Run In with a fellow Cobra Owner

[jbmatth]

You have to love Cobra encounters. I was on my way home from the getting oil for my DD when I spotted a light blue Cobra coming the other direction. I was only a quarter mile from my house at the time in Ponca City where only about 20K people live. I was surprised to see it so I made a U-turn and took off down the road after him to talk. I finally ended up catching up to him and flagged him down. He was a bit surprised to say the least, a 25 year old kid flagging him down in the middle of town. We got to talking and sure enough he lives here in town too, and just purchased a Superformance about a month ago. It is light blue with white stripes and the number 98 on the hood/fenders. It is a gorgeous car with a CS 427, knockoff wheels and chrome sidepipe he purchased from someone on C.C. He bought it with white side pipe but couldn't find anyone to have the ceramic coated in white that would guarantee the work. He is aware of the Ok. group and hopes to join in on some of the fun when it stays warm out. I should have gotten pictures of the car as it is in amazing shape. I believe it was at one time a legendary motorcars car, but don't know a lot more about it.

Ok longs story, but I was very surprised to see another Cobra in our little town, and he was surprised as well as he'd never seen mine before either. His name is D.J. I believe and if you read this let me know as it was nice to meet you and I hope to get to take a cruise sometime.

Drive safe, and enjoy.

[aCantrell]

Thanks jbmatth for your story...It's really strange and pleasant to meet other Cobra in the place where everyone "knows" each other - like saying: it's a small world!

[BMK]

Yes nice story. Hi to all there - Clois and gang special Hi..

[lovehamr]

JB, try pointing him to Swaintech, I believe that they do back their work with the white ceramic coatings. In fact I'll be sending mine to them.

Swain Tech Coatings for engine piston coatings, race engine coatings, ceramic header coating, carbide metal coatings, thermal spray plasma coating, metalizing closures, spray welding

[bret a ewing]

Yep, Mine are also Swain-Teched. The ceramic color is a bit on the cream side, so I just rattle canned it with a high temp (1500deg) white paint. Looks great, blemishes over time can be touched up easily.
Note: The ceramic coating is inside and out. This is not just a decorative application, this stuff works, it helps move the exhaust gasses quicker by keeping the pipe temperature lower. The side pipes also cool very quickly vs SS. You can touch them minutes after shutdown. I had a Contemporary with polished SS sidepipes........couple of my buds have the scars to prove it.

[LeslieGonzales]

That is actually a pretty small world..i haven't met any of the fellow Cobra owners but i guess i will meet one soon..

[Tim Brewer]

Wow, Ponca city... My mother was raised there and her parents bought (to my knowledge) their first and only home there on 5th street. They must have lived in that house fo 50 years. My grandmother was a music teacher there forever, and my grandad worked at Conoco. Everytime we visited as kids, our bigest memory was the smell from the plant. Brings back good memories though.

[jbmatth]

That is pretty interesting Tim, I moved here 4 years ago after college to work as an engineer at the refinery, it is now Phillips 66 thanks to a merger and split, but the same place. If you are ever up this way let me know I'd live to talk shop with a fellow cobra owner.

[Clois Harlan]

JB,

The guy you met wasn't named DJ Round was it? If so he is a retired OK Highway Patrolman and a super nice guy. He has came to several of my track days at Hallett. By the way, if you are ever up this way give me a call and stop by but I will warn you I am on the far East side of Broken Arrow near Forrest Ridge Golf Course. I am a good hour east of Hallett but there are a good assortment of Cobra/Coupe owners in the Tulsa area. Some polishers, some racers but all really good guys and I have heard we have one young lady sporting a red ERA somewhere around here.

[jbmatth]

Clois, I'm not sure what his name was now, it has been a while since I've looked at this thread. I've only seen him one other time since then and that was about a year ago. I do know he was a retired officer, and was working at a correctional facility on and off at that time. It sounds like he was the same person. Glad to know he is able to drive his more than I've been able to lately.

[Trueoo7]

Originally Posted by aCantrell

Thanks jbmatth for your story...It's really strange and pleasant to meet other Cobra in the place where everyone "knows" each other - like saying: it's a small world!

I had the opposite reaction, much to my amazement, was home one day when a silver cobra (mine is silver too) came up the street from the deadend, turned around and went back down the street. Took a walk down and found the guy at the end of his driveway with the hood up. I introduced myself and told him how odd I thought it was that 2 cobra owners with the same color cars lived on the same street. He was a little less than friendly but he did talk. Turns out he builds engines for a living and his was a Factory Five and it was his first time out (no plates) to see how it sounded. I complimented him on how well it sounded and what a nice job he did on the build. I told him what house I lived in and if he ever wanted to go on a cruise to stop by.
He's driven by in the cobra a couple of dozen times in the last 5 years since then and I have had my cobra out in the driveway in plainview and not so much as a wave. He won't even turn his head to look.
Some people you just can't figure out !

[jbmatth]

I'm sure he was disappointing seeing another cobra so similar to his that close to home. I'm sure a lot of people buy them to have something no one else around has in their garage. Fun quick story, I was working on another car in the garage and had the cover off of my cobra when these two kids about 10 years old came in the garage and asked me about the cobra. I told them a few little details and they were amazed by it and one told me he had read books on them and was in love with them. I gave him my little PSA about getting good grades and working hard, that is the only reason I got one in my early 20's. I let him know I was busy then and about to have to leave, but if he wanted a ride some other time he saw me out there to get his parents to talk to me and I'd take him for a spin.

[rms427]

A number of years ago I was at the local Fair Grounds for a concert. A lady selling raffle tickets walked up to me and with a smile told me that we don't like you folks. I asked her what she was talking about and she pointed at my ZR-1 tee shirt and said they had an original cobra. I told her I had an original cobra. She then said theirs was a 289 and I told her mine was a 427. She then said they had theirs since 1970 and I replied I had mine since 1968. I then found out she lived across a small lake in the same gated community. I could almost see their house from ours. She said they were getting ready for a temporary move and needed to rent their home for a couple of years. I told them I had a friend that was going to build a house nearby and needed to rent. They ended up renting the house for a couple of years. The person that rented the house was building an ERA at the time. The gated community I live in has a little over 2800 homes and at one time we had 6 cobras. I only know of 2 at this time.

[snakewench]

Originally Posted by Trueoo7

I had the opposite reaction, much to my amazement, was home one day when a silver cobra (mine is silver too) came up the street from the deadend, turned around and went back down the street. Took a walk down and found the guy at the end of his driveway with the hood up. I introduced myself and told him how odd I thought it was that 2 cobra owners with the same color cars lived on the same street. He was a little less than friendly but he did talk. Turns out he builds engines for a living and his was a Factory Five and it was his first time out (no plates) to see how it sounded. I complimented him on how well it sounded and what a nice job he did on the build. I told him what house I lived in and if he ever wanted to go on a cruise to stop by.
He's driven by in the cobra a couple of dozen times in the last 5 years since then and I have had my cobra out in the driveway in plainview and not so much as a wave. He won't even turn his head to look.
Some people you just can't figure out !

You never know, the guy might just be painfully shy. I'll admit to that affliction, and that shyness is precisely why I love my Cobra so much...it is the quintessential ice breaker!

DMD

[cycleguy55]

I live in a community of about 5,000 and, to the best of my knowledge, there are 4 Cobras here - my West Coast, 2 SPF, and a 4th of unknown make. Per capita I think we're doing well.

[Ron61]

That reaction is quite different from what we get around here. We used to have 14 Cobras in this area and now there are only 3 that I know of. But if you drive by one or someone who has one they will turn around and follow you until we can find a place to get off the road and talk. I never had a single person say anything bad about mine when I had it and I never say anything bad about others. And beieve it or not, we all got along great. We used to have a Cobra Social each year and Cobras from the Bay Area would come up and also Kurt Scott of Cobra Country would come and take pictures to post on his web site. Normally we would have about 25/35 Cobras for that get together.

Ron