Hope to own a Cobra soon!!!

[marksar]

Hey guys I have never owned a Cobra before but there is a 1986 Contemporary for sale in my area that I checked out today that Im really interested in but I need to do a little homework on it first. My main concern is finding parts if I need them and the second is what to do with the side pipes. They're black (which I dont care for,) in kinda sad shape and they stick out a little too far from the body for my liking, so from a cost effective point of view what are my options? Would it be best for me to buy new pipes and much do those run, or is it better to cut down the pipes that are on there now so they hug the body a little better and have them ceramic coated? I need to decide on this car pretty soon so any advice would be helpful. If there are any problem areas with the Contemporaries that I should be aware of and pay special attention to that would be helpful as well. Thanks a lot guys! I hope to be a owner soon!

[lmmargheritis]

You have come to the right place for help in your decision. Just know that the more time you spend here with us the more you will spend on your toy.

Welcome to the madness

[LMH]

Nick Acton is the guy you need to talk to about Contemporary cars. Look up "mickmate" here on the site and send him a PM.
Larry

[blown871]

pictures?

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by blown871

pictures?

OP will tell you the seller has not posted any pictures. From the ad, it appears the seller hopscotched around the car, doing a little here, a little there. Not going through the suspension (not explaining whether it is a torsion bar front end or not), wiring, or anything else besides yanking the original motor and replacing it with one that is supposed to be a "392 Ford crate engine". The mention of American Racing Wheels (no knock offs) has me wondering what the seller considers "fully restored". Too many red flags, but I'm sure that Nick already knows about the car, as not too many Contemporaries on the market that he does not know about.


Bill S.

[jr289]

Car has torsion bar front suspension. Marksar, have you looked at other Contemporary cars to compare pipes? Did you get to drive the car?

[Thor maine]

Side pipes are an easy fix. As far as Contemporary goes it just don't get no better than that!!!

[jr289]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

OP will tell you the seller has not posted any pictures. From the ad, it appears the seller hopscotched around the car, doing a little here, a little there. Not going through the suspension (not explaining whether it is a torsion bar front end or not), wiring, or anything else besides yanking the original motor and replacing it with one that is supposed to be a "392 Ford crate engine". The mention of American Racing Wheels (no knock offs) has me wondering what the seller considers "fully restored". Too many red flags, but I'm sure that Nick already knows about the car, as not too many Contemporaries on the market that he does not know about.


Bill S.

Wondering what the value of a small block Contemporary is in this market? I missed out on a nice one with pin drive wheels last year for 25k asking price.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by jr289

Wondering what the value of a small block Contemporary is in this market? I missed out on a nice one with pin drive wheels last year for 25k asking price.

This one sounds like a 20K item, then send it up to Nick Acton's shop (also in NH, about 85 miles to the north and west) and spend 10K on updates and upgrades.


Bill S.

[marksar]

Ok, sorry I haven’t had a chance to respond guys so this is gonna be long. Let me start off by debunking some theories. The guy that was selling it (and yes I did end up buying the car) was 70 years old. He didn’t have pictures on his computer to send (this was his second time using Craigslist) and he didn’t know how to send a picture in a text message, lol! He offered to mail me pictures but I live 20 minutes away so just I chuckled and headed over there. He is an enthusiast, not a builder, so he doesn’t know all the mechanical ins and outs of the car to begin with. He wanted the ‘true cobra experience’ so that’s why he went with the Contemporary, it’s the closest to the real deal. Now that he is getting up there the Cobra wasn’t being used as much as his ’04 Viper GTS so that was why he decided to let it go; so someone else could enjoy it. I talked to Nick (thanks for the recommendation he was a very helpful guy and I will for sure use give him my business in the future) and he said if I didn’t get it to let him know because he knows a lot of people that would.
Now the car is by no means ‘restored.’ It’s a driver for sure, but hell I’m an E-5 in the Air Force so Im not making 40k+ toy money to begin with. It does have the torsion bar front suspension on it and he replaced all the bushings on the front and rear end along with all the shocks and some of the brake lines. Mechanically the car is now very sound. When he got the car it had a piece of junk Ranchero engine in it and he replaced it with the 392 stroker because it put out similar hp/torque numbers to the original Cobras and that is what he wanted.
The car never had knock offs to begin with. It started life with bolt on ‘turbine style’ wheels similar to, but not exactly like, those on the Fox body mustangs. It also was built with a 350 Chevy, thank God that is gone or else I would never have gone to look at it in the first place.
Some of the bad things: he put too many covers over the car last winter and the paint couldn’t breathe and moisture got trapped in there. So the trunk looks like it has herpes on it along with the tops of the doors. Im going to put a new wiring harness in it this winter, the one in there now has been shade tree mechanic’d to hell, looks like garbage, and I think it would take longer to figure it out than just replace it.
Some of the nice things I got with the car were all the extras: Hard top, soft top never used, tonneau cover, both sets of side curtains, TWO sets of wheels and tires (the billet torque thrusts and bolt on Hallibrands.) The other REALLY nice thing that kinda tipped me over to buy the car was the solid history and documentation he had. He had everything; the original builder’s manual that has the original builders notes written throughout it, the names of all the owners, a picture of the car when it was first completed, and he even has photo copies of the ‘For Sale’ ads from Hemmings when it was first sold in 1993 and the original ripped out of Hemmings when he bought it in 2010. The paint and wiring I can fix, but in my honest opinion the history and documentation of any car is priceless. Well I gotta go get my wife and hope she doesn’t get too mad when I pull up. Will try to get pics up later!

[mrmustang]

Congratulations.....Nothing better than being able to put an actual eyeball on one of these cars. Nick will be your go to guy seeing he is relatively close to you and knows the Contemporary Cobras inside out. Be prepared to spend that 10K I spoke about (or more), as I have also been doing these cars for a long, long, long time......


Bill S.

[marksar]

[IMG][/IMG]

[marksar]

[IMG][/IMG]

[marksar]

This is an ad from when it was put up for sale the first time around '93.
[IMG][/IMG]

[jr289]

Congrats, I was talking to seller as well. Unfortunately you were a lot closer than I am 900 miles away. I suspect you got a killer deal.

[marksar]

Originally Posted by jr289

Congrats, I was talking to seller as well. Unfortunately you were a lot closer than I am 900 miles away. I suspect you got a killer deal.

Thanks a lot! Sorry you missed out but yeah I think I did pretty good on the deal.

[jr289]

You need to Craigslist those ugly wheels ASAP! Enjoy and keep me in mind if you get buyer's remorse anytime to soon. LOL