289 Street / Slabside Cobra -

[open roads]

I think you are right. For less than the upcharge, a guy down my way has a very pretty Everett Morrison for sale. It's in the ads here. I'll probably see the car after Vegas.

Depends on how impulsive I am in Vegas.

So many of the cars are so nice and great value comparatively. Then again, with Shelby American, I'll get "my" car.

[Steve Cassani]

"I want as much rubber as I can put under a slab side while retaining an elegant little english/american roadster look."

Let your choice of wheels settle the tire issue. The elegant little English/American roadster I recall from the early sixties came from the factory with 15"x 5 1/2" wire wheels. These were widened to 6" with the switch to rack and pinion steering. The splined hubs went unchanged.

Kirkham will equip a slabside car with pin drive hubs and aluminum wheels styled along the lines of early Halibrand competition wheels. I believe these are 15" x 6 1/2"; any wider and you have to modify the subtle fender rounds into flares. Kirkham uses the fender extensions that came stock with the last 289 street cars constructed by AC. So the furthest you can push the look of the car and still retain the lithe appearance of the street car comes with the pin-drive option. Any wider than 6 1/2" and you start down the path of a roadster made to better reflect the sports car enthusiasts vision of the muscle cars of the day: wide tires with the fenders extended to provide legal enclosure. Once you are this far in your thinking, the FIA body style may be the better choice.

Heck of a quandry, eh?

[open roads]

Thanks Steve. Yes, I believe the wheel will do a lot of the deciding. It is a shocker when you think about the modern setups and then look at the skinny tires.

I remember one day I was excersising my cars and went up my favorite hill in a modern. Then took the '63 XKE roadster. I went up the hill, crested a rise with a turn right behind it. As the suspension unloaded and I threw the wheel, I realized I might be in trouble. In my mind I quickly said "15 inch tires!!!!!" Major sphincter tightening.

I could feel the sidewalls and the spokes bend. Yikes! At least I thought I could feel the spokes bend. The sidewalls had a lot of progressive give. The car didn't step out though.

I'm going to stick with the clean early classic look. I just have to be realistic about the stick. Tire selection is going to be limited but I'll go with the classic look and as sticky as I can find.

Again, nice post Steve.

[PANAVIA]

In theory a Krikham 289-SS-HB, should be very XKE like in its manners.

I am intrigued even further ( and i didnt think that was possible )