[dlampe]

I agree with the rest of the post. Era is the most accurate not Shelby or Kirkham out there today. I also just bought a Hurricane because I wanted the same thing you do. It is not as accurate as the ERA but it is more accurate than the rest. I looked for exterior shape, interior, and engine compartment. You can't see the frame so I wasn't willing to sacrifice one of the other three criteria for that.
INTERIOR
I was looking for exposed roll bar legs behind the drivers seat, dash support structures, the right steering column, vintage gauges and, probably most important, floor mounted pedals.
ENGINE BAY
I wanted white foot boxes with an aluminum fire wall and inner fender liners, exposed wiring, correct throttle linkage, correct frame supports, and appropriate radiator angle, cladding and mounting.
EXTERIOR
I wanted the "correct" shape. You know it when you see it. Some big signs to look for are the angle of the roll bar support leg, the Perky but syndrome, (and there are more than one) and the flaring around the fenders. Then you can get more detailed like the mounting areas for the front and rear turn signals or the shape of the trunk lid around the license plate light.

I think it comes down to how much you want to spend and how picky you are about "originality". I personally have had a few cobras and I like the ERA and the Hurricane for what I was looking for. I bought the Hurricane because it was a 9 if ERA is a 9.5 and many of the others in this price range were 7 to 8 on originality. The ERA would have cost me more and it would have taken longer to get.

I want to also say that I didn't shop for the best driving cobra, the best looking cobra, the best "fitting" (I'm 6'3) cobra or the most dependable cobra. I want the original cobra in all of it's raw glory. I think that is a pretty fair assessment of what I went through when I was shopping.