I Just saw this thread for the first time and as I started reading it I was hoping you didn't buy the first one which was way over priced. I have built one in the past and there are four photos of it in my gallery three of which are below. It took me a while to be able to afford to build one and while I saved my money I did a ton of research. I learned all I could about the originals and as time went on orgininality became very important to me. I also wanted be able to make a profit on my investment. Some of the best replicas are made by Shelby, Kirkham, ERA and Superformance. In the end I went with with a Hawk 289 which I shipped over from England. The exchange rates were good at the time. It took me three years to build it but a lot of this time was finding origninal parts. I basically tried to build a meseum quality replica. I copied every detail of the original down to the smallest of details. Everyone who saw it assumed it was real. It even fooled the folks at the Shelby Nationals who tried to park me with the originals. At that show Carroll Shelby signed the car (see below) and he hates replicas! I was able to build the car for $20,000 and sold it for $52,000 ten years ago. I am hoping to build another Hawk 289 within the next couple of years. The third picture is when I let my dad drive it.

 

A beautiful car and a great story.

 

Gorgeous car!

BTW, what are the wheels you have on your Crossfire. I like the original 7 spoke well enough but if I were to change out mine, the ones you have would be up there on my choice list for replacements.

 

Great write-up Bob. Beautiful job on the build project. I wish you still had it.

 

The wheels are from a SL550 they are 18 x 8.5 and 18 x 9.5

 

Great story and pics. Thanks for sharing. 3 year build= labor of love!

 

Pretty car Lantana, thats a 289 style car, very, very nice job - I did not go with that first car. It was over priced and there were too many other issues with it. I thought about building one but you can buy one for what it cost to build, even less. I have done a lot of shopping, a lot of looking, lot of learning what's good, whats bad what I like and don't like. The place is giving me a good deal on my car, they knocked several thou off the Cobra too which was built in 08 and has but 700 miles on it. There are changes I will have to make but they are nowhere near what it would have been on the other one, bottom line its like a new car. So this morning I wait to hear from the bank and see if its affordable. My credit union all but approved my loan but then told me because the car is not listed in the NADA book they couldn't do a loan on it.

 

Having old Carrol setting in your car is priceless....let alone signing it....

 

Musta been a heck of a labor of love.
Well my situation is I've been approved by everyone for a loan/lease whatever but the way this car is titled is as a kit car and very few will lend on a kit car. So this one may be dead in the water too. I think the dealer may try and work something out because unless someone has the cash which probably ain't gonna happen quickly that car is gonna be hard to finance no matter who tries. I did get ahold of the folks at Shell Valley and I got the history on the car. Apparently it was delivered to a builder in New Jersey for a private party. That builder went belly up while building the car and it was sent back to Shell Valley to be finished. They basically completed the roller, the owner had the engine built somewhere else and installed in New Jersey, that's where the trail ends. The wouldn't give out names.

 

Pat, do you have any history with USAA? The reason I ask is buying a kit car you're going to have to have some skin in the game, i.e. prove up some equity to get a loan. USAA has very favorable rates at home equity line of credits. I've seen them as low as 2.5% interest.

 

Thanks Dan - That isn't the issue, my credit is excellent and I have over 100k equity in my home. I agree probably the only way to do this is with an equity loan but I don't want to do that on this car. I have a couple of other options, we'll see if any of them fly today.

 

Thanks to those who have had the patience to follow me through this saga. Well while we were trying a "4th qtr hail Mary pass" with financing they sold the car. They told me yesterday they had someone else interested but I just don't like leaving a deposit on something I'm not sure about. We were very close on the money end of things so its ashame. I went so far as to contact Shell Valley about the car. They made the kit and was assembled by a pro shop they recommended and then sent to them (SV) for finishing. The person I spoke with at Shell Valley said they were impressed with the upgrades that had been done on it. Unfortunately only one company will do financing on a kit built car and that is set up like a lease. You can do equity loans but I didn't want to tap any more equity in my house. The search is still active, I now know what my limits are and we will keep looking.

 

Sorry to hear that Pat.

Just go get a SRT-6 roadster and be done with it.

 

Here is an ad I just saw. this is a Comtemporary Classic which are very high quality and right up there with ERA. this car is about as close you can get to the original at a very fair price. this car is much more correct than most replica's and includes an "FE" big block, original top loader trans, full IRS suspension and pin drive wheels. I can see lots of other correct parts as well.



Miami, Florida
25 November/February

 

Thanks Lantana - I saw that car last night. Thanks but its about 5 k over my budget. I know what I have to work with now so I think I'm looking at either a used Backdraft (hopefully) or one of the other kits. As they come up I'll check out the company that furnished the kit, the builder and then make a decision. As it was with this last car I contacted Shell Valley and got the history of the car I was interested in. If I buy a car made by one of the other kit manufacturers I want to be sure they are still in business, can provide parts and information if needed. I thought I was interested in a Factory 5. They are well made kits and still very much an active company but after seeing two of them in the flesh I don't like their body's. The car just doesn't look authentic enough to me. So my search continues. I missed the last one by a few hours, I already have a plan in place so that doesnt happen again.

 

I have to agree with you on the Factory Five's. I am very familiar with all the manufacturers if you are interested in input. I have looked over a few backdraft's and really was impressed. The only issue I had with the Backdraft was that the frame was visible just before the rear fender. Not a big deal if you have the side pipes which covers this area. Overall the ones I have seen were very nice and looked like a Cobra should.

 

Right Now the Backdraft is my favorite. I'm hoping I can find a used one in the mid 30's. Yes its got to have sidepipes. I also like the Shell Valley. The two I've seen have a taller hood scoop which I like. I think one of the key elements is to pick a company that's been in business for a while and will continue to be so you can get parts and help. I have to tell you I was very impressed with Shell Valley, very nice people to deal with and they got right back to me and I'm not even a customer. I think the next one I get excited about I'm gonna have you have a look at it. I appreciate your input and opinion. I've also looked at a car from Antiques and Collectibles. That car was beautiful, built by a guy named John York of York Sports cars in Ashland Va. I was told the car was tied up in a bankruptcy and then it disappeared from Cobra Country. John said he would get back to me when he could sell the car.

 

I was just looking on EBay and saw a couple of very nice looking Superformance Cobra's in the mid 30's. The nice thing about these cars is they are all factory built to a very high standard of originality and have an IRS rear end. Take it from me, originality costs a lot of money! Correct pin drive wheels, Smith gauges and the correct Moto-Lita steering wheel lighting, trim etc. costs a lot more than most people want to spend when building one. Maybe it would be easier to get financing on a factory built Superformance? Or maybe contact a Superformance dealer and see if they can help you get financing on a used one that you might find? I am pretty sure they have lenders that are used to dealing in their cars.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

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.