| The Rise of the Cobra® Replica Industry |
From "Build a Kit Car"
episode BKC-101 |
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In 1972 the first of the Cobra® replicas entered the scene, introduced by a firm in Southern Califorinia. Within a few years several more replica manufacturers appeared as the popularity of the American roadsters began to rise. By the 1980s there were more than a dozen Cobra-replica, or "kit car," manufacturers in the world. Currently they are being built in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain and Switzerland, among others. One firm in Poland actually handcrafts aluminum-bodied replicas using aircraft-grade components -- assembling the reproductions in a former Soviet MiG factory. What exactly is meant by kit car? Typically the manufacturer builds only a portion of the car -- the fiberglass body and the frame, for example. The manufacturer then sells only those parts as a kit, relying on the buyer to procure and assemble the remaining pieces. Those "pieces" may include, among other things, the engine and the transmission. Though Carroll Shelby built only around 1,000 original Cobras, the replica industry has resulted in an estimated 40,000 replicas on the road. In fact, the Cobra replica has come to be regarded as the king of kit-car industry. Though they may all look fairly similar on the outside to the untrained eye, replicas range from nearly perfect dead-ringers with a pricetag around $100,000 down to what might be considered more hobbyist-grade kits costing around $20,000. The upper-crust manufacturers of Cobra replicas do enjoy a sort of respect that's not always afforded to other kit makers. Some have the weight of famous names behind them, such as the Bondurant Superperformance Cobra replica -- named after the famous Cobra driver and founder of the prestigious performance-driving school. Car and Driver magazine has called the Cobra "the undisputed darling of the kit-car industry, comprising about 70 percent of all kit cars sold" and has road-tested and reviewed more than a dozen of the counterfeit 427 roadsters. Even Cobra-creator Carroll Shelby has entered the fray, designing a faithful but updated version of the legendary beast that started it all. That event even led the aforementioned publication, in 1992, to a comparison-test of Shelby's new creations against another famed American reptile, the Dodge Viper. It seems ironic that a car that ceased production in 1968 has continued to undergo more than three more decades of refinement. Without question the Cobra replica is the one kit car that, more than any other, has the power to turn heads and stop conversations. The power of the Cobra, it would seem, doesn't stop beneath the hood. For decades now (and there's no end in sight) it has demonstrated -- in the words of automotive journalist Patrick Bedard -- "the power to make otherwise responsible men to write big checks."
RESOURCES :
cobracountry.com
Premiere online resource for all things related to CobraB. reproductions. Established by enthusiast Curt Scott, and maintained by Crown Communications of Santa Clarita, CA, the site contains news, articles archives, a directory of Cobra-replica specialists and manufacturers, aftermarket sources, announcements of upcoming shows and rallies, listings of Cobra clubs, links to other Cobra sites, and more.
Cobra Country
Website: www.cobracountry.com
Unique Motorcars
Unique Motorcars
(Unique Cobra Specialists)
Manufacturers of high-quality Cobra® replicas since 1977, Unique Motorcars also maintains an informational and well-illustrated web site providing information about their Cobra reproductions and related products. Assembly manuals for their kits (including the one used in DIY's Build A Kit Car workshop) are available on their site.
230 E. Broad Street
Gadsden, AL 35903
Phone: 256-546-3708
Web site: www.uniquecobrareplicas.com
Information also available at:
www.cobracountry.com/unique
The Cobra Story: A Man, His Dream and His Automobile
Author: Carroll Shelby and John Bentley
1965, Trident Press
Carroll Shelby website
Shelby Cobra: The Shelby American Original Color Archives 1962-1965
Model: 0879387572
Author: Dave Friedman
(1994)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Essential AC Cobra : The Cars and Their Story 1962-67
Model: 1870979850
Author: Rinsley Mills
(1997)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Shelby Cobra Gold Portfolio, 1962-69
Model: 1855200236
Author: R.M. Clarke
(1990)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
Carroll Shelby's Racing Cobra
Model: 0850454573
Author: Dave Friedman and John Christy
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
kitcar.com
A site devoted to high-end kit cars, from the same organization that offers cobracountry.com. Established by enthusiast Curt Scott, and maintained by Crown Communications of Santa Clarita, CA, the site contains news, articles archives, a directory specialists and manufacturers, and more.
Web site: www.kitcar.com
Shelby's Wildlife: The Cobras and Mustangs
Model: 0879380454
Author: Wallace A. Wyss
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Motorbooks International (MBI Publishing)
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