In 1966 I was going through the FoMoCo apprentiship program in upstate NY. The dealership I worked for was owned by a fellow whose family was drenched in cash and one of the nephews showed up with a COB right hand drive FIA. He'd driven the car from San Diego and the fan died somewhere outside of Phoenix. Underterred, he drove on and pulled into the shop with it sounding like an old John Deere 2 cylinder. Parts were rare for these things in that time so while we waited on a new fan, we rolled it on to the wash rack and adjusted the lifters one cylinder at a time, then button it up, hose it down and start the next cylinder. It took the better part of a day to get the engine running right! As a reward for the hassle of doing this, I was offered a "test ride" - being too young (I was 16) to be allowed in the drivers seat. That ride will always be in my mind! I couldn't lift my back off the seat until we hit 4th gear. I was hooked. After a series of sports cars (Sprites, TR3s etc) and a few Ford street machines one of which was a 55 2 door custom with a 312 in it - hence my moniker, I navigated the
kids in college mine field and set out to get my own Cobra. All I can say is Carrol Shelby put this thing on the map and having met him last year at Limerock, he seems the consumate gentleman. Thanks for all of the smiles I get everytime I drive this beast!
BTW - I found that old COB on the registry and it now lives in California with a left hand steering set up installed!
Tim