Ron, I purchased this car used from House of Cobras in Anaheim just before they closed their doors last year. It was a consignment sale and the owner was in Nevada. I never met the previous owner, House of Cobras handled the whole transaction.
As a novice, I purchased from House of Cobras because they had a great reputation. They thoroughly went over the entire vehicle before selling it on consignment. Just gave me a peace of mind that people familiar with this model have inspected it and deemed it safe to drive.
Per House of Cobras, this car does not have a standard crate motor. It was built by House of Cobras originally. They had estimated the horsepower in the upper 300's. As this is my weekend crusier around town, I have never taken it for a dyno. It is very street friendly. I would not recommend this car for a person that needs it for racing/track only - they would want something beefier. But for the weekend warrior and occasional track time, it's got plenty of go. There was a small
oil leak from the rear main seal, but I had this fixed a few weeks ago, so no more leaks (I have the receipt for the repairs).
To the best of my knowledge, the transmission is a Tremec 5-speed. The rear-end gears are the standard Superformance gears (I believe 3.73).
The nicks are very small, barely visible. I have no idea if touch up paint is available or not, maybe Hillbank motors can give you more info. The nicks are so small that personally, I would rather see the nicks than a glob of touch up paint :-)
And to answer your e-mail, my BAR sticker is on the side, not the firewall. I'll be taking some more pictures this weekend and I'll make sure to make the tag visible in the pictures. And per the DMV inspector, I didn't have to visit CHP for a VIN since the Superformance serial number is both under the hood and under the dash. Allegedly, you need a VIN assigned by the CHP if the car serial unmber only appears once. So basically, my VIN on my title is the same number as my Superformance serial number.
I hope this answers your questions. More pics on the way after this weekend.
Howard