involved -- no long tours and little tracking. The backgrounds socio-economically are usually quite different as well. (I don't want to say much more on that point . . .) But for sure the guys that had these cars were more interested in showing them than driving them and this was the greatest difference.

Remember also that the owners of ERA's have almost to a man built their cars themselves from the ERA kit. Not as common a background as you find in the other communities (Few Ferrari owners wrench their cars at all.) The early 911 community seems to have a nice "mix" of mechanics and benefactors of mechanics (ha ha).

One final point has to do with the fact that these cars have NO history, since they are built from the ground up. The few that do have history are never shown with the kit cars, anyway. There will never be a community like we have here, as rich and varied as it is.

[sithot]

Gold Chains optional clansmen?

[sithot]

Here it is:

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_de...gn=CA0812_S139

[joscpat13]

Dave --- you're right . . . you talked me into it.



Ditch the 'shield, too.



Rick

nice.. looks like one of those cars used in a racing movie.. hm forgot the title..

[mrgreenjeans]

--Please Steal this Car--

Not what the guy that owned a 427 Cobra said in Watts. As the day my cousin, while going to College and working partime as a repo man, hotwired and repo'd the roadster from the owner's street.
Bobby called into work for 4 days and skipped school till he got the crap scared out of him enough and returned it to the repo garage he worked for, and then related the story to my uncle about the guy coming out of the door of his home and letting a few volleys loose over his head with a shotgun.
He just kept it as straight as possible and tried to keep it from bending in half around a street light as he made for home.

I believe he said the amount owed was for about half what the car sold new for, and he had himself hopes to raise that amount and buy it from the bank.....my uncle would not give it to him and also did not want his son doing that kind of business anymore.
Wonder where that little black car is today ? And what its worth ? If it lived to see the turn of the century as a whole car , or as merely parts .....
It would be really amazing to know some of the stories these cars could tell if they could only speak.