Curious if anyone here has driven one of these....

[3LOU5]

Always wondered what it would be like to drive what I consider a Miata on steroids....

[kognito]

I have rode in one, but not driven one. The "real" ones are a harsh ride. (but very fun)

I had a graphic arts teacher in high school who owned one. He also drove a nice, yellow Jaguar E type ragtop. The graphic arts school room was actually not attached to the high school. It was a building about a 300 yard walk from the school grounds, so it was easy for him to take student car geeks for a quick ride in it.

If you drove your own car to school, you could not leave the grounds. He used to let me park my corvair in the graphic arts parking lot so I could leave the school yard. (I had 4 period study hall, 5th period lunch senior year, so I would often go home in the middle of the day)

[equ]

I think those are more for the building experience rather than the drive.

[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by kognito

I have rode in one, but not driven one. The "real" ones are a harsh ride. (but very fun)

I had a graphic arts teacher in high school who owned one. He also drove a nice, yellow Jaguar E type ragtop. The graphic arts school room was actually not attached to the high school. It was a building about a 300 yard walk from the school grounds, so it was easy for him to take student car geeks for a quick ride in it.

If you drove your own car to school, you could not leave the grounds. He used to let me park my corvair in the graphic arts parking lot so I could leave the school yard. (I had 4 period study hall, 5th period lunch senior year, so I would often go home in the middle of the day)

Yeah, I'd imagine the original ones from the factory would have a pretty harsh ride.

I was hoping you would respond with something like "Yeah, Springsteen (or Southside Johnny) had one in his garage, and he let me take it out for a quick spin", lol.

You had a Corvair ?? Aren't those the cars Ralph Nader was squawking about being "dangerous" ??

[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by equ

I think those are more for the building experience rather than the drive.

If *I* had the money and the time, I would REALLY like to build something like this. The ultimate LEGO kit, if you will.

They say with the right chassis, suspension and motor, it was light years ahead in performance compared to the ones from the factory.

Still, having a big-block V8 in such a small, lightweight car would be such a thrill to take a spin in.

[3LOU5]

Just as the A-10 Thunderbolt was built around a 30mm Gatling gun, I tend to think that the AC Cobra was built around that Ford 427.

That car just looks great in blue with white racing stripes.

[kognito]

Originally Posted by 3LOU5

Yeah, I'd imagine the original ones from the factory would have a pretty harsh ride.

I was hoping you would respond with something like "Yeah, Springsteen (or Southside Johnny) had one in his garage, and he let me take it out for a quick spin", lol.

You had a Corvair ?? Aren't those the cars Ralph Nader was squawking about being "dangerous" ??

My Corvair was one of the reasons I got to ride in his real Cobra. My Corvair was a Monza model, so it was 4 carb on the flat six, not the lower HP 2 carb most Covair's had.

Bruce's seems to have some nice Chevy's in his collection.

As far as I know, Southside still does not have a drivers license. The main reason I spent so much time on the Eddie and the Cruiser's set was that I had to pick up and drive Southside to the sets every other day (stick around and drive him home as well) Myself, and the road valet dude for the Jukes shared this job during the filming

[John V]

I've driven a few "fake" Cobras. Most of them Factory Five models and one that was an older kit. I can't remember the name, but it used Jag rear suspension (IRS).

First off, it's not a Miata on steroids. At all. A good friend who has since passed built an NB Miata with a Corvette drivetrain (with a healthy cam, headers, better heads, etc, so around 500whp) and THAT was a Miata on steroids. It steered like a Miata, it braked like a Miata, and it felt very "put together." The power was usable. As a car it was usable. I really enjoyed that car and I'm not really a Miata person.

Cobra kits are, well, they are not that. They can be made to handle OK, but out of the box they are kind of a mess. They require a lot of tweaking to be remotely okay. The braking tends to suck (no ABS). Lots of people build them without power steering, and they're really hard to drive. I'm relatively strong, but I struggle with the manual steering cars. Most people tend to massively over-power them as well. They don't need a lot of power to be fun. A stock C5 drivetrain is more than enough. But mostly people want double that, and it kind of ruins the experience because they don't put down power well enough to use it.

The ride is choppy, they are extremely loud (wind noise and engine / exhaust) so they don't make great cruisers, though people do use them for that. I think mostly they get built for "the look" plus it's fun to put stuff together. There are tons of them constantly for sale for that reason. Once they're built, the fun is mostly over, so people let them go for pretty cheap.

[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by kognito

My Corvair was one of the reasons I got to ride in his real Cobra. My Corvair was a Monza model, so it was 4 carb on the flat six, not the lower HP 2 carb most Covair's had.

Bruce's seems to have some nice Chevy's in his collection.

As far as I know, Southside still does not have a drivers license. The main reason I spent so much time on the Eddie and the Cruiser's set was that I had to pick up and drive Southside to the sets every other day (stick around and drive him home as well) Myself, and the road valet dude for the Jukes shared this job during the filming

Springsteen doesn't strike me as a "car guy" for some odd reason.

And I wonder why Southside doesn't have a driver's license. My guess is that he got popped one too many times with DUI charges and after a successful music career, decided to hire people to drive him around.

I've only watched "Eddie and the Cruisers" once, and didn't realize he was part of the cast.

[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by John V

I've driven a few "fake" Cobras. Most of them Factory Five models and one that was an older kit. I can't remember the name, but it used Jag rear suspension (IRS).

First off, it's not a Miata on steroids. At all. A good friend who has since passed built an NB Miata with a Corvette drivetrain (with a healthy cam, headers, better heads, etc, so around 500whp) and THAT was a Miata on steroids. It steered like a Miata, it braked like a Miata, and it felt very "put together." The power was usable. As a car it was usable. I really enjoyed that car and I'm not really a Miata person.

Cobra kits are, well, they are not that. They can be made to handle OK, but out of the box they are kind of a mess. They require a lot of tweaking to be remotely okay. The braking tends to suck (no ABS). Lots of people build them without power steering, and they're really hard to drive. I'm relatively strong, but I struggle with the manual steering cars. Most people tend to massively over-power them as well. They don't need a lot of power to be fun. A stock C5 drivetrain is more than enough. But mostly people want double that, and it kind of ruins the experience because they don't put down power well enough to use it.

The ride is choppy, they are extremely loud (wind noise and engine / exhaust) so they don't make great cruisers, though people do use them for that. I think mostly they get built for "the look" plus it's fun to put stuff together. There are tons of them constantly for sale for that reason. Once they're built, the fun is mostly over, so people let them go for pretty cheap.

What I meant was from an APPEARANCE standpoint, it looks like a Miata on 'roids with its wide rubber in all four corners, headers/side pipes and muscular fender flares.

But I was just wondering about the power-to-weight ratio of a something like this, because after a certain number, it would be really difficult to put the power down without fishtailing all over the place, imo.

I suppose all that wind/exhaust noise would get old after a while....something a good set of earplugs can cure.