New Contemporary in Houston Texas

[Dennis Mosley]

There is a new Cobra in Houston, TX and her name is Matilda!

A couple of years ago I sold my EM cobra that I built from the ground up. I sold the car as a roller and kept the 428FE that I had as incentive to build another one one day. From the day I sold my Everett Morrison, I started thinking, “when I build another one, what do I want?”. Over the last couple of years I have gone over the plans of what my personal “perfect” cobra would be. I didn’t say “THE” perfect cobra, I said “MY” perfect cobra. It had to be a FE powered car, coil overs, independent suspension, knock off wheels, 90" wheel base etc...

As a few things unfolded over the last few months, I decided it was time to become a little more serious about the plan so as I do with most projects, I created a spreadsheet. Upon the completion of that spreadsheet, I concluded that I really could not afford to build my perfect cobra from the ground up. So on to plan B. Given the current market for used cobras, I decided to see if I could find one that was close enough that I could buy and then change the things I needed to and get my perfect cobra (or pretty darn close to it)in the process without breaking the bank. I had narrowed the field down to ERA, Contemporary, Hurricane.

Acting on plan “B”, I found a car in the Atlanta, GA area that fit the bill. On Wednesday June 29th the deal was agreed to and the money was wired at 11 am. Let’s just say I got one heck of a deal on the vehicle. The car was delivered and sitting in my driveway at 10:30 am, Thursday June 30th. I drove it aprox 3 miles before it was put into my garage and taken apart so that it could have a spa month at a local paint shop.

Tilly is a Maroon w/ carbon fiber stripe Contemporary Cobra (you might have seen a picture or two :-) ) with floor mounted pedals and a 427 Side Oiler engine. The engine sports a 2x4 tunnel port intake. Those of you that know me know it had to have multiple carbs. She has a top loader tranny and a pre-oil system. The wheels are magnesium Halibrand knockoffs, Wilwood braking system, Jag suspension and all leather interior.
Some of the changes I made include:
· Complete color change
· Change of the dashboard layout
· Change out the switches to Lucas switches
· Change out the speedometer to a reverse rotating one
· Removed the molded hood scoop and added a bolt on (rivet look) one
· Added bolts to the front of the hood (rivet look)
· Changed out the hood latches for locking ones
· Added a key as the car only had a push button start and didn’t need a key
· Installed hardware for a soft top (I still had the top from my EM)
· Added a 5pt seat belt system since only lap belts were in the car
· Added a horn
· Added a brake light switch (apparently brake lights and horns aren’t required in GA)
· Changed windshield mirror
There are other things I changed as well but I think you get the picture. At the end of the day, by my calculations, I came in a little less than 60% the cost of building the car I wanted from scratch. And I got a few things like the 427 side oiler, pre-oiling system and magnesium wheels, I hadn’t budgeted for.
Although I’ve done a bunch, there are still a couple of things I am thinking of doing but for now, I’m pretty happy with the results.
Now, what to do with a spare 428FE in the garage? Hummmmm. Well that is a decision for another day. Now it‘s time to drive!


Meet Matilda! (aka “Tilly”)
Delivery date June 30, 2011


Interior


427 Side Oiler Equipped with a pre oiling system



Magnesium Hildabrands


Off for a make over



Scoopoplasty


Ready for paint She sparkels


Gotta Raise the Roof!!!


Carbon Fiber Stripe and Classic plate…notice it says 427


Before and after



Rerouted oil cooler lines added rivets to hood and scoop



Installed Louvers in side openings


Before and after




Floor Mounted Pedals


Back in the game!!!!!

[somedayaurora]

lookin good ! Love the new paint and dash .
cheers
sdr

[charles roybal]

Congrats...she looks like a mean beast. Just in time for Hustons Cobra Meet:
OCTOBER 6-9TH
WHERE: FREDERICKSBURG, TX
GROUND ZERO: HANGAR HOTEL
155 AIRPORT RD
FREDERICKSBURG, TX 78624
830-997-9990

[Dennis Mosley]

Charles, I think I was the 2nd person to book a room

[1985 CCX]

Looks great! Love tye CCX with Mag wheels.........

[gsharapa]

Looks Great Dennis. Love your changes and I bet you are happy to be back in a Cobra. I was out myself for over 4 years and it really felt good coming back. Now if this 106 degree weather would only dissappear.........Enjoy the new ride!

[mrmustang]

Great looking make over......What can you tell us about the car?


Bill S.

[SoTxButler]

WOW Dennis....nice work....congratulations....now what to do with that polished 428??????

Great looking car.

[Seagull81]

Beautiful car, Dennis! What color red is that? the stripe looks great on the red.

[Danr55]

Great color combo.. Great looking car.. then, of course it is.. it's a Contemporary.

[Dennis Mosley]

Thanks everyone. I am enjoying the car.

Gary, you bet it's great to be back behind the wheel. Getting use to the top loader has been interesting.

Steve, the color is called Crystal Red Metallic

Bill, I don't know much about the history of the car. All my info is either 2nd hand, research on this site or what I can figure out from the stack of receipts that came with the car.

It is really a solid build done by a guy that went by "427 S/O" on this site. When I was trying to get some info on the car like the CCX number from the shop that sold it to me, they told me that the builder had passed and that his brother was selling the car and didn't know much about it either. I can not confirm that the builder passed since I got that info 2nd hand. It does seem from the receipts and some of the detail on the build, that Mr. Henry was possibly an aircraft tech. Quite a few aircraft type fasteners were used, he did not spare the use of safety wire, and some of the receipts refer to a discount based on employment with a particular airline. Has a Jag suspension, coleman rack, quick release steering wheel, Toploader tranny, 308 gears in the rear and all the leather is in fantastic shape. Has a really nice battery set up in the trunk and he even went as far as to put a removal panel in the trunk for easy access to the brakes.
The car has a pre oiling system designed my the builder and the car has a push button start and the engine fires with ease.

There were a couple of interesting things I found when jumping into the project. When it was delivered, it was explained to me that the car needed no key. Say what? It was built with a battery cut off, a toggle switch on the dash and the push button. I added a key during the dash redo. The car also had no horn or brake lights. not that they were not working, they were not there. Added the horn and with the floor mounted pedals, there was no place to add a mechanical break light switch so I ended up using a hyd. pressure switch. The wipers were not working but thanks to the VERY simple wiring diagram I found from the Kirkham guys, I got that working with a standard toggle. Clearly GA does not have the inspection req. that we have here in TX.

Now I just have to get use to the toploader and figure out a way to get rid of the heat that comes into the footboxes. I never had any heat transfer into the foot boxes of my EM so I'm going to have to see what is so different. I did have the engine compartment aluminum lined in the EM so that may be the difference but we will see. Right now I'm too busy having fun driving it to care much about the heat. Hell it's 103 outside here anyway.

[mickmate]

Hey Dennis that was a whirlwind makeover and it's turned out great. I have some good CCX info for you I will get in touch on.
Cheers

[elmariachi]

I finally put 2+2 together Dennis and remembered why I knew this car. It belonged to a poster here named Perry who did pass away. I had exchanged info with him when I was in the hunt for a car. I always remembered the cool pic below and saved it on my drive. Nice find, congrats and I am glad to see it found a good home.

Also, I sent you a PM,

Jim