Why do you own a Cobra?

[RedBarchetta]

Why? Mostly because I've already gone down the muscle car route and the Corvette route, and I'm not a big enough fan to go down the street rod route. The Cobra offers me an exotic car experience on a beer budget. Plus it's relatively easier to wrench on than most performance cars, and I can't afford something FAST that I can't work on mostly myself.

-Dean

[fastraxsg]

I had a motorcyle accident in 1996 and now can't ride street bikes and had to give up MX. I miss the wind in the face, the speed and handling of my ZXR7 and the closest thing I could afford was a Cobra. I started with this old rat roadster but now my Hurricane will be shipped soon.

[Dangerous Doug]

Why? Like any good love affair, the attraction was overwhelming and I couldn't restrain myself...

[imagine2frolic]

My 1st car was a 62 MGA, and my 3rd was a Tiger. You mix the first body with the second motor, and you have a Cobra289.

I sold my business, and sailed away for 4 years. I am now back on land working, and I am looking for that roadster on steroids drive once again. Small block with 275 hp with under car exhaust, and an everyday driver. Single-handed sailors don't worry about the weather. Just the progress......lololololololol

[Maricopa]

It was 1980 and I was a 14 yr. old gear head (bought a '66 Mustang that year) reading a car magazine in English class and there in the pages was a little, low, red-as-can-be Cobra. At the time I knew all about Shelby Mustangs but somehow had ignored the little MG looking things he messed with before that. My next exposure was an original FIA displayed at Bell Ford at their annual car show. I was there to buy 'Stang parts at the swap meet but spent the better part of the day staring at that beat up old POS.
Fast forward 15 years or so. The Mustang was gone, I had 2 kids and a mortgage but hadthe chance to buy a no-name uncompleted 'kit' from a guy down the street. I passed but the flame was re-lit. Fast forward again after a few years playing with sandbuggies and starting a business I discovered FFR and developed a plan. Save for 3 years and buy one. I lasted 6 months but it still took me 3 years to finish it.

A Cobra is the culmination of all things a 14 yr old (in a 41 yr old body) could want in a car. Low, curvy, fast and loud. It's the ultimate cross between minimalism and wretched excess. It's oversized motor and tires are covered by the body the same way lingerie (I'll forgive the French for this one!) covers a woman's body, just enough but not too much. It doesn't have anything to hold your friggin' drink (get a bottle of water and toss it behind the seat!). There's no switch to flip to cool you down (and no compressor to lug down the motor). It doesn't shift for you or help you with the steering or brakes (be a man, do it yourself!). It offers almost no protection from the other cars on the road and you have to constantly work just to keep it going in a generally straight direction. It's the ultimate non PC car. Rude, crude and socially unacceptable. Except in this case even those offended by it still want a ride.
Most of all it does what you tell it to. It turns, stops and-best of all-it GOES! All while looking damn good.

[Juggernaut]

The first day I saw one, about 40 years ago I loved it. I set a goal for myself that I would own one some day. For the last 29 years, I've always had something Cobra related in my house as a visual cue for me not to lose sight of my goal.

Now, I have one in my garage!

[ERA2188]

It's just a flat out blast to drive. You forget all of the bs that you have to deal with, and just purely enjoy the sound and feel of going through the gears down a winding road. I just jump in an go for a spin and all is good with the world. Plus you can plan track events, participate in car show and other events that are interesting sidelines as well. And 60's technology is easier to fix / maintain that the newer stuff. A well built car, properly maintained, will last forever (changing a motor now and then perhaps). For my money, the most enjoyable car ever built - the lines of the classic Italian and English sports car - with a small block V8 (or the Big Block for you 427 guys). It is also a treat - a car show - every time I go in the garage for whatever reason.

[Lowell W]

All of the above: teenager when the cars were new, most beautiful body ever on a car, insane power, ultimate race car, big Ford V-8, more fun than any/all my motorcycles, ass-kicking reputation. Other than that, just an irrational attraction to the car.

Sort of like a P-51 Mustang: an icon of the times.

Lowell

[HI Cobra]

For me it is a great way to take a mental vacation from the "real" world.
Nothing like a run to the North Shore to erase stress from work.
It is amazing that there are so many people who had a friend who owned
a "real" one. For just under 1,000 Cobras being built they sure have gotten
around a lot!

[mikiec]

Saw my first on a road course in 1964. The car belonged to a friend of a friend of the family. Got to sit in it and drool....

In 1966 I walked into a ford dealership in Boston and there sat... A 289 cobra; a 427 street car and one of the GT40's sold to the public. Being a starving HS student with maybe a buck in my pocket I cried.

In 1985 I almost bought one of the Autocraft cars. Put down a deposit on a car at a dealership in Oklahoma. Flew out there to pick it up, dealer sold it to some one else, for more money, about an hour before I got there.

Finally, in Sept 2000 I picked up a large crate. Jan. 4, 2001 I put my FFR POS on the road. Been smiling every since.

Mike

Maricopa.. Your welcome.

[trctrdrvr]

my brother got me interested, I really didn't know $hit about cobras untill I was 40, but after seeing 1 I knew I had to have it, sold my business 5 yrs ago and came out with enough money to get started, bought my SV and should have it completed this yr

[Maricopa]

The best laid plans Mikiec.

[zipzip]

I actually wasn't looking for a Cobra way back when....

I saw this really cool looking car on "Miami Vice" - if you remember that show. I went looking in a car magazine for the Ferarri Daytona Coupe and saw a magazine full of cobras. That did it. I instantly fell in love with the car's look. I was about 16 at the time and told myself I would own one of those cars by the time I was 30. I didn't quite make it, but I now own one that I built and have enjoyed the whole process. The car was licensed when I was 39 - only 9 years late. I consider it a success!

[AMiller]

Cant afford restoring Mopars any longer. Prices are just nuts. Cant afford to drive restored Mopars the way they were intended. Once again the prices are just nuts.

The Cobra looks increadable. You can drive the wheels off it and get any part you break fairly easily. There is no 1 of 25 or 1 of 100 crap to deal with. Im talking reproductions of coarse.

You dont have to start with rust. All parts can be factory new.

All the looks, sounds, and appeals of the greatest era of cars combined with the ease of off the shelf parts readily available.

[cobrarkc]

When I was 17 there was a dealer in my area called the Glass car company that sold Vettes. I went in to check out the cars and in the corner he had these funny english looking cars.
That was my first experience seeing a Cobra in person. From then on I new I wanted one.
Seven years later I embarked upon a jorrney that I have never regreted.
Its the most fun you can have with you clothes on.

[Dan Stryffeler]

Why did I get a Cobra?

Well... like marriage and having kids, it sounded like a good idea at the time

Dan

[Bill Bess]

I wanted to build a Hot Rod, but none of the usual stuff "did it for me", so what to do?

I wanted something sexy, very fast, cool looking and something that made my blood pressure go up. Something that made me want go fast..charging the highway and getting more excited each second and car that could twist your headoff and make heads twist.
The only car that ever did it me is the little Cobra...it's so sweet you know.

Bill

[round_midnight]

Three simple words: Sex on wheels.

[ROUSHAC]

Could say that I saw one 40 years ago and fell in love with it. Only took me 38 years to get one for myself.

Actually, though, it was so that I could get some better mpg than my other vehicle.

[Sal Gerace]

I've taken pictures of my almost complete Cobra to my job and were showing them to differant people. You can tell the people who really "get it" and the ones who don't. I had one guy flip through the same three pictures for about ten minutes. He was bitten!