What was your scariest cobra moment?

[Thor maine]

I guess that was what they called "Old School Cruise Control".

[Murky781]

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Uncle Fred, not screaming like the passengers in his car!

[mtrain2000]

Originally Posted by twin turbo

Shortly after parking my car in the grass at a cruise in/car show, a little kid with bare feet stepped up on my sidepipes to look in my car.

Happened to me as well.

My fathers church was having a car show so even though I don't do car shows any more I was kinda obligated to go.

My wife, and I got there, parked the Cobra, then went to visit my father at the registration booth.

Lucky for me I had already read about problems with kids here on this forum.

There was a little girl about 4, or five years old running around the midway with a little steel stroller. I know she gave a few guys heart attacks as she narrowly missed hitting their $$$$$ paint jobs.

Anyway, she came up close to where we were, and yep, she was bare footed, and made a bee line to the cooling Cobra [I had already been bitten on my calf, and still have the scar to proove it].

I stood up, and yelled "STOP" as loud as I could while running to get her. Lucky she stopped in her tracks.

My wife admonished the idiot mother who was letting the child run around the cars. Then I told the woman what could have happened.

All the dingbat could say was "your car is DANGEROUS". After she said that, I asked her if she had the $10k money to fix any dents, or scratches her unsupervised kid might inflicted on some of the cars there.

Her reply this time was, " I don't see how, or why someone would spend that much money on a paint job".

I told my father would come to the show the next year, but NOT with any of my cars. Just too many people with special snowflakes out there.

[BAsque1]

I posted this in 2013
Gentlemen:
Beware of this problem (perhaps someone has had this experience), Saturday afternoon while having a relaxing drive with my son, the engine of my car started to rev up excessively. So as to avoid blowing the engine and place ourselves in a very dangerous fast driving situation immediately I turned the key off and coasted to the shoulder to inspect the problem.

At first glance all seemed normal the idle adjustment screw of the Holley 770 carb was fine, the choke was not sticking, nothing was binding preventing the carb to function normal, but each and every time I tried starting the engine it went up all the way to 3500 rpms. I had the car towed home and with fingers crossed that nothing major was going on.

Yesterday we started checking things around and eventually I decided to pull the carb off, to our amazement, the gasket between the carb and the phenolic spacer center was broken and a tiny particle had lodged in between the secondary venturies throttle plates keeping them from fully functioning, hence causing the excessive elevated rpms.

The gasket fragment was removed and the carb operated normal, we installed back in the car and worked fine again.

My biggest concern was our safety when all of a sudden the acceleration went out of control, hence at the risk of sounding patronizing to anyone please be careful and enjoy a safe drive. Our cars could be very unforgiving due to their awesome power.
Sincerely
Lou

[Ron61]

This wasn't me but a close friend several years ago and he was almost killed and could never drive again. So all of you be careful as these overpowered cars can get away from you in a heartbeat.





Ron

[MOTORHEAD]

Ron:
????

[Ron61]

Talking about the scariest moments in a Cobra and this was one for me even though I wasn't involved in the wreck. And I thought it might serve as a warning to some of the newer people that have high powered Cobras to see what can happen and his was only a 390 horse engine. Wasn't trying to hijack the thread or anything.

Ron

Originally Posted by MOTORHEAD

Ron:
????

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Talking about the scariest moments in a Cobra and this was one for me even though I wasn't involved in the wreck. And I thought it might serve as a warning to some of the newer people that have high powered Cobras to see what can happen and his was only a 390 horse engine. Wasn't trying to hijack the thread or anything.

Ron

That's good advice. I don't have a "scariest moment" post, but I did take the Cobra out for the first ride of the year yesterday. It was in the mid 50's, the tires were cold (but properly inflated), and there was still residual sand on the streets from the winter DOT treatments. Even pulling away from stop signs at grandma-grocery-getter speeds, the tires were breaking loose and spinning. It looked, and sounded, like I was being reckless, but really, I was crawling away from a stop. Yesterday, any real high performance driving would have ended with a call to the towing service.

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Even pulling away from stop signs at grandma-grocery-getter speeds, the tires were breaking loose and spinning. It looked, and sounded, like I was being reckless, but really, I was crawling away from a stop. Yesterday, any real high performance driving would have ended with a call to the towing service.

Hmmm - sounds like that car's corner weighting is way off.

[jbmatth]

I had just purchased my B&B the day before and was taking it home across southern Kansas on hwy 160. The brakes were spongy and weak with the little 8" mustang II rotors. I came over a hill where a great pyrenees was standing in the road. I put the pedal to the floor and stopped probably 5 feet from him. He just looked at me the whole time then casually walked off of the road. I have better brakes now.

[lamaluv]

I had my fuel injection on the car for about six months and was accelerating up to hiway speed of 65mph. The speed limit dropped to 40 and when I let off of the gas the rpms stayed at 5500. The throttle was stuck and I was still gaining speed. I quickly hit the shutoff switch and pulled onto the shoulder. I found a bolt from the linkage had come loose and jammed the throttle wide open.

[mtrain2000]

Originally Posted by lamaluv

I had my fuel injection on the car for about six months and was accelerating up to hiway speed of 65mph. The speed limit dropped to 40 and when I let off of the gas the rpms stayed at 5500. The throttle was stuck and I was still gaining speed. I quickly hit the shutoff switch and pulled onto the shoulder. I found a bolt from the linkage had come loose and jammed the throttle wide open.

That is one of the first things I told my wife after we were married, and later to my son. If the throttle ever sticks don't try to fight it with the brakes, just turn the engine off.

I think the movie was Capricorn One where Elliott Gould was driving a 65/66 Mustang coupe, and the throttle stuck wide open, and he couldn't shut it off.

[DanEC]

Today, driving down a 4-lane city street with my wife, a SUV charges out of a side street on our side and appears to turn towards us and aim right at us. In hindsight I think their intent was to steer towards us, pass right behind me and pull into the opposite lanes to beat some traffic. In addition to nearly loosing bladder control I swerved and I beat on the steering wheel hub so hard I'm surprised I didn't crack it - of course that's not where the horn control is. Usually I'm pretty much live and let live with traffic - but today I wish I had hunted this clown down.

[michel schryer]

Was driving on the country side road on a beautiful day, big truck drove by and dropped a placard just as we meet, the noise scared the living hell out of me , looked in my rear view and saw the car just behind me getting it right in the face of his car. I missed it by a second, would have been disastrous, for sure the body would have been smashed up.
Go figure I go out of the city to avoid s*** like that !!

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by michel schryer

Was driving on the country side road on a beautiful day, big truck drove by and dropped a placard just as we meet, the noise scared the living hell out of me , looked in my rear view and saw the car just behind me getting it right in the face of his car. I missed it by a second, would have been disastrous, for sure the body would have been smashed up.
Go figure I go out of the city to avoid s*** like that !!

I've copped a sheet of plywood (about 3' x 3') at about 50 kph, slowed down from 100 when I saw it come of the truck.

Still managed to catch him, and the company paid for all of my repairs.

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by michel schryer

Was driving on the country side road on a beautiful day, big truck drove by and dropped a placard just as we meet, the noise scared the living hell out of me , looked in my rear view and saw the car just behind me getting it right in the face of his car. I missed it by a second, would have been disastrous, for sure the body would have been smashed up.
Go figure I go out of the city to avoid s*** like that !!

I've copped a sheet of plywood (about 3' x 3') at about 50 kph, slowed down from 100 when I saw it come off the truck.

Still managed to catch him, and the company paid for all of my repairs.

[Arvin]

Against my better judgement and let my brother drive. The power scared him to death and what did he do? Pulled back on the steering wheel and "pedal to the metal"! I reached over and hit the fuel pump switch and shut it down. When he finally came to a stop, he was so visibly shaken that he had tears in his eyes. He just proved to me why no-one will ever drive the car.

[Detroit Bill]

Originally Posted by Arvin

Against my better judgement and let my brother drive. The power scared him to death and what did he do? Pulled back on the steering wheel and "pedal to the metal"! I reached over and hit the fuel pump switch and shut it down. When he finally came to a stop, he was so visibly shaken that he had tears in his eyes. He just proved to me why no-one will ever drive the car.

So he went rigid and froze?

[Arvin]

Originally Posted by Detroit Bill

So he went rigid and froze?

Yes sir!

[G-Pete]

Originally Posted by mtrain2000

All the dingbat could say was "your car is DANGEROUS"

Which is true. Exposed side pipes are dangerous for the public. It is YOUR responsibility and YOURS alone to make sure your vehicle does not harm anyone.

You know they are hot and you left the car in a public place anyway - especially at a car show where spectators get really close to the vehicles.

If a kid gets burned - an attorney takes a few of your paychecks for the medical bills, pain and suffering.

Before calling others names, think for a moment about this.