[Chicagowil]

We recently pulled the trigger on replacing the old, rotting cedar deck boards (no small task- 1200 sqft) with new composite decking. We decided, at my wife's & my age, to have it done by professionals.

As it turns out, the lead carpenter was a car guy. A few days after the crew started at lunch time, I was talking to the guys. They asked what I used the workshop for at the back of my property. So, I took them for a tour.

In the shop was my half-finished Lotus 7 replica. The lead mentioned he had once built a Cobra replica. I then took them to the front garage attached to the house to show them the newly returned CR from the paint shop. Chad was quiet but intently focused on the descriptions of what it was (not an original, but my desire of Cobra style car) and how I had progressed with the build.

He then confessed that when he was 19, he had ordered a FFR Mk1 and used his recently totaled Mustang as a donor. His Dad was skeptical and said neither he nor his son had the know how to complete such a project. As it turned out, it was a disaster. Nothing was fitting right, and he could not figure out what was wrong. He ended up selling the car at about a $10k loss without even being able to drive it. It left him bitter; his dream of a Cobra was destroyed.

But looking at another car and his gain of knowledge of mechanics after 25 yrs of experience working on motorcycles, he went home and told his wife he wants to try to build another kit.

She told him she thought it was not a good idea for he and I to be together to talk cars.