Which car?

[Merv and Sharon]

I was at Coolum Beach this morning at my local welding works and they had just finished some repair work on an alumunium-bodied Cobra. Seems it was an original - a blue one. The owner is a Melbourne resident reportedly, with a property up here. He also has 4-5 Mustangs including some Shelby models. His 67 350 Shelby coupe was in the next door paint shop. Very impressive!

I was wondering who the owner is?

[Dimis]

Me!!!
I am!!!

......Got ya!?!.....

[boxhead]

I have seen pictures of a blue 427 car many years ago on an Australian sports car magazine.
It was not guardsman blue but darker and more purple to it than guardsman, also no stripes.
From memory it had no scoop nor side pipes.
But I got all excited when I saw the small (50c piece size) dent in rear quarter (knew it was not glass)

[Merv and Sharon]

I was keen to find out and if a 'local car', the owner may be interested in joining some of our Sunshine Coast 'runs'.

[Donunder]

Originally Posted by Merv and Sharon

I was wondering who the owner is?

The welding shop proprietor won't tell you Merv?
Or the paint shop proprietor next door?

Sometimes the owners of these sorts of cars can be a little reclusive, and accordingly the people working on them can be protective of their customer's privacy.

I'd leave a card or letter in the Mustang (or with the painter) with your details and see if the owner, or his Queensland contact, gets back in touch with you. The Cobra sure sounds interesting but if it's not already known to some of our bloodhounds, it may well be that that's the way the owner likes it.

Wonder if they're Bowden cars and the "Melbourne" story is just a red herring?

[Merv and Sharon]

Good idea Don. I did not want to put the paint shop owner in a difficult position but I will leave a card and note there. It is definitely not one of Bowden's cars as this guy has worked on many of them too. The Melbourne story seemed authentic to me. The Mustang is a rare one and the owner has a Shelby 350 convertible as well I am told. Even more unusual.

It was quite funny actually as my welding shop friend said, "I was working on a Cobra the other days, like yours". "That thin aluminium is hard to weld ...."

[Mrs flatchat]

Sounds like Ian Ross --he was at the muscle car showdown with the Cobra and mustangs

[Merv and Sharon]

You might be right about that. I think I have some pics of that car ...







This the one you mean?

[Mrs flatchat]

Yup! and thats how a proper Cobra should look except the steering wheel location

[leroy17]

Looking at and hearing that at the muscle car shootout never got old........ pure art and music.

[kyleb]

It used to be owned by phil walker from unique cars, he said it was sold to a queensland based guy who drove it home from Vic, Phil said he sold it coz he filled his Daks everytime he drove it. AWESOME.....

[Merv and Sharon]

OK, that is interesting Kyle. I will leave a note with the painter and see if I can make contact. It seemed a very nice car (another pic below, from which I cut the earlier CSX number).

[spookypt]

Originally Posted by kyleb

It used to be owned by phil walker from unique cars, he said it was sold to a queensland based guy who drove it home from Vic, Phil said he sold it coz he filled his Daks everytime he drove it. AWESOME.....

I had a looong chat with Phil earlier this year just before he flew to the States to buy another one! Not sure how he went though as I haven't spoken to him since. Must be some $'s in that Car Mag game.

SpookyPT

[Towmaster]

It could also have been the one we saw at the first Bowdens visit.... about 5 years ago. They 'borrowed' it from the owner they said was a local. Got it there for the day because we were coming. It was an original (not a continuation like the Ross one) 427. The one they used in the 60's for the promo stuff for wheels etc magazines. It was at the Brisbane motorshow about 4 years ago also. Still had it's original 60's NSW rego plates on it.... Very original ie worn out condition.

[kyleb]

Check out phil's GT350 shelby and early vette in the current unique cars, and yep you're right spooky there is definately some dough in mags !!! He also had a Robnell at one stage so there is no doubt he's a cobra fan...

[spookypt]

Yep he sure is... I love his GT350. Drool. Phil heard about my cobra coming into Oz from the states and wanted to do a story on it and have John Bowe do a track test in it.

Long and the short of that discussion was JB still owes me a Ford Racing shirt from Indy 200? so I said I'll wait for the shirt and then we'll talk about him putting his mug in my car.

Still waiting for shirt!

[Merv and Sharon]

One of the Shelby 350 fastbacks is in the paint shop now and I take a pic of it tomorrow. It is a restored 'wreck'. A complete restoration is taking place. Will see if I can encourage the gentle man to join our local group.

[Wazza]

If it's the guy we met at the Musclecar Shootout, you might have a job getting him to "Join our local group".

Made it pretty clear to me that his "continuation" Cobra didn't really compare with our Cobras, as his was a "Real" one...not like our replicas.


Made a huge impression with me................not.

[Wazza]

Originally Posted by Towmaster

It could also have been the one we saw at the first Bowdens visit.... about 5 years ago. They 'borrowed' it from the owner they said was a local. Got it there for the day because we were coming. It was an original (not a continuation like the Ross one) 427. The one they used in the 60's for the promo stuff for wheels etc magazines. It was at the Brisbane motorshow about 4 years ago also. Still had it's original 60's NSW rego plates on it.... Very original ie worn out condition.

Sounds like you might be right Ash...
This one you speak of was all blue...no stripes.

[Merv and Sharon]

Thanks Warren I also have photos of both the cars that were at Bowdens. I will ask some further questions today when I go back to the paint shop.