Went to RPM Performance this morning and the Cobra was sitting out front. I asked Bill (my friend that owns the place) if it was done and he tossed me the keys and said "you tell me." I said you are only saying that because you know I can't fold up enough to get in it. He said "just suck it up and get in the thing, You won't regret it." So after several minutes of contortions I'm finally in the seat and buckled up. He said don't go over 70 miles, that's about all the gas it will hold if you aren't in sixth on the Interstate.
This Cobra has a 470+ inch engine that made 680+ hp on the chassis dyno and handles much better than an original Cobra. I took off from the shop sideways (didn't intend to do that but first gear is almost a waste; didn't know if there would be much torque at low rpm and didn't want to embarrass myself by killing the engine:wink::wink
, went down Madison Av to 465, unleashed that snake in second and third gears on the onramp and hit the bypass as a tick over a hundred. Backed it down to around 60 in forth (it's a six speed) and just listened to the rumble of the cam until I neared the exit I wanted. Downshifted for the exit and let the back end hang out a little and proceeded to a fairly deserted road I know that has a few turns. Then had about 40 miles of pure fun. Other than getting on 465 and a time or two on a good straight I never went much over a hundred. I knew from riding with Bill when it had its first engine in it that the front end started to feel spooky light at around 120 and the last thing I needed to do was wreck the car. Surprisingly, once I was in the the Cobra it was totally comfortable and fit like it was made for me. I'd never be able to get in it with the top up though. Now I just need to talk Bill into making a trip to West Virginia. I believe that mechanical things have a spirit. There's a mountain on Route 50 east of Pruntytown that that Cobra would love and would then know what it was built for.
