Ernie-
David Kidwell, a member of CC, and a real car guy, just volunteered to work on my car for a couple days. He has been under and driven several replicas before, but never an SAI. He spontaneously called to tell me he was amazed by the difference in build and the difference in the quality of parts. He said that the car had the kind of heavy duty parts that he normally saw in track cars or drag strip/funny cars, and had not seen before in a Cobra replica. He also commented on the ride quality, very smooth, as opposed to the jarring ride he had experienced in others. While I can run a 4 inch needle up your spinal column, I am not a car guy, from a mechanical aspect, just an appreciator of beauty and history. It was comforting and fun to hear a car guy get all excited about a CSX, because to just sit hear and listen to some of these threads, there is no difference, or, because CS can have bad bedside manner- owning a CSX is a disgrace, which makes a guy like me who doesn' t know, wonder why my car cost 2-4X more than many others. This is NOT to brag, be elitist or any of that other BS people ascribe to my personality. I don' t care if I'm talking about my car or your car, it was just nice to hear from a guy who knows the difference. You can email him, and ask him to chime in on the differences he noted. His CC handle is David Kidwell. He is building an ERA. You should see his stable of cars, and his garage. It is in the recent TCC gallery photo I posted. You could very easily live in his 4000 sq. foot garage, and eat off the floor! It is a Tim (the Tool Man) Taylor's fantasy, to be sure.
Anyway, according to Kidwell there is a quality difference and hope for a CSX yet. This is not to put down any other cars. Generally you get what you pay for, and as I have said before, if you spent $30k on a replica, you got a great car for the money, but if you spent $80k or more on a different car you did not neccessarily waste your moeny either. Personally, I undoubtedly bought way more car than I need, cause my favorite speed is about 55 mph. Any faster, and I can't watch people staring at it! (Never mind if they don't know who I am- I'd frankly rather they don't. In fact, none of the employees at our clinic even know I own the car, or, have ever even seen it)!
p.s.- so please don't call the office and beseige them with phone calls about my Cobra. They don't have a clue what it takes to going from picking day old groceries out of the dumpster behind the grocery store with my Mom as a kid, to owning a Cobra.