Excalibur Owners: Please Reply!

[Excaliber]

He's thinking about it, but I'm pretty sure he won't make a decision for a few months. I hate when people keep me hanging on...

He's got a couple of offers on the car and is considering selling it rather than deal with the Calif emission thing.

[tradingup]

All is now well with 1995 076. Replaced leaky pinion seal (rear end is from unspecified - not Mustang - 70's or 80's Ford). AC just needed charge. I must have a leaky R134a system since AC was serviced a month ago.

Great cruiser and lots of smiles.

[birdwatcher II]

Just purchased no: 038 if anyone is still tracking or compiling this info. It's headed to St. Louis as we speak. 1994, Red/White Stripes, no A/C, toneau and soft top. All original docs including his purchase agreement from the Ford dealer, owners' manual, brochure, and copy of certificate of origin. I assume this is a pretty early production car based on the VIN. Is that correct?

[tradingup]

Welcome, BWII. Not much action on thread for a while but Cobraduke is the unofficial Ex historian. He'll know production year, etc.

Why is this car still listed on Ebay if it is on the way to you?

[birdwatcher II]

the owner's computer is down. his friend posted it for him and is taking the auction down tonight. just got off the phone with him 5 minutes ago to confirm that he was removing the auction. got me a little jittery for a minute there all is on track.

[cobraduke]

BWII,
Congratulations on the purchase of 038. 1994 was the first full production year and the last regular production ended in 1997 with 177. The earliest number I have seen is 002. That doesn't mean much since there are apparently no existing factory records. There is a prevailing belief that there are gaps in the VIN sequence. This would mean that there are probably fewer than 177 regular production cars. Tom Hekkers (ohekk), owner of 003 and without a doubt the most knowledgeable on these cars, believes there are about 135. I have compiled a spread sheet of reported cars from a variety of sources, mostly this thread and ebay listings, and have info on about 55 or so VIN's and info on perhaps another 20 without a VIN. There may be some overlap between the non-VIN cars with the one's where a VIN is known. Bottom line is that there are about half that have not surfaced in the past seven years since Tom began trying to collect the information.

All Excalibur cobra owners and enthusiasts

Tom is pretty busy with family, business and other activities so I have volunteered to try to add to what he gathered. My goal is the same as Tom's- to create an info source on these cars and make it available to other owners and those interested in these great production cobra replicas. I am no web master and not interested in becoming one. I have put the info I have collected, including what Tom sent me last summer, into two formats which I update at least twice a month. The first is a VIN spread sheet (Excel) that lists cars by VIN (or year if no VIN is determined). In this sheet I try to track each car's location (by city) and ownership (usually by user ID), features (colors, options, special features or modifications), mileage, selling or asking or highest bid prices and source of the info. Entries for each car are dated by month and year of the report. The second document is a collection of useful info about these cars copied from a variety of sources in MS Word format. This started out as a record of what I could determine about my own car (149) which had some modifications to the motor and electronics. To this I added descriptions, factory literature info, contacts, specs, part numbers and even conflicting speculation as to sources of some of the components and fixes for some weaknesses that were reported as common. The organization of this document is largely chronological as to when I found the info. Sometime in my next life I'll reorganize it more systematically. All that being said, I make no claims as to the accuracy of the info contained since I am unable to personally verify most of it. I am willing to share these documents with those interested. There is a catch: To receive it, you have to contribute info on your car or interest. I'll provide a questionaire and you just type in the answers and send it back by return email. I promise that any personal info you wish omitted from the spread sheet (such as name, mailing address, phone, email), will not be included. You must tell me specfically if any of those items you consider private and not to be included in the distributed info and subsequent updates to this info. Those who return the completed questionaire will receive both documents and updates at least twice yearly until I decide I can no longer do this. I've been doing this for about two years, so I'm probably good for awhile yet. Tom did it for at least seven years.

I also need help finding more of these cars. Please forward tips, sightings, references, referrals, etc. Please also forward changes in your car's status (such as ownership, location, modifications).

I am still looking for more parts info and sources and facts about these cars so please add to our collective knowledge in this thread or send it to me and I'll add it to the info document.

I prefer contact at my email: mduke@blinn.edu In this way it will be easier for me to keep organized in sending out questionaires and the info documents. I'll have the questionaire ready in a day or so. Let's roll

I am personally frustrated at the general lack of knowledge about these fine cars, even among cobra enthusiasts. Among the greater Excalibur owner community, the JAC 427 is largely ignored or regarded as a footnote of little significance. I believe this effort could help raise awareness of the many attributes of these cars among the cobra community as a minimum. I personally have not talked with an owner of an Excalibur cobra who wasn't enthusiastic about the car. Heck, Earnie (excaliber) keeps selling 033 and then buying it back for more money. He might have priced himself out of it this last time! Earnie, get some help

God Bless, Merry Christmas,
Mike (cobraduke)

[cobraduke]

OK, We're back in business! Please take note of the previous post and let's post up and get connected

Mike

[tradingup]

I'm with you, Mike. You have my info and I think I have all of yours.

New development with 076: Anybody else fried their air conditioner compressor? I assume it is standard 95 or so Mustang. Anybody had to replace theirs and with what?

[flyboy1997]

Mike, changed wheels on My Ex so I have my stock wheels if You know someone in need of?
Car is also going to Rob @ Keith Craft in Dallas to remove smog pump, fake headers, ALL Cats, heads,& up grade to a mass flo system so I will have some extra stuff for someone wanting Stock? Took the front Lic. Plate bracket off also. Wendell

[birdwatcher II]

Wendell,
Do you have the solid silver wheels, or black? Interested in them. Please pm me a price.

It will take me some time, but I would like to build a site dedicated to the "marque". Your willingness to share the data is greatly appreciated. Any and all info will help. All owners/enthusiasts, please feel free to email me anything you know. I'll start compiling data as of RIGHT NOW... 7pitbulls@msn.com

I'll keep my progress posted on the board.

Alex

[tradingup]

Wendell,

What happened to your plan to put the Lone Star guts into the EX?

[flyboy1997]

That was my wife's idea believe it or not & hard to pass up also but the Excal is such a pretty & nice car I would hate to tear it up with that much HP ! Its my driver just wanted to Spice it up a touch !!!!

[cobraduke]

Yep, two that haven't been previously recorded: 064, a '95, blue/white stripes and black interior, 8800 miles in New Jersey and 099, a '96, black and tan interior, 13000 miles in Dallas. Look like nice cars, better hurry.

[flyboy1997]

CobraDuke, I Know YOU are the Man to ask...... The Black & Tan is listed as being 1' longer & wider @ the rear as quoted, is this one of the Special stretch versions or does he have wrong numbers, kinda looks longer?

[Excaliber]

Excal 033 is alive and well right here in Oahu. The present owner may well sell it to his brother, who is also a friend of mine, who lives here. I still see and occasionally drive the car, it's gone, but not far from home and still looks great!

[cobraduke]

Originally Posted by flyboy1997

The Black & Tan is listed as being 1' longer & wider @ the rear as quoted, is this one of the Special stretch versions or does he have wrong numbers, kinda looks longer?

My understanding is that the wheelbase is 4 inches longer (94 rather than 90 for the originals and most replicas). Where this shows up is in the passenger compartment. I have also been told it is 4 inches wider as well. I haven't personally measured them, so I can not personally vouch for that. I do know that the windshields are idential among replicas and the originals. Since the wheel base, most of the frame, suspension and body contours are the same as the Classic Roadster, I'd check Don Scott of CR II on the width issue. I think the photos on ebay are graphically distorted in black/tan posting.

According to the info posted by a couple of knowledgeable people in this thread (one former employee of Excalibur who stated he had built the JAC 427's and Tom Hekkers who has spent years researching these cars and owns 003), there was only one stretched one, silver. Looking at both ads, the dimensions, primary Lincoln-Mercury Division association and production numbers (both total and 1996) are speculative. The VIN numbers begin around 001 (1993) and apparently end at 177 (1997) with the exception of a one off, 200, built about 2000 with a Ford 4.6 cobra motor and IRS. Apparently this car still exists somewhere in Wisconsin or a surrounding state. It is reported, but not verified with any documentation, that the VIN's were not consecutive but were mostly sequential (i. e. xx5 was built before xx8, but xx6 or xx7 may or may not exist). There is a '93 in Germany reported to have a VIN of 000193. So even the apparent patterns we see in the verifiable cars could be subject to exceptions, especially at the outset. This makes determining the actual production number an educated guess. The questimates of the most knowledgeable are between 135 and 150. Verifiable reports I have are about 60 cars with VIN's, with about 20 more reports without VIN's, some of which might be duplicates of cars reported with VIN's. At best 80 cars are known, at least to me. Both of the cars now on ebay were previously unreported, at least as far as I knew. As far as L-M association, these cars were sold by Ford dealerships, independent dealerships and even at least one general retail chain. There could well have been some L-M dealerships who signed up, but I'm no way convinced there was any special tie in with L-M.

If anyone knows of an easy way to search registered cars for possible JAC 427 VIN's, send it along. Does anyone know if the other Excalibur models built during '93-'97 shared VIN sequence with the JAC 427's? It seems possible that the apparent gaps in our VIN sequence might be due to Excalibur sequencing in the other models as they were built concurrently with the cobras.

Difference subject: Earnie, I've got some great photos of 033 when you owned and raced it. Got a lot of details about it from reading your posts as well. What I don't have is contact with the current owner. Could you either buy it back (again) or convince them to contact me? In the mean time, if you'll send me your email address by PM, I'll send you a copy of everything I've got on 033 and these cars in general. I'd welcome your review and corrections or suggestions.

Mike

[ohekk]

#99 is not the "stretched" Excalibur

#145 ("Shay Gold") is the one that was stretched 8 1/2 " for an amabassador in Africa.

Confirming how many were produced is difficult because of poor record keeping.

As noted, several earlier "VIN'ed" cars were re-assigned later VIN#'s, several VIN's in the logical sequence were skipped over, and some vehicles with assigned VIN's were never completed.

Based on my research, my best guess is 132.

Also. I do not own #003

I own the precursor to #200. My car was Excalibur's "R&D" Cobra which started its life with a 4.6L Lincoln engine and T45 5- spd trans. Soon after it was started, Excalibur acquired a 4.6L "Cobra" engine from Ford and went on to custom build #200. It is presently here in Wisconsin.

My car was sold unfinished to one of Excaliburs vendors. Never completed, it was sold again and then again unfinished I bought it.

I completely disassembled the car and built it my way. I installed a 351C and Tremec 5spd. Additionally, I resolved some of the known engineering and fiberglass issues and customized the dash.

When Exclaibur closed the doors for good, I was able to acquire the LAST Cobra as a "Components Only" transaction. Sadly I have not had time to complete this car.

[cobraduke]

Tom,
Thanks for the clarifying info. Where I got the idea the yellow car was 003, I can not remember. Since it was an R&D car, how long was it at the factory, what did it's VIN end up being and what non typical features does it have (Besides the 351C and Tremec)?

Now if I'm understanding your post about the "last cobra" correctly, you are meaning 200. Is it black and does it still have the cobra motor and IRS? How close is it to being complete? Got any interesting photos of this one-off?

Mike

[MilwDoug]

Originally Posted By Cobra Duke
Now if I'm understanding your post about the "last cobra" correctly, you are meaning 200. Is it black and does it still have the cobra motor and IRS? How close is it to being complete? Got any interesting photos of this one-off?

Mike,
The car you are referring to was called the "experimental Cobra" and was built for the owner Jens Geitlinger.It was built complete by Excalibur after production stopped on the other cars. It had IRS and the Cobra engine. It was very nice, and was owned for a time by a neighbor of mine. As I understand it, it now owned by Greg Gensch at AA Auto in Butler WI 414-466-9050 and will be for sale this spring. It is black with a very nice tan interior. The interior is different and fancier than the other cars. Also has a very expensive sound system.

[cobraduke]

Thanks, Doug. I talked with Tom and he explained what he was referring to as the "last" one off the production run (but sold without a VIN and not fully finished). I really appreciate the info on 200. I've been interested in that car and seeing photos and details on it. I'll get in contact with Greg. The part that interests me the most is the IRS.

I'd appreciate you taking a look at the spread sheet list I've compiled on these cars and the parts, specs and other info I've gathered into a word document as well. I'd welcome any additional info or corrections you'd offer. I am making these available to any owners or enthusiasts who ask for them. If you will email me at mduke@blinn.edu I'll forward them by return. I only include owner personal info in the spreadsheet (such as name, address, phone and email) if it has been made public in this site or if given permission. This offer is open to all who take the time to email a request to me. I think I have pretty good info on about 60 cars and partial, possibly duplicated, info on about 20 more. Obviously there is a lot more to do.

Mike