Cobra replicas

amg_rx7 wrote: I wouldn't invest that much time and energy unless I was happily married to said girl.

Cynic!

In reply to Keith:

X2

For every fast, well sorted Cobra, there are ten that would get spanked by a decent Miata at Sears Point. In fact, when I last checked, The Spec Miata lap record was faster than the Factory Five Challenge cars.

That said, the chances of getting a date because of your Cobra is several times greater than via your Miata.

Yeah but the chick wanting to date you for the performance of your miata, is worth more.

In the Washington DC Region there's a very active Cobra mafia who are at essentially every autocross and track day. Every one a Factory Five, a couple of which are Daytona Coupes. One notable example has a Vortech supercharged 351.

These guys are FTD contenders everywhere, low time at time trials, and the cars generally seem reliable.

All of them have on the order of $30k+ invested.

Last track day when we rented Hallett, there was a guy there with a Cobra kit. He bought an unfinished kit from someone and he and his dad put it together.

I've followed the kit car business for decades. Everyone that has ever built their own car thinks they can be a kit car manufacturer and it seems 90% of them try. Champion Motor Cars comes to mind. Very few survive. FF has a reputation of the customer being most important, unlike the rest of the industry where the customer's dollar is the most important and after they have that, berkeley off (including getting your kit for some of them.)

amg_rx7 wrote: I wouldn't invest that much time and energy unless I was happily married to said girl.

Oh I won't plan on it but I have been dating this girl for about 4 and half years now.

Has anyone seen a locost Cobra?

96DXCivic wrote: Has anyone seen a locost Cobra?

I've condidered building one. The main tripping point is that, while cheap glass is available, it's usually heavy, chopper-gun stuff. I'd want a lightweight body, which coupled with a proper spaceframe, rather than the more common ladder arangement, should be able to get one into the sub-2k lbs. category. Unfortunately I'd expect to get grief from most of the Cobra crowd, where Shelby fanbois outnumber GRM types.

I thought a "Locost Cobra" was a Brunton Stalker - or is that a "Cobra-Locost"?

motomoron wrote: I thought a "Locost Cobra" was a Brunton Stalker - or is that a "Cobra-Locost"?

Problem is, a Superstalker is no longer Locost. It's in the same league as a standard-issue FF.

Probably not what you want to hear, but if you've got to build on a budget, a straight locost is a much better plan. Every decent Cobra that I have seen was a 25K+ build...

-Chris R.

kreb wrote: That said, the chances of getting a date because of your Cobra is several times greater than via your Miata.

I dunno. The more aggressive my first Miata got, the less interest I got from girls and more from teenage boys . I guess it depends on your dating pool - if I was trolling for cougars, I can see a Cobra working well.

FF doesn't just put the customer first, they also act like a real company. How many kit car companies poll their customers to find out how long it took them to finish the kit and the final cost? If you do some math with the numbers on their site, they sold an average of 600 kits/year from 1998 to 2007. That puts them on par with Caterham for size, and you can't fumble and lie your way through that many kits a year. You have to be organized and running like a production line.

If I was going to build a Locost with a body, I'd go for a 1960's sports racer. That's really all they were in the first place, spaceframes with bodies. Plus they're cool. It's hard to find a body though.

We used to go to cruise-nights at a resturant where the owner was building a Cobra kit. I don't recall what brand (it's been a few years), but he did it pretty cheaply using a simple 4-lug Mustang 5.0 donor - he even kept the OE turbine-style wheels. I don't recall him having over $20K into the car and built it over a few years.

To the OP, I know it sound counter-intuitive and non-GRM, but buying a kit will likely cost less in the end than trying to design and build a chassis from scratch.

Keith said: If I was going to build a Locost with a body, I'd go for a 1960's sports racer. That's really all they were in the first place, spaceframes with bodies. Plus they're cool. It's hard to find a body though.

Like a lotus 23 ? I always liked the idea of a 50's porsche 550 spyder kit with a real tube frame (and not some crappy modified vw bug pan) and a wrx engine...

Ian F wrote: We used to go to cruise-nights at a resturant where the owner was building a Cobra kit. I don't recall what brand (it's been a few years), but he did it pretty cheaply using a simple 4-lug Mustang 5.0 donor - he even kept the OE turbine-style wheels. I don't recall him having over $20K into the car and built it over a few years. To the OP, I know it sound counter-intuitive and non-GRM, but buying a kit will likely cost less in the end than trying to design and build a chassis from scratch.

How do you figure it will cost more?

Factory Five reports the average cost to complete a "base Mk4 roadster" is between $22k and $24k.

96DXCivic wrote: How do you figure it will cost more?

We'll if I may use the homebuilt airplane analogy: You build every airplane at least twice. Once for what you finish, and once for what you screw up. These are kit planes. The real thinking has been done for you. Doing it all your self is 10 fold worse.

96DXCivic wrote: How do you figure it will cost more?

Fewer "unknowns". Unknowns cost $$$ to fix. Unknowns are hard to estimate the costs in both time and money. With a kit, you have a better chance of establishing a budget & build-schedule and sticking to it.

I am currently building a spaceframe chassis. I also have Solidworks which makes things a little easier. How do people build locost for so cheap?

locosts are in many ways more simple.

the body work is essentially the frame and they don't need to handle the torque from a 427 side oiler (not that the original Cobras did that all that well actually)

USbody.com wants $6899 for their fiberglass body.

You might also look up Herb Adams VSE Cobra and see what happens when an engineer builds a car within a Cobra box.

Beats me... but I have trouble doing anything cheaply...

Solidworks would definitely make thing easier... not to mention previous chassis building experience

(can't assume everyone reading a thread remembers other projects completed or in process...)

True. The chassis I am working on right now is a FSAE chassis. Honestly the only reason I was thinking about doing it locost style was that I have always wanted to build my own car from scratch and this kills to birds with one stone.

My uncle bought a "new" Backdraft Cobra from a assembler who wanted to get rid of his display car. It had never been titled and had about 300 miles of putting around car shows and fair grounds. Had a few little paint issues and needed a top installed but was otherwise great. Just a 302/ T-5 combo. Backdraft uses the BMW part and is regarded as a premium kit.

Paid $23000 for it late last year and apparently loves it.

Locosts typically cost around $8k or so. There are some that cost more and some that cost less, but that's about where they land.

That is kinda what I was figuring. I was thinking about going a little mad and doing an LSx engine with a pushrod front suspension and Mustang live axle with a custom four link setup. I have a feeling this weekend is going to end up being play with Racing by the Numbers and Solidworks to start this nutty plan. I am not planning on putting a trillion horsepower in it. I figure a stock LSx would do nicely. Is there anywhere that offers an aluminum body for a Cobra?