Mk IV at Brooklamds Motor Company

[SBB]

This is my car after an unfortunate damage at the front. The car is an 1984 Mk IV with only 4.500 miles on the clock. It has 15 Inch wheels and as an very early car it has Mk III suspensions.
   
   This small M8 screw at the entrance of the garage was the reason for the damage.
   The front panel was damaged when I left the garage backwards[:(!]. Regarding the damage it was the first time I doubted that the real thing should have an aluminium body and I thought a carbon car would be a good choice!?!
   Even the front wings were damaged! Up to that time my experiences with classic car repairers were very different and I found out, that is important to choose them carefully. My contacts to the cobra scene were limited, but I had contact to an ACOC member in the UK. He recommended Steve Gray´s Brooklands Motor Company in Surrey. He discribed him as not cheap but doing very good labour.
   Another attempt was to contacted the long term Cobra Mk II owner Rolf in Duisburg, who recommended another specialist in Neuss near Düsseldorf, just half an hour away from my home. He had repaired Rolfs Bentley and Rolf was satisfied with the way the job was done. I showed the car to the guy in Neuss and he explained his technique to take the shape of the body section from another car using aluminium foil. In former time he had manufactured a complete Porsche 550 body from aluminium.
   Because it was obvious to me, that I was the one to care about a car to take the shape from and I didn´t want a copy from a handmade body uncertain if  that one had the right shape, I decided to bring the car to Steve Grays Brooklands Motor Company. Another reasons for the decision was on one hand the knowledge, that Steve has the original body tools and that obviously his company is one of the last survivors of the guys making the real thing.
   I brought the car to Surrey personally and I found out, that Steve is a nice guy. He took some time to take me to the Brooklands Museum, to the banks of the Brooklands Curcuit and we visited the ground on the test hill he choosed for his new workshop. I like his idea to restore the old restaurant buildings on the top of the test hill and to have a mixture of exhibition and workshop there. What a perfect place to work on Cobras! (To be continued)

[jbottini]

Sad to see that type of damage. The drop off from garage floor to tarmac must be a bit more than the photo shows or is your ride hight set lower than standard? The gentlemen at Brooklands are repted to be one of the two best in UK for Cobra's

[SBB]

The suspension is adjustable, but the main problem is, it goes up outside the garage; the back lifts up and the front lowers down when leaving the garage backwards. What annoyed me, was that I left the garage without problems many times before ...
   Here the story continues ...
   
   Like this it looked after cutting out the front panel.
   
   
   Bare body with new front panel
   
   
   The car got prepared for the paint job ...
   
   
   After discussing the paint job with Steve I decided to paint it in guardsman blue; he is right, it is a nice colour which give a sixties period look to the car. I like blue colored Cobras in general and think, guardsman blue fits better to Mk III and IV bodys than the lighter Shelby (Viking) Blue, which in my opinion fits better to the smaller Mk I and Mk II bodys. Even if it is a nice colour, I don´t like the darker racing blue, because it´s the typical colour fakes use to have.
   
   
   Long nose and short nose – guardsman blue / white stripes
   
   
   Here you see, how much work they spent at Brooklands Motor Company to get a perfect paint job - and it really is!
   
   
   Home again – the car never looked as good as it looks now!
   
   
   
   
   When the car was build, it was the era of Brian Angliss´ Autokraft.
   
   
   They car is still on it´s first tire. The are as hard as a rock; I just didn´t manage to burn them away ...
   
   
   Tribute to all the guys, who were and are involved in the construction of these vehicles.
   
   
   View from the top.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Look at the pictures and you may understand why I never regretted my decision to bring the car to Brooklands Motor Company. They did a perfect job and in addition to that, I liked the way, I could rely on everything, what Steve said to me, including financial agreements. I think, the money spent was not only given away in order to repair the car, but it was an investment in a much more valuable car.
   In my eyes Steve is a real enthusiast and does a lot for british oldest car brand. Regardless of everything you can read in these days about the AC Company, I hope it will still exist in the future. Certainly enthusiasm is the only way to achieve that!
   
   My next Cobra adventure started two weeks ago, when I aquired a Cobra Daytona Coupé Replica! I plan to use it as a daily driver. I´m curious about how this plan will work out!!!
   
   Michael Cassel

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by light...This small M8 screw at the entrance of the garage was the reason for the damage:

   Hi Michael. Such a shame to see what happened, but not only does your Cobra look fantastic now, you take a damned fine picture too! [8D]
   
   Doesn`t take much of an FMEA to see that you need some of these!
   
   Thanks for sharing your experiences here, I`ll bet everyone has looked at their garage doorways now!

[TLegate]

Michael
   
   which Daytona replica did you buy? If it's the HiTech SPF car, it's amazing. But a word in your ear if you plan to use it all year - underseal. Lots of it. Say no more....

[SBB]

Trevor, I searched in the Internet and found Shell Valley, Superformance and FFR Coupés. In addition, I talked to a british guy, who does not do many advertising for building Daytona Coupés. I inspected my pockets and found them not very deep. That´s why I decided to buy a FFR 65 Coupé. It was a bargain at only 40 BPD per horsepower, maybe 50 until it´s registered in germany. I found it an exellent fun to buck ratio! The power to weight ratio is 0,5 hp per tonne, which isn´t bad as well.
   As a biker, I am used to drive with poor comfort, but I am not certain I will be cool enough to use it daily! It is very, very noisy, uncomfortable, but shatteringly quick. It´s less comfortable than the Mk IV, but easier to drive, especially the clutch works smoother. I wonder, how it feels like in wet conditions! The 300 plus rear tyres probably will work like swimtyres! Here are some pictures of the car:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The car is on it´s way from the US to Germany. Fortunately, the vender lives in MA only 1 1/2 hour away from Factory Five Racing, that´s why I visited the company. I found a huge, well sorted and organised store and a nice show room. They have a rolling chassis there, it has a ladder frame which looks very solid. Part of their marketing strategie is to have a own racing series; that´s why the cars are real racing horses! I put some spare parts with me, i.e. all windows! When I drove the car the first time, I was sure it is everything but a daily driver and I was in doubt to buy it. Finally, could you have resisted? I didn´t. As a result I have to say, the buy is a exciting adventure! If you are interested in my wifes opinion, she thinks it is a dazzler´s car and she asked me to raise my life insurance ...[:X].
   Trevor, Steve gave one of your books to me as a gift. I have a dozen books on Cobras but I like yours the very best! I´m planning to write     a cobra article in a german oldtimer magaine (maybe in autumn). May I ask you for some pics, if I will need some?

[SBB]

Nikbj68, I think I should buy a more snake friendly house! I have some of the pictures in an about 15" to 25" format on my wall! If you are interested, I can send you some high res. files! The pitures were taken by a friend of my daughter calle Tino! Do you remember the article where a Cobra owner stated, that there are two things on his Cobra making him mad: The fuel consumption and his daughter friends wanting to have a ride in the beast! In this case, Tino has deserved the ride!

[TLegate]

Michael - happy to help if I can....

[dart427]

Hi Michael,
     what a nice Mk4. But why a CHEVY Engine under the hood??
     Horst

[dkp_cobra]

@Horst
   
   where do you see a Chevy engine?
   
   @Michael
   
   Is is correct that you are located in germany? Where? I would like to see the daytona coupe in real life (please, don't tell my wife about it)
   
   Regards, Peter

[SBB]

Horst,
   the answer is simple, because the first owner installed it. As far as I now, he saw a guy doing historic racing at the Nürburgring who outperformed all the others with an engine like this. I think the power is as double as high compared to the standard 302 unit.

[SBB]

Peter,
   I´m located near Düsseldorf. Maybe I can arrange a meeting with a Superformance Coupé as well! A friend of me was invited to a dinner and talked about my plans to buy a Daytona Coupé and it turned out, that there was a Superformance Daytona Coupé Owner sitting on the table!!! My friend should take part on lotteries. The probability to meet a Daytona Coupé Owner in germany is about less than 10.000.000 to 1. As far as I know, there are 2 to 5 Superformance Coupés in Germany, maybe less FFRs. Peter, it will take about eight weeks from now until the car is shipped! Take my surname and my lastname, write it together without a dot, add @gmx.de and make an appointment (I don´t want to write my eMail adress here because forums usually are scanned for eMail adresses)

[Mark IV]

Sharp eyes to pick out the rear mounted distributor. I missed it!

[1984MkIV]

Anybody interested in buying a Daytona Coupe? Here it is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Shelby-Replica-SHELBY-DAYTONA-COBRA-COUPE-RECREATION_W0QQitemZ160243690538QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160243690538&. It comes with Knock Offs and four Webers.
   
   
   
   
   
   It is located near Seattle. Just fly over, get the car and drive to the east coast. You will become crazy passing Montana. That´s why you should  take your wife with you. By a fifties white panel van, put a "Sanatory of the Insane" label on the doors and give it to your wife. Start eastwards. Try how far you get until your wife ragpicks you up!
   
   Michael

[TLegate]

Pass. I'll take the old Merc by the door, thanks....