[Hal Copple]

From the day they came out as 260's then 289's, and then 427's, i loved Cobras, and would have given about anything to own one. I never wanted something so much, for so long. I used to see them occasionally on the street, there was even a green S/C back in Lincoln, NE, in the mid '60's. At that time i was driving a TR-4, then an MGB, then in '69, a Dodge R/T Charger.

Back in the late '60's, you could pick up a 289 car for about $4000. But by then i was married, a dad, and an army Lt. making $330 a month, so there was never a way to have an extra cent for a Cobra. Didn't have an extra cent for anything. Came back from Vietnam in '71 with about $6K in savings, but i was committed to going back to school to become an MD, and (by then single, as my wife had run off with a lawyer while i was overseas), i had to live like a hermit. So i put my career goals first.

So i walked by the used GT 350 for $4K, the used Cobras, the 365 GTB Ferrari, the XKE's, the Yenko, while for a decade i drove my '71 VW Squareback Type III for over a quarter million miles, persuing a more distant dream.

Which is while in about a half hour, i will drive my beloved SPF to work under the cool but brilliantly sunny SC morning sun. I have no regrets about anything in my life. Over 63,000 miles on my Replica now.