SPF 1559 Is Almost Alive

Carroll DeWeese · #1 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 07:11 AM

My new Cobra SPF 1559 is almost alive. THe rolling body was shown by SPF at the 2003 Detroit AutoRama. It is yellow with dark green racing stripes. It has dual roll bars, racing fuel cell, full racing harnesses, extra wide rear tires, removable hardtop, and other goodies. It will have a 351 Sportsman block stroked to 400 plus cid and capable of running on 90 octane gas. Ford Racing is currently building the engine and it should be installed and dyno tested with the next three weeks. The car will have a TKO II transmission with Pro-Shifter. It will be capable of daily driving or open track.

If I did it right a picture is attached and a couple of others are in the photo gallery.

casaleenie · #2 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 07:51 AM

Damn Carroll!! what a nice car... Looks like you did it right...Congrats.....
What was it in Detroit today? 4 degrees..... I don't suspect you'll be driving it around anytime soon....

Carroll DeWeese · #3 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 08:35 AM

All of Southeast MI was below zero this morning. At least the hardtop make it a more all weather car. A big engine should produce enough heat. We should be able to drive it when the roads are no so salty. The cold is not the problem but the salt and slush is.

HIQ · #4 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 10:52 AM

Congrats! The color looks great.

jhein · #5 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 12:24 PM

Carroll,

Very cool color, the only one I'm sure. Looks like you have it set up fairly well. The best is yet to come. My car was delivered in August, I put 2000 miles on it before winter set in. Spring can't come soon enough. Just wait til you get that baby out on the road! What a blast! By the way, love the hard top and dual roll bars.

John
spf1421
titanium/black
351w 480hp/437ftlb

Carroll DeWeese · #6 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 02:24 PM

The color is the reverse of the old Lotus colors. They had green with a yellow stripe. The green is so dark that from a distance people first think that it is black. As they get closer, they see that it is not black. SPF says that, as far as they know, it is the only Cobra in the world with the color combination.

The first reaction of the people who knew about the color combination was "it is not as bad as I thought." After a while the reaction is " I really like it!" It drew many positive comments and attention at the 2003 Detroit AutoRama.

Bill Wells · #7 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 04:00 PM

carroll...hate to tell ya, but i had spf 156 out today and drove almost to your doorstep , no top (no brains), 11 degrees outside in the sun...brought it back with a layer of salt dust and some wet spots from salt water puddles that had not frozen...gotta point it straight with cold tires, especially when the blower spools up...life is good...sinuses are not now. oh well. now, gotta blow the salt powder off with the compressor and give it a sponge bath . i look forward to seeing yours on woodward ave and telegraph too. bill

Carroll DeWeese · #8 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 06:48 PM

Bill,

It might be at the next Great Lakes Cobra Club meeting. John said that he might take it there as part of his testing if the weather is okay. Otherwise, I will have to drive it over to your place in April.

Good that you drove today. I hear that we are suppose to get up to 10 inches of snow in within the next 36 hours. At least you have a garage that is big enough to clean the Cobra.

Bill Wells · #9 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 07:44 PM

i actually had to move my cars between the two hoists to do work on another car, one hoist better than the other for that need. i don't like to move the cars for 1-2 min engine time, rather get them hot and burn out the moisture. hence, when i move em, i drive em if at all possible. otherwise i would NOT have driven in this cold weather...but once i moved it i felt compelled to put some miles on it to get it hot enough to burn the moisture out of the system...in the process i 'HAD" to drive the other two as well..heheh....but those had tops up and heaters on ! i heard the weather 4-8 inches of snow weather forecast which forced me into action in the colder weather, cold but DRY , at least today ! i will rearrange them again this wknd when the weather warms up and roads are hopefully dry. cold tires and high hp and torque do not mix well...so be cautious in colder weather. bill.

raddox · #10 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 07:49 PM

Great looking car! You are going to love it.
Bill

Dirtrich · #11 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 08:34 PM

That is an awesome color combination, works very well together and the hardtop sets it off nicely.

Did you pass on the Dart block due to a general lack of info and available feedback from builders or guys that may have first-hand experience using it? Did you consider the Roush Stroker?

Ed_spf1255 · #12 (**permalink**) 03-03-2003, 08:44 PM

It's a beauty, but I don't know about warm. I drove mine (1255) home from Ohio on January 10, which was the coldest day of the winter at that point. A bottle of water next to the seat never thawed out (500 miles). But, hey, when your heart is pumping, you don't notice.

Carroll DeWeese · #13 (**permalink**) 03-04-2003, 07:21 AM

I am not getting the Dart block because I wanted a local builder that I could trust and go back to for various work on the Cobra. I choise John Vermeerch of Total Performance in Clinton Township, MI. His show is the technical support line for Ford Racing. He currently has at least 40 Cobras that he services (a sideline to supporting Ford Racing).

When I talked about using the Dart, he went out and got one, but he wanted to use it for testing. They had not built an engine using the Dart block before. He said that he would build one for me but he did not want be to be using a "test" engine. If it has anything to do with Ford engines, they know about it. Instead of the Dart, we agreed to a Sportsman block 351W bored and stroked to 400 plus cid. It is being build now. I should have dyno results within the next two weeks -- possibly even installed in the car. I specified that it had to safely be able to run on 90 octane gas, have at least 480 plus torque and hp, and meet some other criteria (e.g., looking period correct).

I talked to McClaren and considered Rousch but thought that John's experience with Cobras was worth going with him. He has supported originals throught all types of replicas.

sierramadre45 · #14 (**permalink**) 03-04-2003, 03:27 PM

I saw your car at the Autorama and was sure it must have been ordered by a Green Bay Packer!

You made a great choice for your engine builder/installer. I own one of the 40 Cobras that John works on and can attest that his expertise is unmatched.

Congratulations on your purchase. I look forward to seeing you tooling around Detroit this summer. You won't be hard to spot!