The iconic look of a Shelby Cobra, but in a more compact package? How about an MGB bodied to look like a Shelby Cobra?
This Cobra lookalike retains its MG inline-four and four-speed gearbox, though does come fitted with rally-style wheels.
Find this 1977 “MG Shelby Cobra” available from Vicari Auction as part of its upcoming Biloxi auction, October 10-12.
The MGB engine is the doom of an otherwise great sports car. "All noise and no poise" when you step on the gas.
Wow, that’s, um, something.
By the way, I love Cobra replicas built on off-beat chassis.
That's a neat build but it would be super disappointing to only have that MG 4 under the hood. With looks like that you'd want some substance behind them, no?
Hey, at least they started with a buggy bumper car instead of an earlier one.
That car needs a Rover V8.
Without the V8 it's made to look like an Ace.
A guy in SoCal built one decades ago and tried to make it more like an AC Ace ,
The mock-up looked pretty good , but I never saw it finished.
The steering wheel has got to go.
Can't wait to see what it gets on the block. Should make mine worth more
Forgot the money shot
Without trying to yuck the builder's yum, it's tough to replicate the shape of a wasp-waisted car by adding extra material to an existing car that doesn't really have a waist at all. You don't capture the proportions. And proportion is where beauty and character lie.
Those "rally-style" wheels are just the standard steel Rostyle wheels that most MGBs got from about 1970 on up, for whatever that's worth. They're okay on a visually slender chrome-bumpered B, but on a bulked-up shape like this, they look tiny. The fact that the wheel wells are also tiny and low on the body make the car look extra thick and not particularly pretty.
Maybe the value in a car like this is that the builder got to express himself and enjoy a hobby without going bankrupt.
NOHOME said:The MGB engine is the doom of an otherwise great sports car. "All noise and no poise" when you step on the gas.
They blew that one when they released the DOHC version of the B series engine in the MGA prematurely before sorting out all the bugs. That version made 108 bhp and 105 ft-lbs. Scaled up to the 1798 cc MGB displacement would approximate 122 bhp and around 118 Tq
I created a hybrid version for my MGA vintage racer - a 1950 cc 5 main engine that used the Twin Cam head and accessories. We figured around 190 bhp (12:1, radical cams etc.) in race tune - it easily walked away from cars like the 3.8 Jag XK 150 S on the straight.
Sorting out the issues of the DOHC engine before they released it would have almost certainly have resulted in a sports version of the MGB with that engine, which would have carried it into the early 1970s - once smog standards hit it is hard to say what the effect would have been on power output.
Colin Wood said: You Need This
You keep using this sentence
Well that is disappointing. The definition of "just because you can doesn't mean you should".
And just to be clear, the MGB is pretty much the exact same size as the Cobra. 
I'd rather just buy a Turner Mk3. Looks about the same but comes with Sunbeam Tiger/Alpine tailights.
Well, that's one way to repair a rusted out MG!
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I've always thought the MGB was a handsome little car.
In reply to Loweguy5 :
I agree, and with any other 4 banger with a factory turbo (Volvo redblock since I'm stuck in the 70s) it would have been a screamer.
I had a friend who's older sister's boy friend had a chrome bumper MGB that we borrowed and took the below S-curve heading West at some 60 mph using every inch of the road very late at night. Amazing what skinny 165/80-R14" Michelin tires on wire wheels can do.
Sigh... raising the hood and realizing that you've been fooled by the equivalent of a push-up bra.
David S. Wallens said:Wow, that’s, um, something.
By the way, I love Cobra replicas built on off-beat chassis.
Have you found more, esp on a more modern chassis? Some day I'd like to get one but I'm big into safety advances
Loweguy5 said:In reply to VolvoHeretic :
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I've always thought the MGB was a handsome little car.
I’d agree that an MGB looks good.
jgrewe said:I'd rather just buy a Turner MkIV. Looks about the same but comes with Sunbeam Tiger/Alpine tailights.
Wow, a name you don’t hear often. Back in the day, we had one or two Turners racing at Road Atlanta. I want to say they were in F Prod. Or maybe it was G?
David S. Wallens said:jgrewe said:I'd rather just buy a Turner Mk3. Looks about the same but comes with Sunbeam Tiger/Alpine tailights.
Wow, a name you don’t hear often. Back in the day, we had one or two Turners racing at Road Atlanta. I want to say they were in F Prod. Or maybe it was G?
I had to fix the Mk#, they never got to MkIV.
A couple different friends passed #65/647 between them. I painted the car twice. Once for the first friend when his son rolled the car and once for the second friend when he put it on its side and slid coming out of turn 16 at Sebring. The car is up in the midwest somewhere now.
Here it is with the first friend
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