[snakeeyes]

My advice is to go with your gut. You’re the only one who has seen the car and it certainly sounds like you’ve got the mechanical aptitude to assess how realistic the expectation of finishing it is. Similarly you’re the only one who knows you, and whether you have the fortitude to stick to it and get creative when you encounter roadblocks. The upside is that there are so many Cobra kits that no matter what issue you encounter you’re likely to find a solution. When I bought my Lister it was a body on frame with partial suspension and a radiator mounted. That was it. No electrical system, no real cooling system, no braking system other than rotors and calipers, no drivetrain. And no manual. It took me two years before I did anything much besides going out to the shop and staring at it, then about three more of late nights and weekends (and help from a talented friend) before it moved under its own power. But I can tell you that moment was incredibly gratifying, as have the several thousand (mostly) trouble-free miles I’ve enjoyed driving it and competing in it since then.

I bought a very basic Cobra kit from ERA in 1994. It was what I could afford at the time. Other than messing around with a little bodywork, it sat untouched for four years. One day while surfing the Club Cobra for sale forum I came across a guy with a finished ERA who wanted to build another one. One phone call later and I was trailering mine to meet him in Virginia and trade my kit plus some cash for ERA 329. I owned and loved that car for about 6 years before I came across a gorgeous slabside replica. I sold the ERA and added a little cash to get the slabside. So, in a way, even though I never did diddly squat on that first kit I had, it ended up being kind of a savings account as well as a springboard to a running, driving Cobra, which led to another, which led to...

The point of my rambling, I guess, is that as long as you’re not using the mortgage money or robbing your kid’s college fund, if your gut tells you to buy this car and make a run at it, do it. Life’s too short and, as Robert Duval’s character says in “Lonesome Dove”, “It ain’t about dying, it’s about living.”