Storing a Superformance shell "Rear half"?

[MBrockman5]

Good evening everyone. I am still in the process of finding/building my first Cobra, so I'm still new to the Cobra World.

I recently acquired the "rear half" of a Superformance Cobra shell. I saw it sitting in someone's yard with a "Free" sign taped to it, so I went ahead and snagged it.

It's half painted/half primered and appears to be in good shape. My question is, Will it be ok to store outside for the time being? I live in Northern CA and the weather went from the high 80's and sunny, to a steady rain with 75/55 temps.

I wasn't expecting to come home with [half] a Cobra shell, so my garage is no where near ready. Will there be any significant/lasting damage if it's out in the rain for a day or 2?

Thank you.

-Mike.

[xb-60]

Hello Mike, and welcome.

So...what's the story? What happened to the front half? Being realistic, what are your plans for the project? At least your financial exposure it this stage is very low

To your question - you don't know how long it has been out in the weather, so I would venture that being outside for a further "day or 2" won't affect it significantly.

Good luck with the project, and we're here to help with advice.

Cheers,
Glen

[1795]

Welcome on board. Now all you have to do is find the rest of the car, one section at a time for free. Support it evenly on blocks to keep it out of the mud and it should be fine. Good luck.

Jim

[Jaydee]

You could make it into a cool couch.

[patrickt]

Get rid of it. That's not the right first step for getting a Cobra on the road. In fact, it's the wrong step.

[xb-60]

Patrick! It's a step in the right direction. Look on the positive side for our new member on the forum.....it's not beige

Cheers!
Glen

[patrickt]

It's a step alright, but backwards. It will only lead to disappointment, frustration and, eventually, the dreaded "Cobra build despondency syndrome.". ... and the neighbors are likely to say "so how long are we going to have to stare at that POS?".

[FredG]

Sell it......

[Jerry Clayton]

wall mount it over a wet bar!!!!!!!!!!

or graft it to the back of a Tesla, Prius, Miata-------------

[EM-0785]

Mike,

Best of luck with your Cobra quest, this proves your ongoing commitment!

If you don’t use it for your Cobra, it could make for a fun swing set too.

Brent

[1795]

Originally Posted by patrickt

It will only lead to disappointment, frustration and, eventually, the dreaded "Cobra build despondency syndrome.".[/i].

Patrick,

I have heard that there is consideration for the inclusion of Cobra build despondency syndrome in the new DSM.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by 1795

Patrick,

I have heard that there is consideration for the inclusion of Cobra build despondency syndrome in the new DSM.

True, but the recommended treatment is a turnkey from ERA/SPF/KMS/CSX.

[1795]

I think one of the rule outs is if you painted your cobra beige, then you may actually be suffering from a much more serious disorder....

[twobjshelbys]

It wasn't worth anything when you picked it out of their front yard, and it's not worth anything now. It will cost you so much more to build a car around this piece of scrap than to simply acquire a finished car.

How do you know it's Superformance? To the best of my knowledge Superformance never sold "kits", only finished rollers. So you wouldn't have crates and pallets of parts to assemble from Superformance.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by FredG

Sell it......

Ha! The previous owner couldn't sell it!!! Sawzall and dumpster.

[eschaider]

To the OP,

If you want to have one of these cars buy a car from one of the many reputable, quality providers out there. Even at the low end, a build will cost you in the $50K area — if you do it correctly. Building is a lot of work that you can side step and get the same or better car already finished as a used example someone is selling and probably for $50K or less at the lower end of the price / vehicle scale.

Projects that begin like yours has usually finish with a fair amount of money spent, no Cobra and a sign on the incomplete car offering it for pennies on the dollar or sometimes like you found yours — for free, just get it out of my sight sort of thing.

If you can't afford a used Cobra in good condition don't throw your money away trying to build a budget variant. If you finish it (unlikely) it will be embarrassing compared to what you could buy and most likely you will not finish it but spend a lot of money on parts no one else wants — i.e. that back half clip that was a freebie.


Ed

[twobjshelbys]

What Ed said. +1000.

[MBrockman5]

Thank you guys for your input. I'm not planning on starting a Cobra build from this back half. Like many of you said, it'll cost way more in money and frustration than it'll be worth and it is not how I want to begin my first Cobra.

When I grabbed it, 3 thoughts entered my mind.

1) If I find a Cobra that has some minor rear end damage that's being sold for cheap(er), I might be able to use this half to repair it. There's a shop in my town that builds Cobra's, and they did something similar to was one that was rear ended.

2) I can hold onto this as a physical reminder/motivation of my Cobra goals. Plus, the way I see it is that this is the closest I've come to owning my dream car. Regardless of the circumstances.

And 3) Turn it into a couch or wall table for when I finish/remodel my garage.

All in all, I figure since it hasn't cost me a dime, it couldn't hurt to at least have something that puts me one step closer to my dream.

[MBrockman5]

Here are the before and after pictures of the rear ended Cobra that the shop repaired that I mentioned. This was from about 8 years ago. It was alot of work and took a long time, but the end result turned out better than the first one. They're not Superformance Cobras, but you can see my idea.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by MBrockman5

...it couldn't hurt to at least have something that puts me one step closer to my dream.

Plan it out carefully, cover your other obligations first, take your time, and if it really is your dream you can make it happen. It took me 25 years before I could comfortably make it all work. If you can get one, that is to your liking, while you're still in your forties, that will work out just right. After you start getting in to your fifties, each year gets a little tougher... and by the time you're in your sixties, even an oil change leaves you sore.