Quote:
Originally Posted by CobraDan
I had an owner of a 2008 Mustang at a car show ask me how I could have a Cobra as he was the one who owned a “Cobra” Mustang. I remember going into a Ford dealership back in 2006 and asking to see a Ford GT and the salesmen showed me a Mustang GT. There is a fellow local Backdraft Cobra owner who had a custom show board made with all blue lettering except the second line in red that indicated this was not a “Cobra Kit Car.” It’s hard to believe that a Backdraft is not a “Cobra Kit Car” but a Kirkham is because it can be bought in a kit form, where as a Backdraft is assembled in South Africa on an assembly line. Some type of terminology has to be used to describe what you’re talking about and as with today’s new cars we now have traction control and each manufacturer has a different name to describe it and years from now I’m sure one name will stand out to describe traction control for all the names that exist from the different manufacturers today.
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The whole "not a kit car" or "factory built" (when talking about non-Shelby Cobras) is a strange situation. People who say stuff like that, are trying to let people know that
their Cobra is superior to some other Cobras, when they can't say they own a real Shelby Cobra.
I think the biggest problem with SAAC and the "terminology", is their view of the word "replica". They are trying to use the exact dictionary term, meaning an exact copy. So by their view, any non-Shelby built car is not a replica, whereas the rest of the world calls them replicas. And then fighting that notion, makes them look even worse.
In my opinion, a replica is something that is made to look like something else. It doesn't have to be an exact copy. Any non-Shelby built Cobra, should be legitimately called a replica. It's replicating the look of a Shelby Cobra. You can buy a Rolex watch replica right? It looks like a real Rolex, but it's not an "exact copy". Most things that are considered replicas are rarely exact copies.
And a "kit car", is a car you buy as a kit. If it has to be assembled, it's a kit car. If it was built by the manufacturer, it's a rolling chassis and the term kit car is not a valid term. SAAC should stop calling all non-Shelby built Cobras kit cars.
My FFR was a kit car. My Kirkham was a roller. Both were replicas. It's really not that hard to define.