What I've learned -
Few companies will finance kit cars and most of these are considered "kit cars". You either have the cash, a home equity loan, line of credit. The finance companies I have found set it up like a lease to buy with a balloon or residual at the end. 60 months is about as far as they will go. If you try and finance as a normal auto loan you will hear they can't find a comparable car in the NADA book therefore they can't loan money on it. I went through this twice and lost a car because of it. I am now going through the company that finances Superperformance and Shelby's own line of cars. I've been approved, its just a matter of finding the right car.

All Kit Cobra's are not created equal. They are just like hotrods. Most of the manufactured ones come as "rollers" and the customer/buyer puts in the engine and trans. There are few companies that offer manufactured cars. Superperfomance is one, they also build cars for Shelby CSX. Backdraft is another, there are a few others. The bulk are kits that either individuals or pro builders put together. There are a ton of kit companies out there.

Each car is very different. In all the cars I've looked at none are the same.
I always seem to gravitate towards the ones I can't afford......."oh this looks like a nice one" and I scroll down the page and its $100k+, "Beer pocketbook with a champagne budget"
Kirkham makes a beautiful metal body for their rollers, Shelby also offer's a metal body as an option other wise they are fiberglass or composite. I looked at one that had the British Racing Green color imbeded in the body. Had an odd look to it.
My rule of thumb as I'm shopping is to check out two things. Who manufactured the kit, are they still in business (parts and advise) and who built the car? Was it built by a professional shop, the manufacturer or someone in their home garage? I have a customer who is building one. I saw it a few weeks ago and was not impressed, it looked like a kit car to me. I was however, very impressed with the folks at Shell Valley. I was looking at one of their cars and they got right back to me with the entire history on the car, who built it etc. That was the one I lost out on because I was an hour or two late with the financing.

There seems to be a "big block vs. small block" mentality. I was told to buy a small block car, I wouldn't need that big of an engine in that small of a car. The guy that told me that had a 500 hp small block? I had to chuckle. He told me "all you new guys just want a big engine" and on and on. Funny I've never noticed an animosity between the SRT guys and us NA guys.

Driveability is an issue with these cars. Some have re worked "foot boxes" but most are very cramped, the peddles are right next to each other. Some I've sat in are very comfortable, some are impossible to drive. Some don't even have heaters, definitely an issue if you want to drive the car around here in the fall and spring. My wife wants to know why I want a car that I can't drive in the winter, has no ac and makes all that noise? It doesn't have a top? No stereo, Why, Why, Why?

There is actually a Cobra for sale on "Cobra Country" with a Viper motor in it, I think it was 45k. Beautiful car.
Carroll Shelby helped in the design of the Viper. I never knew that?

Also never knew there are two very distinct body styles, the 289FIA, and the 427. I prefer the 427 with its flared fenders. It doesn't mean the engine is neccessarily a 427. The 289 is more the classic lines like the beauty that Lantana built. So when you get into this thats the first decision. I'm more into the hot rod end of things so I lean towards the 427, I'm especially into the sidepipes. There is simply nothing better than the rumble of a Cobra.

You can pretty much buy a finished car for what it would cost you to buy a kit. If you go the route of using a donor Mustang you can pretty much do one for under 25k but in my mind you end up with one looking like it was built from used parts. Case in point my customers car, which is a Factory 5 kit with used Mustang parts. The car is nice on the outside but when you open the hood you wonder, when is he gonna clean the engine up, wonder how many miles is on it etc. etc. I want a car that when you open the hood you are gonna be as blown away with that as the rest of the car. I guess this is where you get into "everyone wants something different". The day after I started this thread I was at our local cruise in. There was a guy there who had a Factory 5 he was close to finishing, it had taken him 3 years. He also used a donor 95 Mustang. The car on the outside was beautiful. I think he told me he spent several thousand dollars on the paint but the engine had over 100,000 miles on it and needed to be rebuilt. I just didn't do anything for me. Again another car that looked nice on the outside but was a big letdown when you opened the hood.

So these are some things I've learned as I go through this process.