Complete Domination?

[Cashburn]

Does anyone know how many Street Beasts have been sold?

[ICBomber90]

Originally Posted by Snakebit

You get what you pay for. You can put a prom dress on a pig, looks good, but there still is a pig under the dress. Just like taking a Cobra kit and bolting on a bunch of used Mustang parts.

Still can't get over the less expensive FFR will spank your ERA. Shame on you.

[ENTDOC]

I like FFR cars, and all the folks I know who have them are great, but the site can get a little RA RA for me. What I have noticed over the years is that a large contingent at the FFR site have become the folks that they complained about years ago,sort of reverse snobism. the car has improved dramatically over the years though, that is a fact.

[ICBomber90]

Best part?

Jesper's Mark III just sold for $40,000 on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

0-60 in 3.85 seconds, 60-0 in 116 feet

Pretty fast for a "pig in a prom dress"



I'll kiss that pig any day!

Pat

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by ENTDOC

I like FFR cars, and all the folks I know who have them are great, but the site can get a little RA RA for me. What I have noticed over the years is that a large contingent at the FFR site have become the folks that they complained about years ago,sort of reverse snobism. the car has improved dramatically over the years though, that is a fact.

I can attest the reverse snobbery in the distant past (not now), when I sold my first FFR and bought a beautiful Contemporary it was like night and day. It was like a light switch, the change in attitude by the FFR owners I hung out with was amazing, it was like I ran over their dog or something. Thankfully those snob style owners of the past are long gone (sold their cars, bought nice 4 dr sedate sedans and faded into the woodwork), these days, all of us could care less what brand of cobra replica we own, at least the guys I hang with at the monthly breakfast and local shows. Sure there will always be one or two in the crowd who feel "their car" is better than everyone else's (I do know one local Lone Star owner like that who looks down at every other manufacturer, including a certain black AC MK IV) because it is not what they chose for themselves, but they are not the norm. As for myself, I'm slowly working my way up to a Kirkham, one step up anddown the replica evolutionary trail at a time


Bill S.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by ICBomber90

I'll kiss that pig any day!

I'm staying out of the opinion end of things here, but... you couldn't give me that car.

Body shape's not right, wheels are wrong look and set wrong in the arches, roll bar is off, and in general it looks like a Matchbox blown up to full scale. I don't care how quick it might be - if I wanted nothing but quick (see above comments about the straightline and 'cross crowd), I could build an ERA or Kirkham just as quick and it would at least have the correct Cobra look, not one that screamed "cheap knockoff."

I'll reiterate that a good part of the FFR crowd seems to care very little about it being a Cobra, just a randomly chosen "nice look" to hang go-fast on. Not my cup of tea. This car stands as Exhibit A, IMVHO.

[RACERAL]

You guys must be bored to death.

[Jamo]

Cobra Lite

Look, you didn't have to start a thread to gain support for your consideration of a Factory Five once you decide to move up from...well...you know.

It's ok.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by bobcowan

FFR has sold more than 7,000 Roadster kits. 7,000. That's reported to be more than all other kits combined. And that's just roadsters, doesn't include any of their other cars. What does that tell you? That's it's the '82 Escort of the Roadster world?

How do define success? Numbers of units sold? Net Income Before Taxes? Net Income After Taxes? How much you give back to the environment? How much you give to charity? How many years you've been in business? Do you define success by the level of accuracy to the original? How many happy customers in total? Happiness as a % of kits sold? Etc., etc., etc.

I can keep going, but ERA has been in business for a very long time and they appear to have a lot of happy customers. They've been quite successful. FFR by the shear number of kits sold is a success. SPF is a great success as well. In a short amount of time, they have built many GT40s, Cobras, Daytona Coupes, etc. and now they have a licensing agreement from GM for a Grand Sport Corvette. Kirkham, their customers as well as others just recently raised a ton of money for hospital charity by auctioning off one of their cars and it wasn't the first time they have raised money for charity. Not to mention all the Tea Party stuff.

Anyway, success can be defined in many ways by many people.

[CobraEd]

Originally Posted by Gunner

I'm staying out of the opinion end of things here, but... you couldn't give me that car.

Body shape's not right, wheels are wrong look and set wrong in the arches, roll bar is off, and in general it looks like a Matchbox blown up to full scale. I don't care how quick it might be - if I wanted nothing but quick (see above comments about the straightline and 'cross crowd), I could build an ERA or Kirkham just as quick and it would at least have the correct Cobra look, not one that screamed "cheap knockoff."

I'll reiterate that a good part of the FFR crowd seems to care very little about it being a Cobra, just a randomly chosen "nice look" to hang go-fast on. Not my cup of tea. This car stands as Exhibit A, IMVHO.

My Classic Roadsters is probably the most far off from the original of all the cars, and every single person who sees it wants to know if it is a real Cobra



PS: I don't think that original Cobras had red spark plug wires and red flip top radiator caps !!!!



.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by CobraEd

...every single person who sees it wants to know if it is a real Cobra.

You could paint "SHELBY COBRA" on the side of a convertible Pinto and six out of ten people would ask you if it was a real one. Let's face it, your average passerby, even in a controlled venue like an open car show, is pretty clueless about the details.

[CobraEd]

Originally Posted by Gunner

. Let's face it, your average passerby, even in a controlled venue like an open car show, is pretty clueless about the details.

Exactly, . . . . therefore, who cares

You explained it all yourself. Good Job !!!!!


.

[Clutt gt]

Whos car is it yours or old CS.


Whats so wrong with having a fast car that turns heads.

The Cobra had a great history. That is what made it the legend it is today. But that dose not mean that every replicar turned out has to look identical. I have seen plenty of factory fives that look better than an original because the builder had style and taste. I would rather own a FFR that is built my way than an identical clone to the orig.

Because in the end a replica is one thing and one thing only. NOT A COBRA

Just my opinion

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by Gunner

You could paint "SHELBY COBRA" on the side of a convertible Pinto and six out of ten people would ask you if it was a real one. Let's face it, your average passerby, even in a controlled venue like an open car show, is pretty clueless about the details.

You're giving the other 40% too much credit.

You could also paint Corvette on the side of a Pinto and the majority will ask "What year Corvette do you own?"

What's the moral? People are stupid.

[Gunner]

You can always footnote the following to these kinds of discussions:

"It's your ride. I assume you chose it, built it and made all the choices to suit your taste and your budget. Enjoy it. I wouldn't think of saying anything that detracts from your enjoyment of it. BUT if you're going to raise the question, I will respond with my opinion, and my opinion is likely to be that I value one maker over another, one engine over another, one set of build choices over another. Don't make an opinionated or chauvinistic post to which you expect nothing but agreement."

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

What's the moral? People are stupid.

I wouldn't disagree, but not being able to discern one Cobra-ish vehicle from another doesn't necessarily mean stupidity. I'm reasonably well read and versed on the topic, over 30+ years, and I managed to make a stupid misidentification in my early days here on the forum.

My point was that there's a difference between what Joe Sixpack might think of one of these cars and what a knowledgeable (read: owner) observer might think. Joe going "Wow! Cool!" to the most ill-built, butt-ugly Street Beasts POS doesn't validate it.

[Silverback51]

Personally I will complement another persons car, because no matter what, it's their pride and joy. Some give me crap about mine because it's yellow. I happen to like it, and it's different.

Considering how proud most owners are of their cars, you may as well call their wifes/girlfriends fat ugly pigs while you are at it, because it's about the same.

[CobraEd]

I agree 100% with Silverback.


.

[Mark Thompson]

I will weigh in on this discussion having both a Kirkham and an FFR in the garage. Both are terrific in their own way.

I think what FFR does is fantastic. We built ours as my son's high school project car. They have great technical support and a phenomenal array of aftermarket product available through it's volume and shared DNA with the Mustang. We both learned a great deal as well as spent several years together in the garage. After we built it we spent several years refining it for sport street use as well as active campaigning in SCCA autocross. Max used the experience as the subject of his college essay, attended Stanford, and is about to start his third year of medical school. Eight years later the FFR still interests me, and it can turn top 10 times in the San Francisco region autocross.

The Kirkham is magnificent. Their workmanship is exceptional and the presence of the car is as amazing as any car I have ever owned. The Kirkham is more serious, and you would think twice before going 10/10ths through set of cones, or experimenting with it casually.

They are horses for courses, as the British say. I strongly recommend one of each.

Mark

[mdross1]

The bottom line here is everybody has an opinion,some are more vocal about their choices of kit cars.For instance my CMC car is everything I ever imagined a Cobra could be,bar none.That being said,opinions are like what we all sit on.Everybody has one.As long as a persons choice on their means of transportation satisfies them,what difference does it make whose name is on the kit?