There's been a fair amount of discussion on the hamb of kit cars. You know, that sleek little thing that you could assemble yourself for pennies on the dollar and be the envy of all the locals? They've been around forever , and I'm convinced that 9 out of 10 were never completed. Those fiberglass bodies are all sitting in the back of somebodys garage, still unfinished. But kit cars still stir our imaginations from time to time. We look at them and say "I wonder if ?" There have been some great ones.. kellisons for example. My buddy Steve decided to jump in and give a kit car a try. He researched extensively and settled on a FF Cobra roadster replica. They were well rated, and over 7000 have been sold (no info on how many of that number have ever been completed) When the car was delivered to our shop, the driver surprisingly said, " Cool, this is the first one that I've delivered to a guy that wasn't a dentist" We all laughed our asses off. We've worked on this for 7 hours a week for the last year and a half, and this week the body went to paint. Photos are attached. These are a bona fide hotrod project and a fun one that folks today might consider. We had a blast! Kit cars have come a long way.
I built a pretty stout 351 W and put it in a Cobra kitcar (Corvette suspension front and rear) for an optometrist. (G) Larry T
I always kinda wanted one, just not enough to put out the $ and time from my classic hot rod stuff. Looks real nice though. Love to see it done.
So the color combo's a secret huh?? Let me see if I can find the video clip from when I was there and Steve fired that bad boy up.
I bought a motor from a guy here in TX that builds some repro parts for these like side mirrors. When we talked about how many of the kits go unfinished he said these companies don't sell cars..... they sell dreams. And yes I would love to have one.
yeah they are cool....but we do the national klit car show every year with our rods and I have to say last year there was a couple of hundred Cobra reps at the show....suddenly they didn't look so cool anymore......do have to say though the paint on yours looks kin awsome!
A doctor in my area got one of those Cobras that come from South Africa. Completely finished minus motor and trans, $70K. He stuck in a twin supercharged 514, yikes........It use to be my all time favorite car but with the advent of kit cars, it has lost its glamour for me.
Sweet! I'm going to do one someday. I like to watch Ebay and Craigslist for used and uncompleted ones. You can score some screaming deals. About 15 years ago, I bought a nearly-complete Bradley GT 2 off the classifieds for $800. I had some great plans to take it off the VW pan, tube frame it with a GM V6, etc. And while it was sitting out in my front yard waiting to go in the garage, some dude stopped by and offered me $1500 for it. Ma Racewriter didn't raise any fools, so there it went.
Nice looking car. I had an opportunity to ride in a buddy's Factory Five Cobra several years ago. It was one of the funnest and most frightening rides that I have ever experienced. If I ever get were I can swing buying one, there will be one in the garage.
my old man got a backdraft cobra from south africa a couple years ago, punched out 351 to 427, neat little car and alot of fun to drive (so he says, oddly he won't let me drive it...) the quality looks good, the fella from california cobra did the engine install, all in all he ended up with a very nice car
Kit cars are nice, So long as the owner doesent claim its original, then we dont have a problem. Good cobra there might i add.
I think the British built many "Kit Cars" as an industry because buyers got a big tax break if the car wasn't "finished" at purchase? Cobra kit cars are somehow OK in my head since Cobras were "Kit Cars" from the invention. They were AC cars which were designed as a melding of a circa '30's BMW-looking frame with an early Ferrari looking body with the engine of your choice in the first place. Before the 260" FORD engine most AC's got Bristol engines. AC used to make three wheeled cars too.
I was at one show and saved several hundred thousand dollars. Sat in a real Lambo, couldn't fit. Sat in a Cobra couldn't fit. Didn't spend too much time trying though. Darn always wanted a Cobra. Bill
I definately couldnt do a kit cobra because I couldnt NOT have a 427 side oiler in it. and lord knows I cant afford any of that nonesense.
I've always liked 'em, but I'm thinking of doing a Shell Valley Cheetah roadster, just to have something a little different when I'm done.
My father and I built a classic motorcars Sebring MX about 20 years ago. It is a basic 1963 austin healy body thickened out on the fenderwelt, sort of cobra looking. Anyway, we did a bunch of research and spent a year climbing through junkyards for the parts, rebuilt and refinished them. When we had done all of that the body and chassis were purchased. We fit, modified and built that car from the ground up, every day for three months. Total build time was 97 days to be exact. It has been pictured in two magazines and placed in the top ten regularly at the kit car nationals run and gun events that it was entered in. Building that car was not easy but the end result was worth it. He still owns it and drives (beats) the snot out of it. I would guess it has around 70K miles on it now.
Man, that is turning out great, Chaz!! Glad you posted an update on here.... I remember you and Steve talking about the car at Bonneville. It'd be cool to get a ride in it someday -- that thing's gotta scream! It's a Ford Mod motor, from what I recall?? Malcolm
i have been infatuated with kit cars since i was a kid (my dad was really into them) along with street rods. i am lucky to have a local company right around the corner from me: http://www.race-car-replicas.com/ check these guys out. these things are awesome. this would be the way to go if i can ever afford one...
there is an ex-FOMOCO engineer, with an aluminum BBF cobra 'kit car', [as i recall 'panels were beat out and assembled in poland, then finished by the 'new owner], in the metro-detroit area. not a replicar, a full-on-cobra! he also had a SBF cobra sold thru FOMOCO in the 80's [with a factory drivetrain warranty] . used to see him at the SAAC meets. he was known for his concours 'boss mustangs'. the BBF car gave new meaning to the term 'kit car'! WANNA GET SICK QUICK? in the 60's FOMOCO 'put their' engineering department cobras on the employee re-sale lot, $4000 per unit! i'm told FOMOCO had difficulty selling them! there is a lady 'doctor' locally who has two 'real' cobra's, one of which she drives to 'events'!
I lusted after a Kellison coupe and actually had one for a while in the 60s. I didn't have enough experience to finish it back then. I sure would like to find it today. It was only a few hundred bucks as an unfinished project. They were no way near as complete as today's kits. I never learned what frame it was on. I sold it when a 38 Chevy coupe became available for 300. All it needed was an engine and trans. It was a no brainer for me. Doing a Kellison for the street was a tall task. Later, I ordered the complete assembly manual for a glass fast back kit car while in Viet Nam. I studied it in my bunk at night. All that I can remember is that it used a Karmen Ghia rear glass. It was pretty detailed. I can't even remember the brand of the kit. Half-heimers disease. Every time I see a Kellison I have to look and dream what if? They have gotten out of my price range now. Most are pretty rough examples that would need a complete redo asking big bucks. I did the exhaust on a 58 Devon once that the kid was putting a turbo charged F-85 aluminum Olds engine into. It was rough and I'm sure it never got finished. It was on a British sports car frame.
Kinda off/on topic. Last year the wife and I got a 27 bugatti kit that was unfinished at a yard sale for 900.00. Theyres one in the paper for 7900.00. We should be cramped and sunburned in a month or so. I dig the kit cars. Not everybody can afford a cobra or a lambo. Its about fun. Sorta like the Hot Rods.
THATS the one I'm talkin' about! I love the coupe too, but looking at pics they look a little cramped, probably hot and noisey, as the originals were known for. I read an online road test from about '64, they were described as unbalanced, overpowered, ill-handling and squirrelly at high speed. Nothing that couldn't be remedied with some modern suspension upgrades, but it sound just like my kind of car!
I have to admit my first not daily drivers were "assembled cars"; this is nr 2 : lotus Seven inspired; stainless monocoque and GRP, 1000 lbs, and 160 hp; 0 - 60 is a little over 5 sec, top speed is 125 mph. with 33 mpg, it 's the ideal travelling car; Do you wonder why I prefer glass ?
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