1965 Shelby Cobra

There are as many reasons for building a Cobra replica as there are companies offering them, but the fellow who put this brutal black-on-black roadster together did it to get close to the authentic Cobra experience without the 7-figure price tag. Sure, the body's fiberglass, but the proportions are familiar and instantly recognizable, and the guys at Unique Motorsports did a great job with the overall shape. A lot of Cobra kits take liberties with the original shape, either in the interest of interior space or aesthetics, but not this one. The finish quality is quite good, and you can't really blame the guy for wanting it to be pretty, so the glossy paint got a lot of extra prep. Black Cobras are rare, and though this beauty was built in 1994 it was totally stripped down in 2015, to include new paint, upholstery and seats. The engine is a 428 and also was rebuilt in 2015. The engine shop claims this monster is turning about 530 hp and has only 800 miles on the rebuilt engine. The doors fit snugly, the hood gaps are clean, and even the trunk closes tightly without a wiggle. White stripes, aluminum jacking stubs, and a black roll bar behind the driver add to the race-ready vibe. That same attitude was carried inside, where modern leather buckets were fitted, along with the right style carpets and the simple door panels that characterized the basic early Cobras. That steering wheel is a handsome three-spoke piece with a warm wood rim that looks right at home in the Cobra's cockpit. White-faced Stewart Warner gauges have been fitted in the center stack and are flanked by auxiliary switches for things like the headlights and windshield wipers. The forward-canted shifter with white Hurst cue ball knob is easy to shift and falls to hand easily. No radio, no tacked-on A/C, no modern gauges, just a simple, clean interior that was what a Cobra buyer would have received in 1965. Even the trunk is finished in matching carpets with a battery tucked out of sight. The engine bay is also highly authentic, given that the powerplant is a 428 Cobra Jet instead of the more common 427 or even a Windsor-based small block. A handful of 428-powered Cobras slipped out of Shelby American's Los Angeles facility, most of which looked exactly like this. Rebuilt just last year, it wears finned valve covers and a matching air cleaner for the carburetor, and the traditional Cobra expansion tank on the upper radiator hose looks right. There's a bit Holley up top, an MSD 6AL ignition box, and a big cam inside, and it snarls to life through a set of great-sounding side pipes. The transmission is a Borg Warner Super T10 feeding what is believed to be the only Unique Motorsports Cobra with a Ford 9-inch rear end. The chassis is a simple ladder-style with a Mustang II type front suspension and coil-overs all around. Four wheel disc brakes keep things from getting too out of hand and it sits on handsome aluminum wheels with staggered 235/60/15 front and 295/50/15 rear Mickey Thompson radials. Cobra replicas remain just about the biggest bang for the buck in motoring, and with a lot of new parts, a clean, classic look, and that big block thumping away up front, this Cobra delivers 95% of the original experience for 5% of the price.

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