Great weekend on the left coast (isn't it always???)... Got up Sunday morning and asked wife if she would like to take a cruise in the Cobra and get some breakfast... Obvious response from wife... "lets go!!!" After warming the beast up, swung by John Wais's place to see if he and Jo wanted to join us... No John, Caddy abandoned on street, no cats in window to give us a "paws up" for the big block... The cats love the sound of the big block... (John W., take note)....
Anyway, back to the story... After a short cruise to Ojai and a great breakfast at the Cottage Cafe in Ventura, we headed home via Harbor Blvd... While maintaining proper speed, a full dress Harley with a guy and good looking chick pulls along side with admiring glances... I notice as they pass the chick keeps looking back at the front of the Cobra...
We came up to the lite at Ventura Harbor ("Ventura Harbor, where the sewer meets the sea") and as usual, with all the stop lites in Ventura, it was red!!! The guy on the Harley looks over and asks me, "Is that a Factory Five???" Not having my wits in gear, I responded, "Is that a Honda???" After-which I explained it was an ERA... He turned into the Harbor and I headed home, hurt!!!
Nothing else exciting until mid-afternoon when next door neighbor came over and invited us over for cocktails (Coors light)... Well they already had company who had their 35' boat tied up to his dock... I noticed the company was a middle aged beer gut guy and his blond wife with some knock out hooters... I also noticed I/O's on the boat and asked about the power plants... He responded, "twin 454's"... I almost made a comment about wanting to know about the boat motors, not his wife, but thought better of it...
Anyway, several beers later, we find out the company is the sales manager for the chevy dealer in Simi Valley and she is a real estate agent... As the conversation continued, my neighbor brought up the fact that I had a Cobra... Immediately, "Big hoots" wants to go for a ride... How could you say no???
Being low on fuel, I stopped to fuel up and I hear a voice say, "Sir, excuse me, sir..." Turning around, I see a young teenager and responded with yes... He said, "I'm sorry to interupt but is that a sideoiler???" I responded to the affirmative and opened the hood... I also explained how to reconize a S/O to which he stated that he knew and wanted to crawl under the car to see the external
oil ridge since he had never seen one...
We talked for a few minutes and I found out that he was only 17 but had a great appreciation for Cobras and sideoilers... Meantime, Miss October 1983 was getting impatient, so I asked her if she would like to drive the Cobra home... enough said!!!
Post note... My disappointment of the morning with my ERA being taken as a FFR was more than made up for by the youth who had an appreciation for Cobras and racing history...
Last item... Before the Cobra Forum guys flame me... (I've got a 3 layer Nomex drivers suit on) please understand that I'm not talking down to the FFR Cobras but merely stating that an ERA and FFR are totally different...
rock on...
