A bit about me and the "why"

I grew up in Southern California, and graduated high school there in 1965.  And like most high school boys - was way into cars, and I was especially captured by the birth of the Cobra's, and Shelby/American, and Ford going to Europe ... and them kicking Ferrari's butt all around the tracks, winning LeMans and so on.

A Cobra soon became THE car for me - but $6000 was a LOT of money in those days, especially to a kid with a paper route and an after school janitorial job.

So I "survived vicariously" and made do with magazine articles and dreams.  I especially remember the August 1964 issue of Car Life magazine where in doing a "Cobra vs. Corvette - Road Test & Comparison", the comment was made that they selected " the Corvette's most powerful engine .... and brake ..... options to give the Sting Ray an even chance."

Who would NOT want a Cobra after reading that?

I've still got the magazines!

There's a couple of old record albums that fueled the dream as well  Who can forget Bill Cosby's ode to his 427 Cobra ("200 MPH") and the classic "Hey Little Cobra" from The Ripcords?

So life went on and I got married, raised a family, worked hard to support them and all was well until I "discovered" Factory Five and the potential to build/recreate my high school dream car.

I retired in July 2010 and we moved to the gorgeous red rock area of southern Utah.  As part of remodeling and enlarging of our new home, I started getting the shop ready.  That's all done now.

And I went to FFR Build School at Mott College in February 2011.  A great experience and absolutely worth the cost and effort to get there.  It helped cement in my mind that I could do it - build my dream car.  Took a lot of pictures and lot of notes.

Mott College is near "Howell MI". No relation - but an interesting coincidence.

Then in July 2011 there was a note on Facebook that one of the FFR 15th Anniversary Specials - long after they were "sold out" - had suddenly become available.

So I jumped on it and placed my order.

A BIG THANKS to my wife Carol for her support and encouragement on this project!   Without it, it wouldn't be happening - and the allowable build budget would be much tighter.  LOL. 

The Hallibrand wheels and the silver powder coated Moser 8.8. Ford Axle arrived earlier this week.

And the car will be here soon!

Petey (shop cat and build supervisor) wants to know .....

Dude - where's my car???