genolan

I currently have a C6 corvette and was seriously considering adding a Shell Valley Cobra kit car fully complete to my collection. The price is $32k and it only has 234 miles. Does anyone have experience with a Cobra and can give me some advice?

macadoo

I also have a c6 corvette,and a factory five cobra.i do not know much about the shell valley cobras but you can go to ffcars.com and you should be able to find out anything you want to know.
Jim

genolan

Thanks, Do you enjoy the Cobra as much as the vette

gbranham

I built a Factory Five Cobra back in 2005 (see my avatar). I loved it! I sold it a few years ago. While I love my Grand Sport, and it's a superior car in every way, the Cobra was just plain fun to drive, and I miss it every day. I'll build another one some day. Plan on thumbs up at every stop light, opening the hood for onlookers at every gas fill-up, and camera phones snapping pictures everywhere. Also plan on Corvette owners snubbing you EVERYWHERE, especially at car shows, because your 'cheaper kit car' will get way more attention than any Corvette at the show.

The Shell Valley Cobras are nice, but get a Factory Five, just for the ffcars.com community, and the support they give. Trust me on this...buying someone else's homebuilt car...it doesn't come with an owner's manual, and you'll NEED other Cobra owners to help you out from time to time. FFCARS.COM is simply amazing.

I have been involved in the Factory Five community for years, and know quite a bit about Cobra kit cars. PM me if you want me to review one that you're interested in, or if you want to learn more about the genre. It's my favorite discussion topic.

Greg

macadoo

Yes I do enjoy the cobra but in a different way.Like the old saying its loud,smells like gasoline,shskes,shudders,and bucks.it makes your arms tired and your feet hot.you nearly crash about once every 10 minutes.its so damn wonderful that you cant believe it.
I enjoy the corvette to,with all the comforts,just depends on which mood im in as to which one I take out.
Jim

macadoo

What Greg says is very true.It happens all the time.
Jim

pappy.72

Have a Factory Five built for you for that price. You can get the one you want then. There are people that build them for you.

genolan

The price to build from scratch is around 40K
20k Kit
6k Motor and trans
3k wheels
7k paint
5-10k labor

boondoggle

I agree with most of what everyone said.
I built mine(the best part) a Hunter with IRS corvette susp and brakes.

Handled great, 500+ Cleveland stroker with tremec 5 spd.
very dangerous, spin 15" tires at 1/4 T first. Spin at 70 at 5000rpm
in second. Loud noisy unreliable 60's engine.
Only one other person ever drove the beast, my brother who owns a
C5
After scaring himself, he best summed it up.
vette-sabr
cobra- a meat axe
gn

leadfoot4

I'm no expert on Cobra kits, but for what it's worth, Shell Valley has been around for a LONG time. They must be doing something right....