The Cobra established itself as an automotive icon, and when production of the original came to a halt, the revered roadster was destined to return as a replica. For more than 30 years, a variety of manufacturers have offered Cobra replicas as kit cars or in the form of a rolling chassis. When selecting a […]

The test drive is packed with excitement and some trepidation. You get to actually drive and enjoy the car you’ve been diligently building over the past several months, but at the same time, you need to be keenly aware of what the car is doing. You need to identify any problems, particularly serious engine, transmission, […]

Our Mk4 is more than ready to take us wherever we want to go, whether it’s a Cobra car club cruise, a track day at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, a street rod and muscle car show, or a blast up to California’s Central Coast for Monterey Car Week. That’s precisely the allure of a […]

The interior largely determines your driving experience. After all, it’s what you’re in touch with when you drive the car. The seats, carpet, gauges, steering wheel, console, and all the related parts project the personality of the car. While most kit car manufacturers supply a complete interior kit, there’s nothing to stop you from choosing […]

I’ve driven Cobra replicas that wore primer only. I’ve ridden in a brushed-aluminum with polished-aluminum Le Mans-striped Kirkham Cobra replica. I’ve driven a silver FFR and 289 Unique Motorcars Cobra, a yellow Factory Five Racing Mk3, an FFR still clad in Gel Coat, a black-overred Backdraft Racing Roadster, and so on. Despite the rainbow of […]

At this point in the construction of your Cobra replica, you’ve no doubt come to the same conclusion we did: there’s a mind-boggling amount of details to building a kit car. If you’re like us, no matter how far along you are in the project, there are many times when it seems as though the […]

In building a replica, do we need to feel as though we’re masters of all the automotive trades, or maybe specialists with great expertise for just specific portions of the build? In other words, are we wimping out if we skip some build aspects where we don’t feel that we’re automotive gurus in certain disciplines? […]

Having that glorious engine built, dyno tested, attached to the transmission, and ready to go in the Mk4 chassis means that our project is close to being finished. For the longest time we had a pile of brand-new engine parts in our living room. Now those components are bathing in motor oil and have a […]

The original AC Bristol was just another British sports car; but once a healthy American V-8 engine was added, it became a legendary high-performance car. Equipped with the 427 side-oiler V-8 engine, the Cobra could accelerate 0–60 in less than 4 seconds. No other limited production car could match that kind of performance in the […]

Certain aspects of your Cobra build are likely to have you scratching your head and giving you the notion that you’re in way over your ability level. If you’ve never bent fuel or brake lines and installed them in a car’s chassis, this could be one of the most daunting challenges for you.   This […]