Quote:
Originally Posted by lulu52
The reason it's ugly is very simple. It was built to pass federal safety and emissions standards of the day, because it is not a kit car. It's a manufactured car. Goben Cobra. Don Goben outfitted a manufacturing plant for these cars near his Chevrolet dealership in Wisconsin. For ease of manufacture, the center section of a Cadillac Cimarron was used. The rest of the car is hand built around it. Not only did it pass federal standards, it was sold with a warranty. Available with Chevy or Ford engine. Shelby sued him. Production was ceased and most units retrieved and destroyed. There are 4 units that still exist in the world today- the one you have pictured here is the prototype or mule car. There is nothing cheap about this build. This prototype car had a 350 HP 350 Chevy engine in it. You may not respect the looks of the car, but you have to respect one of the most ambitious undertakings in Cobra lore. It may be "ugly", but it is a rare story in automotive history. You will find absolutely no information on this car unless you can find the old Ebay ad from several years ago. There used to be a website, but it was supported by two Goben owners, and they let the website go. Again, it's not a kit car. It was an attempt by an ambitious entrepreneur to small scale produce a factory built Cobra tribute that was able to pass all federal standards and carry a warranty.
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Quite the story.
I just don't see why builders like this gentleman, use grafted parts in such a way that the finished product looks this bad. Not only can you see two different cars, but the body line gaps are terrible. For example, look at the side profile of the door, there's a huge gap at the top where it meets up with the fender and it's also tilted inward at the top. Same goes for the gap between the rear bumper cover and the quarter panel. I'm a auto body man and this is unacceptable for a "manufactured" automobile. Anyway, I could pick the car apart all day, but it is still a very badly built car and do don't understand why someone or a company, would produce such a bad example of a Cobra, or any other car,... as far as that goes. I'm surprised he sold any at all.
The top half of the cobra rear section and the bottom being the doner bumper look's terrible.
Since he went to the extent to pass federal safety and emissions standards, he would have gotten Shelby's permission.