Why I'm building mine

[120mm]

The problem with planning a Cobra replica build from half way around the world, is that all you can do is think and contemplate.

I've learned a ton, since I've been on this board, as well as the FE board. In fact, I've solidified my build plan over the weekend, thanks to the help of some really cool people on both boards. Only my paychecks need to catch up so I can start buying stuff so I won't change my mind again.

Once I'm done building, and have thoroughly sorted out "Hal" (he has a name already) I want to utterly thrash it along 100+ miles of some of the prettiest roads on the face of this earth.



I know that Iowa has a reputation as being flat, square and boring. But anyone who has ever been to the Loess Hills along the Missouri River will think otherwise.



I cruised it a couple years ago in my '67 Mustang convertible, and I couldn't help but thinking the entire time how much more fun it would be in a serious performance car.





The biggest challenge is not to hit slob bicyclists who purposefully ignore the rules of the road... mainly because they are dicks.

After that... Maybe a circumnavigation.



What are YOUR plans, or maybe the roads YOU like to really attack with your little Cobras?

[huskersnake]

120mm,
After you get you Cobra warmed up in Iowa come over to Nebraska to try a couple of these Sandhills Challenge courses. They shut down large expances of blow the cobs out curve filled highway with some five mile straight aways. When my wife and I get our Iowa built HM-2018, with a 427 side oiler, finished we will be hitting these courses.

Home | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

Loup 2 Loup | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

[120mm]

Originally Posted by huskersnake

120mm,
After you get you Cobra warmed up in Iowa come over to Nebraska to try a couple of these Sandhills Challenge courses. They shut down large expances of blow the cobs out curve filled highway with some five mile straight aways. When my wife and I get our Iowa built HM-2018, with a 427 side oiler, finished we will be hitting these courses.

Home | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

Loup 2 Loup | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

Cool!

It's ON, man!

[glenview289]

You might want to try the Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas Ozarks. They can't be beat for scenery and twisty roads, but you better lose that attitude toward cyclists before you come.
Bill

[120mm]

Originally Posted by glenview289

You might want to try the Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas Ozarks. They can't be beat for scenery and twisty roads, but you better lose that attitude toward cyclists before you come.
Bill

Or what?

What, precisely will happen to me if I don't "lose that attitude" towards dicks that ride bicycles?

I'm curious.

[Clutt gt]

Well you don't have lose the attitude but try to keep it to your self.
As some of us performance oriented motorists would rather get along with others trying to use the beautiful roads and not end up referd to as the jack ass in the loud sports car driving like he owns the road.
We have a hard enough time keeping a good name in the car hobbie and not being labeled street racing, stunt driving ass hats risking other peoples lives. Simply because our cars are fast and loud.

Please once your car is built be the courtious guy in the loud fast car.

[120mm]

Originally Posted by Clutt gt

Well you don't have lose the attitude but try to keep it to your self.
As some of us performance oriented motorists would rather get along with others trying to use the beautiful roads and not end up referd to as the jack ass in the loud sports car driving like he owns the road.
We have a hard enough time keeping a good name in the car hobbie and not being labeled street racing, stunt driving ass hats risking other peoples lives. Simply because our cars are fast and loud.

Please once your car is built be the courtious guy in the loud fast car.

Since you guys suck at reading, and have decided to derail this thread.

"Slob bicyclists" are those idiots who stop right over a steep hill or right around a tight corner, and stop and gawk, taking up both lanes.

Slob bicyclists ride in the car lane, 2 feet from the $13 million taxpayer funded bike trail "because it's their right".

Slob bicyclists are those usually fat dudes in racing togs, riding with their blubbery asses waving in the air, taking up both lanes because they are pretending they are racing. Which, btw, is a freaking crime.

Slob bicyclists always ride counterflow. ALWAYS. I dunno why.

Slob bicyclists never yield or pull over for faster traffic. "Because they have a RIGHT to be there!" Never mind that its discourteous as hell to obstruct and impede traffic.

I ride bicycles. And obey the law. But the majority of bicyclists are slobs and scofflaws. The 99% that ignore traffic rules spoil it for the 1% who obey the freaking law and ride safely.

And oh yeah, slob bicyclists hang out on internet forums, make veiled threats to those who don't kiss their e-feet and refuse to acknowledge how their behavior makes them dicks. Behavior like derailing threads because someone joked about bicyclists acting like idiots.

[patrickt]

Oooh, this thread is actually getting interesting. I particularly liked the "don't kiss their e-feet" line.

[120mm]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Oooh, this thread is actually getting interesting. I particularly liked the "don't kiss their e-feet" line.

I do the best I can.

Hey, when I drive, I drive politely and keep the other guy in mind. Just like when I ride a bike. Except I ride with the idea that the "other guy" is in a car and can kill my ass.

It just chaps my ass how so many bicyclists ride like idiots, and act like even bigger idiots on line.

[Phx Mike]

Originally Posted by huskersnake

120mm,
After you get you Cobra warmed up in Iowa come over to Nebraska to try a couple of these Sandhills Challenge courses. They shut down large expances of blow the cobs out curve filled highway with some five mile straight aways. When my wife and I get our Iowa built HM-2018, with a 427 side oiler, finished we will be hitting these courses.

Home | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

Loup 2 Loup | Sandhills Open Road Challenge | Arnold, Nebraska

Now that looks like fun. Reminds me of summers I spent thrashing a 69 Camaro down in Hitchcock county with my cousins....

[mdross1]

Agree about so many bicyclists everywhere being dicks but we all have to deal with them. When the urge hits to go out for some spirited driving fortunately there are plenty of roads around here to get on it, still have to be tuned in to anything unexpected which actually adds to the excitement. I enjoy rolling up behind anything then picking the right time to blast by them. These cars really get the blood flowing it's amazing what they are capable of. Enjoy the whole ride from conception to actually turning the key for the first time.

[Clutt gt]

Originally Posted by 120mm

I do the best I can.

Hey, when I drive, I drive politely and keep the other guy in mind. Just like when I ride a bike. Except I ride with the idea that the "other guy" is in a car and can kill my ass.

It just chaps my ass how so many bicyclists ride like idiots, and act like even bigger idiots on line.

I guess I stand corrected. I thought you were lumping all cyclist together.
As for myself I believe cycling is best done in the woods. I would much rather take on a tree then someone in a 4500lb suv texting.
As for the cyclist you describe I hope you build your car with a loud ass set of pipes and thoroughly scare the crap out of them as you crack it open right as you pass by. Some people just deserve that kind of treatment.
I have to say in my area these cyclist are very very rare. Most are aware that they will lose this fight right or wrong.
The instructor in my motorcycle training course said it best.
" right of way don't mean **** if your the one in the box"

So to get your thread back
Your planning the road trip
How about the car? What is the plan, 427, 289, carb, fuelie?
Original or modified theme
This is what I love most about the Cobra replica its your car, build it your way and it can never be wrong because it's yours.

[Clutt gt]

I do this run every fall with the local Mustang club. If the weather is good.
I do cold but not rain. It's about 700km for me round trip. Some of the best roads in Ontario. Nothing like being the odd duck. Northern Ontario cruise in late fall, 40+ Mustangs with the heat on and then me in the middle with snow suit and a toque driving a roadster with no heat. I usually detail and store the car the next week.
Then itch and twitch until spring.

[Luce]

Anyone who puts their bicycle on the driving part of an highway with a speed limit over 35 MPH IS an ass hat and deserves all of the 140 dB of unburned HCs and CO I can blast them in the sides with AND the pebbles I spit in their face a half second later. I particularly like doing it on a canyon cut, uphill in second gear where I can also enjoy the racket.

If there's a shoulder (and they're on it) or a bike lane, they're spared.

[huskersnake]

Originally Posted by Phx Mike

Now that looks like fun. Reminds me of summers I spent thrashing a 69 Camaro down in Hitchcock county with my cousins....

Hitchcock County - 719 sq. mi., population 2,900 and going down. Did you happen to run into a red '69' Z-28 while there? I wish I had that car back now.

[120mm]

Originally Posted by Clutt gt

So to get your thread back
Your planning the road trip
How about the car? What is the plan, 427, 289, carb, fuelie?
Original or modified theme
This is what I love most about the Cobra replica its your car, build it your way and it can never be wrong because it's yours.

I am building a 445 FE stroker, and am doing a tribute to the very early 427 S/Cs that were raced. 850 Holley carb, points ignition and other old school stuff under the hood. IRS w/3.73 ratio and a TKO 600RR. It's a Hurricane Roadster kit, so the body shape is right for that era.

Minimum/No chrome under the hood. Only chrome on the outside will be the headlight bezels, rear-view mirror and the windshield frame. Pipes and rollbar black.

Single stage enamel paint, either Blue or Red. No stripes. Dunno if I will put meatballs on it, yet.

I am debating whether I will do a multi-layer different color paint job (aluminum/blue/red?) and then do some sanding at normal wear points to show patina. Not going to goober it up too much intentionally like Lynn Park did to "Son of Dirt Bag", but will wear any honestly earned driving damage to the paint with pride. I own my own paint booth and equipment, so am not afraid to redo paint if I hate it.

In the spirit of the early 3xxx cars, I am considering running "as cast" 15" Hallibrand Cobra IIs on the rear and FIAs on the front. Big fat bias ply Goodyear Billboards.

The back story is that in 1976, when I was 13 years old, I had the opportunity to buy a trashed out Shelby Cobra race car. My dad talked me out of it, which is definitely a good thing, but to this day, my heart leaps into my throat when I think about that car. The body was so thrashed, it looked like a raisin, with wheels. I plan on recapturing that feeling. (Without the beaten in alloy body panels, that is.

[120mm]

Originally Posted by mdross1

Agree about so many bicyclists everywhere being dicks but we all have to deal with them. When the urge hits to go out for some spirited driving fortunately there are plenty of roads around here to get on it, still have to be tuned in to anything unexpected which actually adds to the excitement. I enjoy rolling up behind anything then picking the right time to blast by them. These cars really get the blood flowing it's amazing what they are capable of. Enjoy the whole ride from conception to actually turning the key for the first time.

See, that's the challenge of driving roads like this.

My Mustang lacks to suspension to deal with the "pop-up bicyclist".

Better car = better handling characteristics = more fun. Which was my original point, in its entirety.

[120mm]

Originally Posted by Clutt gt

I do this run every fall with the local Mustang club. If the weather is good.
I do cold but not rain. It's about 700km for me round trip. Some of the best roads in Ontario. Nothing like being the odd duck. Northern Ontario cruise in late fall, 40+ Mustangs with the heat on and then me in the middle with snow suit and a toque driving a roadster with no heat. I usually detail and store the car the next week.
Then itch and twitch until spring.

Looks marvelous. Assuming it is a wooded wonderland and the fall is the best time for that.

My wife and I just moved back from Germany to the US. Too bad I didn't own a Cobra replica there! Amazing two lane valley roads, perfect for spirited driving.

On the road I mentioned, one valley is absolutely filled with Lippizaner horses. Beautiful white horses arrayed against the green hills. It's the one place in the road I back waaaay off the throttle, so I don't panick the beautiful beasts grazing in fields beside the roads.

Medicine River Farms Lippizaners

[Clutt gt]

For the most part the drive looks like this. Only my hood veiw is better.
This pic was taken from a buddy's 04 Mach1. I didn't make the cruise in 2016 due to rain.

Here is a shot of my car on the 2015 cruise

As we pulled out for the day

[Phx Mike]

Originally Posted by huskersnake

Hitchcock County - 719 sq. mi., population 2,900 and going down. Did you happen to run into a red '69' Z-28 while there? I wish I had that car back now.

Many years ago and it was a silver '69 with a 400 small block that had been worked heavily. Lots of open 2 lanes without much traffic but you really had to watch out for the farm equipment that always seemed be just over the next rise.