Cobra Copies
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Racing legend Carroll Shelby sold his very own Shelby Cobra 427 for a whopping $5.5 million at auction earlier this year. That astronomical sum settled any doubts that the iconic 1960s roadster is the most collectible of vintage automobiles.
The big issue facing the new owner is common among Cobra enthusiasts: Drive it or not? When a car is valued in the millions of dollars, the risks involved with taking it out for a spin — a wayward pebble nicking the paint job, for instance — are often too much to bear.
Most of these Cobras have become museum pieces, relegated to climate-controlled garages where they sit between Duesenbergs, Pierce Arrows, and DuPonts. They are admired from afar. (Who can forget the fate of the Ferrari GT250 California Spyder featured in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”?) But markets are terribly efficient, especially where the prospect of an exhilarating drive is concerned. The pent-up demand for not only owning a Shelby Cobra but pushing it to its limits has created one Duesey of a market for replicas of this classic race-car.
Indeed, the replica industry is booming. The best of the Cobra knockoffs are spitting images of the legendary ’60s car and often fool the most discerning and diehard fans. Depending on how you look at it, the modern engine and suspension systems beneath the skin make driving replicas of Cobras even more fun than the original. The kicker is that the very best replicas of these $1 million-plus cars almost never cost more than $100,000, and many fine replica roadsters are in the $50,000 to $60,000 range.
A bit of Cobra history: The British company AC had mild success in the late ’50s with an aggressively styled racing coupe. In America, Mr. Shelby was looking for a light frame in which to drop a monster engine. When he combined the aluminum British car with a Ford big block, he created the Shelby Cobra.
The success of the Cobra rested with the fact that it’s relatively light (2,100 pounds) and yet manages to hold very large power plants under the hood (Mr. Shelby’s car that sold at auction reportedly pumped out 800 horsepower). These rockets on wheels effectively ended the reign of the Corvette as America’s racing champ and set the stage for the muscle-car era.
Even today, some of the best replica bodies are aluminum. Utah-based Kirkham Motorsports has teamed up with what used to be a manufacturer of MiG fighters in Poland to produce Cobra replicas so stunning that owners often prefer to leave them finished in shiny aluminum.
But many of the top replicas are fiberglass, a material that keeps the weight of the car down and is more dent-resistant than shells made of thin aluminum, according to some owners.
One of the Sun’s loyal readers, a Manhattan financier who summers in Newport, R.I., recently finished customizing a fiberglass Cobra replica made by Backdraft Racing of Florida. Part of this automaker’s appeal is that the cabin can comfortably accommodate a driver more than 6 feet tall — not an easy task with the original Cobras.
Customization allows modern drivers the ability to construct a weekend sports car that can feel as comfortable on a suburban street as it does on a racetrack. The model we checked out at Backdraft’s Northeast representative, Vintage Motorsports of Wallingford, Conn., was outfitted with two roll bars instead of one.
The owners of Vintage Motorsports, Jay and Brian Linke, installed air conditioning in the Manhattan financier’s replica. Vintage Cobras and most replicas would never include such a fancy climate-control feature. So having a good relationship with the builder of the car — in this case, the Linke brothers — is very important.
The Sun’s Newport friend chose a Roush engine that delivers 450 horsepower. The Linkes recommend a Roush package to customers who desire power plus a two-year warranty. Smaller engine makers come and go, so an established company such as Roush is often a good choice.
The Newport car sports burgundy leather seats and dashboard instead of the traditional black. Because the owner drives the car on summer weekends, he reasoned that an all-black interior was impractical. So, he decided, was the absence of bumpers, another characteristic of the original Cobras, which are outfitted only with jack stands.
Some owners of replicas admit to driving them to the grocery store; they have narrow chrome bumpers installed to give them protection against renegade shopping carts. “What can I say?” our Newport friend said. “My Cobra is an iron fist in a velvet glove.”