Hardly drive your dream replica Cobra?

[decooney]

Hardly drive your dream replica Cobra?

I’ve wanted to ask this question for a while...

To me it is very difficult to understand why someone would dream to own, and finally obtain a nice and expensive replica Cobra and then not drive it much at all.

There are various threads where people refer to cars they just saw driving by that day, asking who it was, and someone else pops up, replies, and says "oh, that wasn't John Doe, he never drives his car..." or, "it stays in the garage because it can't get dirty, or John Doe won’t put any miles on it".

Busy - sure..., other priorities - understandable..., bad weather – understandable..., or Health issues – sorry for that and get well! But, “don't want to get it dirty”, or “don’t want to put at least a few thousand miles on it each year” ???. C'mon, they are just REPLICAS made from common parts and labor, not some sort of rare art or something…

What's the deal, maybe I just don't get it?

[G.R.]

I don't drive mine near as much as I would like--mainly due to the weather, driving it in the rain is not much fun--we don't seem to get a lot of "dry" weekends until mid-summer--and due to work constraints I'm not able to just pop-off for a drive during the week if we have some nice days-- and as for driving it to and from work it doesn't quite fit the description or have the room of my construction PU--

[Tinker51]

Won't drive mine to work because when I go to work I am gone for several days. Won't leave it in the parking lot. Enjoy it on my days off though and I spend lots of time cleaning it after I drive it.

[petek]

While I am sure there are some out there that view their Cobras as a mobile work of art and so do drive the Cobra that much ... I'm not one of them!

Hell, even my wife says my Cobra HAS to have a little dirt, a few tiny stone chips -- all to prove that the car is driven as often as possible.

And yes, as long as it isn't raining and the temperatures are at least around 50 I use my Cobra for commuting, grocery shopping, running out to dinner, and so on!

[klayfish]

I drive my car moderately, I'd say. I put about 2500 miles on it in my first year of ownership. Weather here is only good enough for about 6-7 months of the year.

But during good weather, I try to bring it to work at least once a week, go out every weekend. I raced it about 15 times last year and plan to do the same this year. I'll take it to some shows and cruise nights, but I'll DRIVE it there, not tow it.

Whether it's a Cobra or other kit street rod, I don't understand the towing/waxing either. Hey, if that's what they're into, I respect it...but I bought my car to DRIVE. If I want something to polish and stare at, I'll buy a scale model.

Steve

[Tony Radford]

Duane, I've often wondered the same thing. How many posts have you seen where a car goes up for sale after two years of ownership and it has 500 miles on it. My car was 3 years old when I bought if from the second owner and it had 1,400 miles on it. Exactly a year later, it has 6,200 miles on the odometer. It doesn't look quite as pristine as it did when I took title, but I couldn't stand to know it was sitting in my garage and not getting sufficiently exercised!

[casaleenie]

If my wife asks me to go to the store for a gallon of milk I grab the Cobra.. They sell milk in 1/2 pint containers and I buy and deliver them to her one container at a time....
The guy I bought my car from had 4500 miles on it in nine months... I plan on trying to beat that....

[kountzecobra]

I drive mine every chance I get. Been on the road 10 months and have 6,500 miles on it. (Would have been much more if last year's weather hadn't been so wet!) I put gas in it three times last Saturday. Sometimes I even wash it when I get back home.

[mikiec]

I can usually get about 9 months of real good driving weather. june, july and august are really to hot to drive.

I now have 19,312 miles on the car. It has been on the oad since Jan 15th 2001. slightly over 2 years.

Mike

[STG]

Maybe Evan could answer this question.

[Mr.Fixit]

It used to disappoint me when a guy would have a cobra built, then two years later put it up for sale with only 2000 miles on it. Why not just buy a full sized picture of a cobra for the garage if all you want to do is look at it. That rip roaring umpteen HP ford motor does you no good parked in the garage, drive these things people!

[REAL 1]

Stan: I usually put about 1000 miles on my car between June to August. Maybe some drive their car more but between three kids (one being a future NHL star ),my coaching commitments, hockey clinics, my hockey league games, Harley Davidson ridiing, dirt bike/ trail riding (no more time for Enduros) with my friends and ,whenever forced, yard work around the house not to mention working part of the weekends at the office I'm lucky to get 1000 miles in.

Theres your answer.

[wilf leek]

It is true. I have seen Evan's car move under it's own power. Well, for a short while anyway. LOL

[teamfour]

Drive mine every chance I get. It will turn one year old next week and i have just under 5000 miles on it.

[casaleenie]

I'm going for some milk !!!

[RallySnake]

Duane,

This is a very good topic. There have been many occasions when fellow ralliest see us driving in rain or cold weather and try to persuade me to rent a car to run these events. They point out that the Cobra is too uncomfortable to be competitive in long distance rallies.

I have to set them straight. The car came first. I spent six years of my life building this thing to have fun with. I've entered track events and shows. I tend to be a little too competitive on the track and I'm usually breaking things and tearing up lots of tires. It gets very expensive. The shows are neat but there's not so much adrenalin pumping there. Rallys are a great compromise. You get to cruise around at legal speedlimits with other car nuts and occasionally, you get to make up time and push the limits a little.

The excitement lasts much longer. In last month's rally, we had four hours of fun, although most of it was in the rain. The high point for me happened in the desert, East of Palmdale. We were running late to a checkpoint and I had the Cobra wrapped up to the upper double digits coming in. As we approached the hose the clock was beeping down. We rolled over it at about 70 mph, exactly on the hundredth and zeroed the leg!

So, when other competitors look out the windows of their BMW or WRX and see us bundled up in ski clothes, they just shake their head and we just smile!

Yeah, sure, I'll rent a car to go rally.

Paul

[jhaynie]

When I bought mine it had 1200 miles on it, one year old. I put about 1600 miles on it in the next 4 or 5 months. Since then I seem to be always waiting to fix or upgrade something to get it back on the road. Not major repairs just stuff I think needs doing. Short trips here and there, but a lot of time on the jack stands. These cars are kind of like boats in that they always need some tweaking and minor repairs.

[jhein]

My car was delivered 8/9/02. Before I put it away for winter in October I had about 1800 miles on it. It's been warm enough to have it out a couple more times this year, now I'm up to 2200 miles. I'm guessing I'll put about 5000 miles a year on it unless I move further south, then more for sure. I'd like to drive it to the office every now and then too, but it's only 3 miles so I don't think that would even warm up the oil. Maybe I need to move further out of town and further south.

John
spf1421

[Edley Rondinone]

Man, I LOVE living in sunny Southern California!!! Hate to rub it in, but I drive my Cobra EVERY weekend, and a time or two during the week! As long as its not raining, out we go!! Huntington Beach, Ventura, Solvang, Malibu, Mojave Desert, San Diego, Palm Springs, etc... got the stone chips and dried-up bugs in the radiator as well!!! Averaging 600 milea a month, and enjoying every second!