Book - Original AC Ace and Cobra

[Whodeeny]

I will be starting a build on an ERA this fall. I want to reproduce the original car as closely as possible. Is this book by Rinsey Mills a worthwhile investment to that end? The book is out of print but I can pick up a used copy for about $80 on Amazon.
BD

[Mark IV]

I have it. Nothing that has not been covered in other publications plus a lot of info that has been since disputed.

I can scan and email anything you may need.

[krausewich]

It's more of a general overview of the Cobra's evolution. A few interesting tid bits and info, but not super heavy on photo documentation of any one vehicle. I would pass on buying it and spend some good time here!!

Or, here is a cool site with reference on many of the cars if you are looking for general ideas...
cobracars.be/index.html

[LMH]

The best way, if you're sticking with originality, is to post a question and others will answer.
Current original cars can be the worst for how they were back then. Actually, the research on how they were continues to this day.
Larry

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by LMH

Current original cars can be the worst for how they were back then. Actually, the research on how they were continues to this day.
Larry

+1 Most "original" Cobras now have dozens to thousands of changes tiny ( a few fasteners here and there) to major (old chassis number on a new made custom car). The trend since the early 1970s has been for people to morph the Cobra they have towards the Cobra they wish they had. Usually but not always that means a move away from any original configuration. Toss in some famous racers and rebuilders who tend to homogenize every car they touch into configurations that work for them and it takes almost no analysis to determine that not many highly original content original configuration cars still exist. An advertised low mile 'untouched' car today usually has as many as two dozen things that have been changed on or around just its engine alone.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Dan Case

+1 Most "original" Cobras now have dozens to thousands of changes tiny ( a few fasteners here and there) to major (old chassis number on a new made custom car).

... and it's possible that you just might not like the look of something that you know to be "truly original." It could be something little, like the way the comp cars had the caps off the hubs, or something bigger like the fact that they didn't have glove boxes. Your best bet is to learn what was indisputably "truly original," and then make your choices as to how much, if any, to deviate from those benchmarks depending upon what you really like. Remember, ERAs have rectangular frames, which are arguably better than round (I don't really know, but ERA devotes a nice long page on it), and you're never going to change something like that. And we're a glass car, too. Although I can't tell you how many times somebody has rapped on one of my fenders and then turned to their buddy and said "yep, that's aluminum alright." After this long, I don't even bother correcting them anymore.

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by patrickt

... and it's possible that you just might not like the look of something that you know to be "truly original."

+1 Original Shelby American supplied parts were in some cases really crude things. Position welding was hit or miss in the appearance department. It might look like something done on a table top and it might look like something done on a tractor out in the middle of a bean field. If it was an assembly that could be brass brazed, they did. If they brazed something, oil temperature sensor bungs in street car oil pans for instance, they didn’t usually bother to remove scale or excess flux or even touch up the paint they burned off. It was something that could start off as sheet metal shapes cut out with a band saw, they did. Could they fix a rough edge with a coarse hand file or belt sander, they did. It is easy to spot many replacement parts on cars originally built into racers by SAI; replacement parts are almost universally better looking than originals; straight lines, machined instead of cut out with a band saw, smooth radii, lack of welding scale, lack of braze flux, welds that look like a robot made them, super paint, super nice plating, or even plating on parts that SAI usually left bare or painted crudely. Even if a restored car has correct SAI race or production shop parts they have probably been polished, painted, or plated to an appearance far better than normally went out to customers.

Here's an example. Two typical unrestored brackets for Cobras (leaf spring cars) with 1-4V stock Ford induction system. The two parts do the same job. The two parts are similar. The two parts are not the same as they were hand fabricated in batches as needed. In this comparison the thickness of steel is not the same between them or any of the hand shaped radii.



Here’s another. SAAC started calling these “tear drop” style bonnet latch handles. To SAI they were “quick open” bonnet latch handles. They were fabricated and not mass produced. No two completely originals that I have seen were exactly alike and they are very visible on cars before CSX2201. These are the originals from CSX2098. The carter keys are not originals but all the other parts are. Note that the chromimum plating job was not that great. Holding them in your hands one could tell that the plating was quickly done without much preparation and rather thin.

[ACHiPo]

I see it for $31?
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Truth-Behind-Anglo-American-Legend/dp/1859608493[/ame]