[Excaliber]

You might be right Bumpster! The current low standards and mass manufacturing of replica Cobras has so saturated the market with low cost "wanna be's" the hobby is changing, has changed, dramatically. The demographics of owners have changed along with it. The 'new' Classic City Motors web site is right on target for todays market. At the current rate of change, in a few more years, MANY replica Cobras will be little more than 'used cars' littering trailer courts! Prices are all ready in the tank and headed down, the hobby IS dieing, the standards HAVE been lost.

Make no mistake, some people HAVE sold their replicas for one simple reason, they have lost/are loosing their 'exclusivity' and along with that, their value.

So you have a Hunter FIA? Why an FIA? Because there are SO many 427's out there all ready? How's it's value holding up? Do you expect to 'break even' or loose money if you sell? MANY of todays buyers ask the question: If I buy a replica Cobra will I be able to sell it at or near what I paid for it? Changing demographics you see, in years past that was NOT a primary concern of ownership. You bought the car because you MUST, you HAD to have it, there were no options. You understood and appreciated the history and the specs of the real cars, it was a deep passion. You did what you had to do to get one.

Now it's a freakin' 'investment', a toy to be traded in when you get bored. Why NOT a side oiler? Obvious reason, you can buy a 351W for peanuts compared to the cost of a side oiler (and listen to the excuses, it's better, makes more power, easier to work on, get parts for, etc. etc.). I saved and scrimped and scratched to get the dough to get one, because THATS what the real cars ran 'back in the day'! No excuses! That kind of passion is being strangled by the new demographics of ownership who readily accept the premise 'anything goes'. And the manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank, cashing in and encouraging that very marketable 'sales pitch' to a new breed of replica owners.

Yet there remain a few, some who DO 'get it'. Where the passion still burns bright to get it right. But there voice grows weak, being drowned out by the clamor of the politically correct crowd espsouing the new mantra, 'anything goes'.