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The AC Cobra, despite currently vacillating between production issues and nothingness due to South African Alan Lubinsky, remains an icon.
Due to the unfortunate state of affairs surrounding the official AC branded Cobra cars, there are an awful many excellent replicas being produced.
Most of these replicas feature composite surfacing. If money is no object though, what you really want is a polished aluminium one.
Shiny snake
Of course, this does not come cheap.
The Cobra’s curvaceous lines are not easily translated into aluminium.
To this end you require an English wheel and somebody skilled enough to operate it. Considering the scarcity of both these, the first law of economics comes into effect. The scarcer the resource, the higher the price.
Needless to say then – aluminium bodied Cobras (even replicas) are villainously expensive. You wouldn’t want to crash one. At all.
Unfortunately a $300 000 aluminium-bodied Cobra went for a swim at the University of Texas, Arlington, this weekend. And no, it was not the result of a student prank gone awry.
Each year the University of Texas at Arlington invites automotive engineers from other institutions to the Texas Autocross weekend. The event is hosted on the Arlington campus and attracts a fair share of petrolheads in addition to engineering undergraduates.
At this year’s event an unidentified (for obvious reasons) 57-year old man motored along in his pristine aluminium bodied Cobra.
Whilst attempting to do a high-speed pass on campus street, Texas Autocross weekend attendees were treated to the sound of a V8 churning at full-bore - courtesy of its throttle being stuck wide open.
The Cobra in question broke into a wild bout of oversteer, clipped a kerb and landed upside down in the creek running adjacent to the campus.
The driver was not seriously hurt (nothing short of a miracle) and after recovering the Cobra (and tipping out all the water) it was evaluated to have little significant surface indentations.
A series of scratches and a bent windscreen on a $300 000 aluminium bodied Cobra are still hardly what we would term a list of inconsequential insurance claim details.
Due to the unfortunate state of affairs surrounding the official AC branded Cobra cars, there are an awful many excellent replicas being produced.
Most of these replicas feature composite surfacing. If money is no object though, what you really want is a polished aluminium one.
Shiny snake
Of course, this does not come cheap.
The Cobra’s curvaceous lines are not easily translated into aluminium.
To this end you require an English wheel and somebody skilled enough to operate it. Considering the scarcity of both these, the first law of economics comes into effect. The scarcer the resource, the higher the price.
Needless to say then – aluminium bodied Cobras (even replicas) are villainously expensive. You wouldn’t want to crash one. At all.
Unfortunately a $300 000 aluminium-bodied Cobra went for a swim at the University of Texas, Arlington, this weekend. And no, it was not the result of a student prank gone awry.
Each year the University of Texas at Arlington invites automotive engineers from other institutions to the Texas Autocross weekend. The event is hosted on the Arlington campus and attracts a fair share of petrolheads in addition to engineering undergraduates.
At this year’s event an unidentified (for obvious reasons) 57-year old man motored along in his pristine aluminium bodied Cobra.
Whilst attempting to do a high-speed pass on campus street, Texas Autocross weekend attendees were treated to the sound of a V8 churning at full-bore - courtesy of its throttle being stuck wide open.
The Cobra in question broke into a wild bout of oversteer, clipped a kerb and landed upside down in the creek running adjacent to the campus.
The driver was not seriously hurt (nothing short of a miracle) and after recovering the Cobra (and tipping out all the water) it was evaluated to have little significant surface indentations.
A series of scratches and a bent windscreen on a $300 000 aluminium bodied Cobra are still hardly what we would term a list of inconsequential insurance claim details.
