[gary osborne]

I bought my SPF in 1999 and put nearly 145,000 miles on it. It is the only Cobra I have ever owned and if I bought another, it would be another SPF. Am I biased? You bet but that bias is based on the fact that I have a LOT of miles in the seat and have driven most of the other brands in the 21 years of ownership of my car.

The ERA is a fabulous car and I could never tell anyone not to buy one. But as others have pointed out, there is always a risk when buying a kit in as much as one might be built as a piece of art and another......well....maybe not so much. With a SPF you are getting a factory built car that is a work of art and will always be consistent in terms of fit and finish. From the first cars to the most recent, there have been upgrades but the quality has been consistent or slightly better. Of course, things should get better over time and number of vehicles built and SPF is by far the best factory built car out there......OK.....maybe the term “by far” might not fit in the ERA comparison.

One thing you must ask yourself is how do you plan to use the car. If it is for show primarily with the extra fun of some Sunday drives, then ERA might be your best bet. It does replicate the original better than SPF and that will buy you some favor with knowledgeable judges at a top notch car show.If the voting is done by the audience, then don’t expect accuracy to buy you anything.....it might even hurt you a little. I have seen Cobras that were so customized that they barely resembled a real Cobra win shows because the novices thought they were really cool.

If you are looking for a car that you will drive a lot, see the country in, thrash on the track, has incredible support from the manufacturer with parts readily available and you want the best resale value, then SPF will be impossible to beat. The SPF is the best riding and driving car out there....especially if you do a few easy upgrades that are available through Cobra Valley and the Superformance Owners support group.

BTW, one of the reasons I still own my car after all these years is the owners support group (SCOF). SCOF is the private owners forum for SPF owners. It has an incredible Tech Library and the best Cobra mechanics, engineers, designers etc. in the country. Hell, the factory even comes to SCOF for direction on some matters. To call some of these guys experts would almost be an insult. My best friends on the planet are mostly SCOF members....all of whom I met through SCOF after buying my car. SCOF keeps us bound together, offers at least three major cruises around the country each year as well as other social opportunities not forgetting the very active forum. That is why you see such high mileage on some of the SPF’s. It is nothing for a SCOf member to jump in their car in FL or NC Or CA and drive to CO or Utah or Wyoming or Montana or South Dakota to run the mountains for about a week before heading back home. We will often rack up more miles in a week or ten days than most will drive in a year (couple of thousand miles). In 2018 and 2019, the group drove through most of Canada fro BC to Nova Scotia. You just don’t see other manufactured cars being used like that very often.

My car has a 521 ci engine built on a 460 block by BB Ford legendary builder Jon Kaase. It pumps out over 700 HP and 697 lbs of torque and that is after I had Jon defund it a little from the over 800 HP he originally built into it (a mistake in hindsight). The SPF loves any big block you want to install although the European and South Africans dealers operating in the USA seem to like the 427 Windsor’s so you see a LOT of those. The sb is not a bad choice by the way. They scream in these very light cars.

Again, if you want a high quality Cobra, I doubt you will be disappointed in either of the two you mentioned. The Shelby and the Kirkham are good cars too. All four will hold their resale value well although I think the Shelby and SPF hold values the best assuming an owner doesn’t do something crazy with them. I know I can sell my pretty old and high mileage car for more than I have in it so the car has been free so far for me. BTW....my car looks almost new except for the road rash in the front and that also says a lot for the quality of the build and paint. My seats did start to show their age but I replaced them last year so the car really looks pretty fresh.

Good luck on whatever you choose to do. And if you look at used cars and find a good one, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger on either one. You’ll be happy you did.