Italian newbie

[Ale_box]

Hello everybody! First post here. Really like this website!

First of all a small introduction about myself.
I am Italian, I am an engineer and I am pretty tall (188 cm or 6 feet 2). I would love building my own Cobra and use it daily. With daily I mean I would not want to race with it, but travel around (go to work, to the lake, etc.)

The small introduction brings in itself some questions.

Italian: registering the car here as unique is not possible. Are there any ways other than the UK IVA test around Europe (and of course closer to italy than UK) to get the car registered?

Italian2: Which kit would you suggest with Left Hand Drive (not necessary, but preferred)

Tall: Which kit would you suggest, so that I can fit in? (necessary ;-) )

Daily use: I am not looking for 800 HP and I like originality, so I would prefer to stick to the 289 Ford Engine. How easy is to find one? Do you have any suggestion in choosing one?

My plan is first to buy the engine, then the donor, than the Kit.

Any suggestion highly welcome!!! Thanks guys!!!

[bobcowan]

Welcome! I lived in Italy for a couple of years. getting my car into the country and licensed was a real hassle. The Tritico office was not easy to deal with. You'll have to do some careful research to find out what you can import, and how to do it. Sometimes it's easier to import an incomplete kit or roller than a completed car.

The Cobra is a very small car. Smaller than an old Fiat 500. But tall people manage to fit with careful seat selection and installation. Lots of advice on this and other Cobra forums on how to get that done.

Which kit you get depnds on a lot of factors. How much building do you want to do? How close to an original do you want to be? What can you import?

289 engines are hard to come by. They havn't been made in decades. But, the 302/5.0W engine is very easy to come by, inexpensive, and looks almost identical.

[*13*]

Your budget is important. 289's at plentiful, here in the USA. Are you looking for a 289 car? Early body style, slabside?

[olddog]

The 5.0 ltr Mustangs (and others) were produced into the late 1990's. The block is essentially the same as the 289, only it is 302 cid. Same bore. Longer stroke. Very common in the USA to stroke and bore them to get 347 cid. It depends on how much of a purest you are, but the extra displacement makes power a bit easier to build. You can make as much power with less, but you have to spin it faster and give up some street manors to do it. Well unless you want to blow a bunch of air into it.

[spl310]

289 engines are not hard to come by. I have three in the garage...

[cobra]

Welcome,
Go and make some test drive:

Offerte

Speak also with the sellers about the registration and collect informations.
Good luck

[Ale_box]

Thanks for the replies.

First I'll try to drive some cars already here in Italy in order to understand the spaces.

About building I would like to do it all, but the frame and maybe the engine, which I am
afraid I am not skilled enough.

My budget is about 30-35k$, even though not all at the kickstart, I am planning a two year investment...

As for the 289, I would like to gather more information.
My feelings are confirmed by some of you...probably I would need to look for it in the US...
I understood that many versions were built, probably depending on the car they were in. How can I know the original performances?
How can I choose from abroad?

Thanks guys!