1 Hour Cobra Replica Rental - Groupon Offer - Pennsauken, New Jersey - $99

[1ntCobra]

Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals Deal of the Day | Groupon Central Jersey

I don't belong to Groupon, but I guess my brother does as he forwarded this link to me this morning.

I'm probably going to sign up for this.

I suspect that some other members here who are not Cobra owners yet might be interested.

[1ntCobra]

You will have to excuse my lack of skill in picking out what type of replica is involved here.



Hmm, bolt on wheels, round tail lights... Could that be an FFR?

[Cobrajames]

Originally Posted by 1ntCobra

You will have to excuse my lack of skill in picking out what type of replica is involved here.



Hmm, bolt on wheels, round tail lights... Could that be an FFR?

Looks like a Backdraft, to me.

[xlr8or]

Looks like a Backdraft to me.

[CHANMADD]

Looks like a Backdraft to me too....Beat me to itJames

[Cobrajames]

I thought I double posted it for a second!

[danc30]

Looks like a plastic model car to me....

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by danc30

Looks like a plastic model car to me....

Well aren't most Cobra replicas plastic?

It would be nice if they were renting an arruminum one, but beggars can't be choosers here.

They have height and weight restrictions: 75 inches and 300 pounds. I don't need to worry about the weight, but I'm about 6'2", so I'm just under the height restriction. Is it going to be a tight fit for me to drive a Backdraft? I guess I'll find out in the spring...

[1ntCobra]

Oww! Minor Snake Bite. I should have known better.

[1ntCobra]

[1ntCobra]

I asked the employee if this car was a BackDraft. He said no. He used some other name that began with a "B". And assured me that the company that built it was licensed by Shelby and that the car was considered an official Shelby continuation car. Further it was about $100K new.

I told him I thought it looked more like it would be about $50K new. He assured me I was wrong.



Hmm, an official Shelby Serial number plate.

[1ntCobra]

[Trueoo7]

That most certainly IS a Backdraft...no doubt.

[1ntCobra]

The rental worked like this. You start as a passenger. The employee drives you out explaining all of the rules. You stop in a parking lot and demonstrate that you can drive to the employee's liking. If he does not like your driving in the parking lot, he can go back to driving and you just get a ride. If he thinks you are ok, then you get to drive on the street.

Actually when you get there, the first two things the employee asked us, was "Can you drive stick?" and "Can you follow instructions?"

There were some odd rules:
1) Shift at 2500 rpm. What fun is that? How can you make any noise?
2) When coming to a stop, don't down shift, put the car in neutral and brake. Apparently they would rather replace brakes than replace the clutch.
3) At first I was told to stay in the right lane behind the slow traffic on the highway (actually it was not really a highway).
4) Don't go over the speed limit, they want to stay friendly with the local police.
5) Don't use 5th gear.

I was not familiar with the area. I was told which streets to drive on. Many were 45, 40 and some were 25 mph.

Near the end, I was traveling on what he considered to be a highway. And he told me he wanted me to go off an exit up ahead. I figured he would want me to pull over to the slow lane behind a bunch of traffic. But instead he told me to pass all of the slower traffic. I obliged.

[patrickt]

Well, was it all you hoped it to be?

[1ntCobra]

While I was waiting for my brother to come back. The next customer showed up. His wife had bought him a similar groupon deal. He thought he was going to be driving an "original" Shelby Cobra. He said the groupon said it was a "vintage" Shelby 427 cobra. I asked him if he looked at the picture. The car has bolt on wheels, etc.

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Well, was it all you hoped it to be?

I was kind of hoping to rev the motor more and get on the gas more. But I suppose I can understand that they are trying to make sure their customers don't break the car.

I realized it was driving on the street and that limits what you can do. I asked the guy if they ever let their customers drive any of their cars on a race track. He said they do sometimes, but they just takes Ferrari's and other exotics. I asked why not the Cobra. He said they prefer their customer drive automatic transmission cars at the track (less distractions for their customers, less chance for missing shifts).

The car accelerated well, on the few occasions I got to get on the gas. It was fun. It was worth $99.

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by 1ntCobra

While I was waiting for my brother to come back. The next customer showed up. His wife had bought him a similar groupon deal. He thought he was going to be driving an "original" Shelby Cobra. He said the groupon said it was a "vintage" Shelby 427 cobra. I asked him if he looked at the picture. The car has bolt on wheels, etc.

The next customer was also expecting to drive a 427 big block engine. I had asked about the motor. It was a 351W punched out to 427. I asked how much horsepower. The employee said that "it has enough".

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by Trueoo7

That most certainly IS a Backdraft...no doubt.

I don't doubt you at all. I figured the employee was just making up stuff about the car.

He would have preferred that my brother and I drove the Ferrari instead. He offered to upgrade us to the Ferrari for $50 each. Maybe the Ferrari had air conditioning. The temperature was supposed to go to 99 and the heat index to 105.

[marcalan]

sounds like fun...