The London, Ohio Cobra show usually pulls in around 200 cars give or take. I have been there the last 5 or 6 years. The first two I went to, I counted the SB, FE, and 385 engines. About 3/4 of the Cobra there are something other than a FE. Very few are 351C or 385 series engines. Of the 1/4 that are FE engines, many are 390 blocks, but it is hard to say, the FE guys are the least likely to talk to you about what their engine is. My gut tells me that there are very few original 427 blocks, let alone side oilers. One year (maybe more) there was a fellow there with a tunnel port 427. Nice guy and very nice car. Every year more and more Modular engines show up.
When you go to the auto cross, there is typically 30 cars give or take 10. Maybe 2 or 3 will have an FE engine. Certainly a far cry less than the 1/4 that are there. I have never saw or heard of a 385 series engine there, but I could have missed one. Why do the BB cars rarely show up? I cannot say that I could tell what engine was in a car at the auto cross by the way it handled.
The Big Block cars are well represented at the burn-out / 1/8 mile rides.
Now London pulls cars in from practically every state (Florida, Alabama, Illinois, etc), Canada, and even a member from down under. A few trailer them in, but most drive them. Certainly there are thousands of replicas and 200 is a small sample. It may not be representative of all Cobra. If in fact most replicas do have FE engines, then for what ever reason they just do not come to London.
You read the FE Engine area of this forum, and I think you will find they are quite prone to problems and not the most reliable engine choice. If you have one of the top builders in the country (who are on this forum) build one, maybe they are about the same reliability of the Windsor, if you ignore the
oil leaks. But they cost about 1.5-2X.
Now with that said a ton of people are car enthusiasts, and they know a bit about the Cobra. They all have excitement in their eyes when the see my Cobra, and ask does it have a 427 in it? I always say no its just a small block, and you can see the disappointment in their eyes. I have never had any rude comments, but I do not try to pretend or defend anything about my engine. It is what it is.