[Rickd]

If you have some frequent flyer miles open it would be worth taking a trip to New Britain Ct to visit the ERA factory. They do it all there. One shop has the welding shop and jigs for the 289 and 427 chassis, and they also do their glass work in this shop and install the interior aluminum panels. They have two other shops - one is 'finished assembly' where the painted rollers and turn key cars are completed - normally have 10 - 12 cars on the floor being finished, mix of 427 and 289 bodies. The other shop - the 'skunk works', is where they build the GT 40's. Stainless steel monocoque chassis - real high tech machine. Glass work is impecable and the 'fit and finish' of the ERA cars make it - in my opinion - the standard against which all others are measured. I had a previous cobra, another brand, had a chance to drive an ERA, sold my old one and "upgraded" to an ERA.

For an aluminum bodied car and a jewel of craftsmanship - go to Provo, Utah and visit the Kirkham Motorsports shop. Aluminum bodies built in a former Mig fighter factory in Poland, and a real high tech machine shop - cad cam everything and CNC machines. The Kirkham brothers are also tremendous assets to the replicar industry - real fans of the cobra and coupe - and unmatched in attention to detail anywhere.

I've been to the ERA factory 4 times, and I look forward to visiting Kirkham one day soon. Bear in mind that the opinions expressed are mine, although they are also shared by quite a few others. Good luck and enjoy the research.