the unfortunates

[dmiller]

what a great day, mid 50's this morning, mid 70's now, just back from a ride around the city. several lesser types were out, porsche, corvettes, bmw M4, mustang converts. but they didn't have what we have, cobras. how unfortunate for them.

[ralphscott]

Indeed:D:D:D:D

Ralph

[Aggressor]

Ya know ... for as cool as it is being us, just think of the sheer pleasure we give to others as we drive by. How many countless times have you seen a neck spin around 270 degrees, fingers point, and ear-to-ear grins appear. I am not being smug or arrogant but many of us can relate to being there - in a lesser financial state when we had this dream car that we had no concept of owning. You do what you can to get close to this car. You purchase every Cobra poster available, buy books, read every magazine article, build models, etc.

A short story:
I built my first Unique in 1991. My first outing in the SC was with my 14-year-old son. In the 2 hour drive we had over 50 people acknowledge the car with nods, thumbs-up, and one girl in a bikini top hanging half way out of a moving vehicle taking photos at 60 MPH on Route 81.
At that, moment in time I think my son thought that I was a God. (One of the lesser deities)

While trying to be humble - It's nice to be among the "Royals".

[will butterworth]

at lineville yest. viper was beside us registering, blonde in pass. seat-gave her thumbs up on ride and she yelled i,ll trade it for yours.Came out from show leaving beside mustang gt two local boys looking for fun--no problem Zach pasted gt quickly boys were looking at us like they had just tasted dodo for the first time.Police stopped us at show said hey you have to take me a ride before i can let you by here and waved us on by.Was in jsu homecoming par. sat. president wants me to take him a ride sometime, threw candy to children on par. route, friends saw car at pres. brunch and came looking for us --when that little unique cobra comes thru. all eyes and heads turn your way.damned beautiful car.Dandutton said he could put a 351 in with 400 horses no problem--haven,t lost one to any road car with the 302 yet and it only has mayby 270 horses at best not over 300.Want to build one for my boys, leave one to each child.Oh yeah, folks are calling wanting us to ride beauty queens in cmas parades, and inviting us to c,mas parades all over west ga. and e. ala. and we love it--all have a great day and come see us when you are our way.

[spd4me]

Sunday at Lineville was perfect. Only saw 4 Cobras. 2 Unique, 1 Factory Five and a who knows. Form some reason there were about 25% fewer cars than last year.

[will butterworth]

brother ,lesser fin. state.My first 18 yrs. was on a cotton farm where we picked cotton the old fashioned way ,missed the first 6 weeks of school for 12 yrs. to pick cotton, no lunch in school for 12 yrs., dad said i,d never amount to anything, he said that to the other child. too, i would see pictures of that little car, how exciting,never crossed my mind that i could ever own one, planted the cotton crop my senior yr. joined the army, went to vnam, came back went to sch. on gi bill, drove sch. bus and didn,t stop until i was thr. the masters prog. , now i sell bus. res. to gov. -bus. in alabama for the univ., did computer classes for nasa in huntsville, and the little cobra car-lifelong dream after all these years, went talked to that bunch of Weavers and next door in gadsden and said we can put you one together.Am sixty now, and realized finally it is good people that is what is important, and God has blessed me more than i can put into words, all our unique crowd, church bunch, family, guess i better hush before i cry, do that too, now--and when you are our way come by, we,ll do something, God Bless.Alabama

[excelguru]

The weather here in SC was beyond exceptional this weekend. Took the car out for short jaunts both days. Lots of waves and head-spins, as usual. Yesterday I drove to a private grass field at the end of the local airport's runway so I could "view" the Freedom Festival airshow for free (rather than pay the princely sum to walk around the planes up-close). I just wanted to sit in the warm sun and watch the P-51's, Hueys, et al buzzing overhead.

So anyway, I'm cruising down the road at "posing speed" and as I arrive at the field I noticed a couple of teens hanging around their mom's car watching the planes overhead. One of them heard me coming and as soon as he sees the car, he dives head-first into the open window of his mom's car to grab his camera, fearing that he'll miss the shot. I decided to park next to them. He enjoyed it and I enjoyed it. Who knows? He might just buy one some day.

I wish I'd braved the cold and driven it to work this morning. I sure could use the "unwinding" after the day I've had.

Keith :)
Unique Motorcars (http://www.uniquecobrareplicas.com)
Southern Automotive (http://www.southernautomotiveengines.com)
Bruce Bunn (the painter) (http://www.jodecoautobody.com)

My Photo Album (http://members5.clubphoto.com/keith355593/1141434/owner-429c.phtml)

[ralphscott]

Will, I saw my first drawing of a Cobra on the back page of Sports Car Graphic magazine, an ad with a bunch of police looking over the car, in 1965 or so and I was hooked. It took me only 36 years to have my dream come to reality and I love the car as much as I imagined I would in back 1964. We raised chickens Will...

Ralph

[JerryBP]

First Cobra I ever saw up close was in 1967 when a guy ask me if i could help him change the clutch in his car, at the time I was under my MGB working on the fuel electric pump, he lived in the same trailer park in Columbus but I had never seen the car. He kept it a barn near by and we got some 2x12s and rolled it up on top of hay bales to get under it. was a little tight getting the tranny out but we got it done, it was a 427so with 4 webbers on it, after we got the clutch in I helped him tune it up, he said that he couldn't believ the power it had, hard to get started moving without wheel-spin, the previous owner had never had it close to runing right, said that he got it cheep because it wouldn't run good and clutch slipped. Said he gave $2500 for it. Wonder where it is Now???.
Have thought about building a kit for several years, finally my boys said they would help, so here we are.

Work in Progress, Unique 427-9429 400+hp 351C Tremec 3550-2 5spd
Coal Black no Stripes by Bruce, Greg & Jerry Porter Caldwell, Ohio

[ralphscott]

Jerry do you ever wonder what happened to that car?

Ralph

[JerryBP]

Yea wish I would have had some extra cash back then.
after scareing himself a few times he oftered to me for $3000.
he drove it west toward LA, never heard of it or him after that.

Work in Progress, Unique 427-9429 400+hp 351C Tremec 3550-2 5spd
Coal Black no Stripes by Bruce, Greg & Jerry Porter Caldwell, Ohio

[ralphscott]

Wow, 'course $3000 in '67 was no small amount I was doing great to make 10,000 in '68 when I graduated.
Who knew...

Great story

Ralph