scannon Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 (edited) A friend dropped by this afternoon with his Kirkham Cobra. This one is brushed ali with polished stripes. It has a 427 side oiler bored and stroked to 462 ci, top loader 4 speed and a 3.54 differential. He also owns a Caterham SV but is not on this forum. We took it to Loveland to pick up my wheel spacers from bsimon's machine shop. We brought back one of my Panasport wheels with 205/50-15 tire mounted and it fit very nicely in the Cobra's trunk. I don't think the much bigger tires on the Cobra would fit in there. The car rode very nicely and was comfortable for the 75 mile round trip. About 5 miles of the trip was on dirt roads as we were trying to avoid the interstate and US287 on the trip home. Much less wind buffeting than in a Se7en. The side pipes were a little loud but not all that bad. The engine has only 1,000 miles so he didn't really wind it out but it certainly has a lot of low end torque. We put it up on the lift when we got back to have a look for a ringing noise he could hear but I couldn't. We found a couple of possibilities and secured them with zip ties. The A frames, uprights and other cast and machined parts under there are a thing of beauty. The pictures are in post #6 below Edited October 21, 2010 by scannon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHKflyer52 Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 They sure are very nice Cobra cars as this one that the owner runs at the Auto-X's at the airport. Here is a photo of his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Sounds like an awesome Cobra.... but 5 miles of dirt roads rather than interstate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 Sounds like an awesome Cobra.... but 5 miles of dirt roads rather than interstate? I suggested we turn back but he said something about "its just a car" and went on. He had owned a real 427 Cobra awhile back and said if we had been in that one we wouldn't have taken the dirt road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automoda Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 I've been to the factory. Its about 30 miles from me and they have an 'open house' in the spring. It is essentially a bunch of CNC machines and tooling in one area, and assembly zones in another area. Out back there are stacks of aluminum bodies which I suppose are shipped from the old mig factory in Poland. There are a bunch that drive around here which you'll see most any Sunday and usually there's one at the larger car shows. I'd love a chance to ride in one. Pulled up next to a 427 fiberglass Cobra last Saturday at a light on a road thats nearly an interstate. All clear in front of us. I guess he didnt know where the noisy pedal was. Ended up with just me and a bullet bike going at it--lame. When I look at the interior of the Cobra, I'm shocked by how roomy it is. You could be 300 lbs and fit nicely in those big buckets. They're cool cars, but around here they're common and if I had one I'd end up just driving the Seven around most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 Here are the pictures. I still couldn't get Firefox to load the pictures but Internet Explorer seems to work OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Like the Se7en, the Cobra has stood the test of time. Whereas most cars of their era have faded into distant memory,the Cobra and se7en have flourished and gotten better. Both body styles have timeless attraction. I love the aluminum bodied Cobra above. As noted tho, Cobras, while not exactly a dime a dozen, are much more common than se7ens. So I wouldn't trade, but I certainly wouldn't mind a Cobra to compliment my Caterham. One of my car-nut friends in college bought a used 289 in the late 60's for $5K. He still has it. I suspect it's worth more than his investment:). Not many hobbies are that profitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 (edited) Man, that chassis, suspension is stout.... pretty much the opposite of ours;) This is the cobra (sorta) that I'd like to have http://www.jblmotor.com/car1.htm . Edited October 21, 2010 by Mondo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBowker Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 One of my car-nut friends in college bought a used 289 in the late 60's for $5K. He still has it. I suspect it's worth more than his investment:). At least 10%. Oops. I think I left off a few zeros!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMW RACER Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Man, that chassis, suspension is stout.... pretty much the opposite of ours;) This is the cobra (sorta) that I'd like to have http://www.jblmotor.com/car1.htm . That has to be the best looking Cobra kit I've ever seen! I love how low it is. Is JBL still around? I wonder how expensive they are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 There's a used one for $43000 on ebay... For new: Goins Motorsports 104 So. Main St Jay Okla 74346 406-925-3691 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnr Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 You guys shouls check out the Billet Cobra that that Kirkham made for Larry Ellison: http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Given that they are selling copies of the Larry Ellison Cobra build book for $4,500.00, it wld be interesting to know what the actual car cost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automoda Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I've seen that Larry Ellison car in person. It was even up on a lift. It left me wondering... Is a car frame built from dozens of very strong small parts bolted together really better than a frame made of a few nicely welded and artfully bent pieces of tubing? Do I really want suspension that is carved out of a block of aluminum? I always thought that you were supposed to use mild steel to prevent total failure in a wreck. And really, is there anything that you'd actually want to make out of CNC aluminum on a seven? I've seen some really nice stuff for the front 'torque box' suspension-hanging area made by the Aussie Clubman guys... but honestly I dont think I could add too much more lightness if I owned a CNC machine. You know the old saying, "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail". Well, "If you have 10 CNC machines, everything looks like it should be CNC machined aluminum". When it comes to the aluminum body, I certainly WOULD like to replace the fiberglass parts of my Birkin with aluminum. If I had access to a shop like that, I'd be going nuts and probably making something like a mix between the Cobra and the Se7en-- Open wheeled and light like the Se7en but with sexy lines like the Cobra. Then I'd go broke because it wouldn't be pure bred and nobody'd want it... Ah well, no danger of it ever happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjslutz Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I sold CSX 3300 for $10K back in 1972, it had 5,800 miles on it then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11Budlite Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Skip - Beautiful car! I hope to build some kind of Cobra kit with my son as soon as he saves enough for the kit! I sold CSX 3300 for $10K back in 1972, it had 5,800 miles on it then. Gary - I see you went to the same school on investing as I did! :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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