Fame awaits your Cobra! Photos needed for new Cobra book

csx289 · #1 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 11:44 AM

Ok, well it might not make your Cobra famous, but it sure can't hurt!

Many of you may have seen my last book "The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles" that was published in 2009. While it covered all CSX2000/3000/4000/7000 and 8000 cars, what I was not allowed to cover were cars not built by Shelby. Well, as luck would have it, I have been asked by Motorbooks to write another book dedicated solely to all things Cobra. It will be released in the fall of 2011 in time for the 50th anniversary of the Cobra, hence the title "Cobra: Fifty Years."

I've been hard at work on it for many months now, and in my humble and completely biased opinion, it will be great! It is as much about the Cobra lifestyle as it is about the cars themselves. As such, I am allowed to cover all variations of non-Shelby built Cobras as well, which I am really pumped about since these cars (and their owners) far outnumber that of the 998 original Cobras built from 1962-1967.

So, to make things interesting, I want pictures of YOUR Superformance/ ERA/ Factory Five/ etc car for consideration of being published in the book. If you have a great shot of your car that you are particularly proud of I want to see it. Action shots are great, as are high quality still photos with "clean" backgrounds- although if you have a nice Cobra shrine built in your garage that is even better! I have tons of photos of original Cobras, but I want to properly represent the huge number of quality replicas- as I think they are very important to keeping the Cobra flame alive and also represent the future of this hobby as originals continue to disappear and get tucked away.

Photos should be high quality JPEG files, ideally between 1mb and 4mb each in size. Please send one or two only, and make sure the total email size is under 5MB, otherwise my computer may spit it out. I'll need details on the car, your name, and if you didn't take the photo I need to know who did and that they are willing to sign a release to get it printed.

Email what you have to me at comer.colin@gmail.com - if your picture(s) make the final layout I will email you with details on what comes next. This will be a quality book that will make any coffee table burst with pride!

Since I just got the green light on this chapter, unfortunately time is short- I will need all submissions by January 10th to be considered.

Let's see what you've got! Any questions, please feel free to email me at any time.

Happy Holidays to all!

Best regards,
Colin Comer
comer.colin@gmail.com

1985 CCX · #2 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 02:07 PM

Contemporary Classics too ?????
Thanks Colin

Jeff

ROSS WEAVER · #3 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 02:23 PM

Colin,

Pictures coming your way. I enjoyed your book BTW.

ZOERA-SC7XX · #4 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 03:31 PM

Colin, if you scan the galleries at this site, you will see hundreds, if not thousands of Cobra photos, many more than you would see if we were to send them to you.

PaulProe · #5 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 04:59 PM

Colin
email sent. Hope you'll include the Hurricane brand as part of the book

Paul Proefrock

TN Shelby Cobra · #6 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 05:44 PM

Colin, Sent you some pics! Mark

ERA Chas · #7 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 06:17 PM

Colin,
What will be the status of pictures submitted but not used in the book-will they be released or sold? Will we see them appear un-authorized on calenders, sweat shirts, magazines or other public areas?

Also, are engine bay photos desired?

ROSS WEAVER · #8 (**permalink**) 12-27-2010, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Colin,
What will be the status of pictures submitted but not used in the book-will they be released or sold? Will we see them appear un-authorized on calenders, sweat shirts, magazines or other public areas?

Also, are engine bay photos desired?

I'm glad you brought that up. I would not like to find my photos sold or released to others to use.

Or Birdman · #9 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 05:58 AM

It looks like Wed might be nice enough here to take the Cobra out for some good clean shots. I'll send you some.

csx4910 · #10 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 08:05 AM

Here is mine

mrmustang · #11 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 08:17 AM

Colin,

What type of shots are you looking for? Front, side, engine, interior, rear. At rest artistically or do you want action shots of cars at the track? Give us some ideas as to what you are fishing for and I'm sure the members of Club Cobra will be more than happy to assist you.

Finally, what angle are you writing this new book from? How will your portray the replica/continuation series cars?

Bill S.

dodger · #12 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 10:41 AM

Thought you might like a couple of pics from little old England.

My cobra replica is a Magnum Mk I.

These cars are still built to order or in kit form in Warwickshire in the middle of the UK. Magnum Engineering keep quite a low profile, mainly word of mouth & not much advertising.

Tubular space frame,carbon fibre bodyshell, Ford 302 V8, BW T5 manual gearbox, Jaguar XJ12 LSD differential at the rear.Spherical rod ends throughout on the suspension, XJ12 disc brakes, etc, etc.

Any other pics or info let us know.

All the best,

csx289 · #13 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 03:59 PM

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the overwhelming response and photos. Lots of good stuff.

To answer some of the questions, I have never used a photo without permission. More importantly, I have never SOLD a photo. Period. I write these books as a hobby, and for those that are curious, the cost of period photos and other items I pay to reproduce in them far outweighs what I get paid for writing the text. The books are a labor of love, nothing more. And it is usually at this point, after months of writing for hours on end, that even I wonder why I do it!

Hence my post above stating that any photos I select will only be printed once the rightful owner signs a permission slip for one-time publication in this one book. Period. That protects us both. Which is another reason I ask for submissions, rather than crawling the web galleries looking for pics to nab. Far too hard to prove ownership and get permission. Again, even though this is a hobby I take copyright and ownership laws very seriously. I don't like people stealing my stuff and I wouldn't do it to anybody else

The pictures I do not use will be deleted from my computer. At the end of one of these projects I usually have to clear a few gigs so my poor laptop actually works again anyway!

Bill, as for how the replica/ continuation/ new CSX cars will be portrayed, well, I think I covered that pretty well in my post also. They are all an important aspect of the Cobra "world" and if I didn't find it worthy of mention I wouldn't have fought for their inclusion.

Dodger, I like the info on your UK built Magnum car, can you send me a good high-res image? Likewise, if anybody has a UK slab-side replica (Hawk, etc) I'd love to put a few of those in as well.

And in light of the huge files and multiple photos sent already, it would be a great help if owners narrowed them down to your favorite one or two photos. Good shots that are crisp, don't cut the car off or have funky backgrounds, and no photoshop effects are always best. No set criteria such as engines, or front 3/4, or any of that- just great photos that tell a story. And don't forget to include your name, the name of the shooter, and car details as all of this is needed for proper captions.

Hope this helps answer your questions. Thanks again!

Best regards to all,
Colin

Excaliber · #14 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 04:06 PM

Oh yeah, now there's a "clean" background shot. Just a bit of touch up with Paint Brush and your in!

ratdog · #15 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 05:31 PM

here you go, I also sent you two by e-mail

Randall Thomas · #16 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 05:43 PM

Guys, for what it's worth, I have known Colin to be one of the most honest and straight up guys you ever meet with integrity credentials as worthy of anyone you would have ever known. And quite frankly, it would be an honor to be included in anything he does and I already gave him an invitation to full access to anything I have, and did not even think to mention anything about permission as it never even crossed my mind to even worry about it. And in this world we live in, I worry about a LOT of stuff... however, this not being one of them.

Colin is the real deal, folks.

Randall

cobrarob · #17 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 06:08 PM

Colin

Pics of SPF 1698 emailed

ZOERA-SC7XX · #18 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 06:18 PM

Colin, here's a nice photo of my ERA at the CT shoreline. Ther are many others including an entire album of build photos. You are welcome to any of these. You can see them on www.Fotki.com./katmandu/cars & car shows/

STEPHEN BROHOLM · #19 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 06:40 PM

G'day Colin.

I'm just confirming whether the zip file containing high res images as shown below made it to you?

I am sending you these on behalf of Stef, username : stefanog

Cheers.

Steve

gsharapa · #20 (**permalink**) 12-28-2010, 08:10 PM

Colin,

Your welcome to use anything in my gallery you find interesting. Finishing a Carbon Fiber Cobra (Exact Cobra) right now but the Kirkham FIA with the P51 is pretty cool pic along with the Superformance with the orginal Paxton on it. By the way, I'm the guy that was very interested in the Red/Black Pantera GTS you had for sale many years ago. Followed your cars alot over the years as Phil Shultz was my college room mate in the 70s at Unv Wisconsin.....Good luck with the book!