427 kits, money no object, which kit would you go with?

[PaulDav]

I'm erring towards choosing a Cobra 427 as my first kit build. I am happy to spend up to £60k on the right kit. What would you all go for? Crendon, AK,, DAX, GD, XCS, Kirkham, Hawk.... The list goes on

[ugg10]

If you want a challenge, my dream car of this type would be a xcs/dax camber compensation chassis, hawk 289 coupe body and the v10 BMW m5 engine and a m3 v8 manual gearbox.

Odd combination and would take a lot of engineering but it would be unique.

Seriously, the xcs looks the best package to me if you want a kit in a box using the cayote engine. Bear in mind that the xcs and dax camber comp chassis are derivatives of each other (same designer) and the xcs body is a dax as far as I can tell fronm reading the reviews. Next on my list would be a GD with an ls7 on individual throttle bodies, I personally like the mk3 low slung body, not true to the original but I like it.

Kirkham ally body is the daddy but this may be over even your budget. At least you can save the cost of a paint job and leave it natural metal, very cool.

Probably not much help, but happy hunting, and do go and visit a show or their factories. Hawk are at race retro this weekend.

http://www.raceretro.com/showcontent.asp?CID=884&a...

Edited by ugg10 on Monday 17th February 21:00

[Hoonigan]

http://www.southerngt.co.uk

[rdodger]

Depends on what you want?

Hawk for authentic period recreation. They are truly stunning.

GD MK4 for an LS7 Modern interpretation.

Not sure I like the idea of the CC&AR suspension. The chassis does look pretty though.

[Dave Brookes]

There are less expensive aluminium body Cobras if that is what you want and you look hard enough

[ugg10]

You could always buy this "real" ac cobra and spend the £20k that is left sorting out the handling and beefing up the engine. May hold it's vale a bit better, you do understand that spending £60K on a cobra kit will have a resell value of £40k? Kit car building should be viewed as a hobby that costs money not a way of making or retaining money.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

[grumpy]

PaulDav said:

I am happy to spend up to £60k on the right kit.

Good luck with that. I have some magic beans if you are interested.

[Dave Brookes]

ugg10 said:

You could always buy this "real" ac cobra and spend the £20k that is left sorting out the handling and beefing up the engine. May hold it's vale a bit better, you do understand that spending £60K on a cobra kit will have a resell value of £40k? Kit car building should be viewed as a hobby that costs money not a way of making or retaining money.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

On the whole I would agree, but....
The CRS you mention was around £43K when it was brand new some 13 years ago.
A typical professionally built fibreglass replica that has sensible colours, options and engine spec. built 13 years ago would also be worth now what it cost back then (Low to mid £20k's).
At £60k though (For a fibreglass car) it would take longer before it came around to level on value.
The GD Euro and the XCS are sort of out there on their own and would attract a different type of customer.
Aluminium body, orig. spec. round tube chassis replicas of the MkIII Cobra. Ala Kirkham etc. are prized more highly due to them retaining more of the originality from the 1960's.

[Gareth9702]

Dave Brookes Yesterday (22:54)
There are less expensive aluminium body Cobras if that is what you want and you look hard enough


I think you need to be a little less subtle with your suggestions. If the product is half as good as it looks then it deserves shouting about.

[Dave Brookes]

Gareth9702 said:

Dave Brookes Yesterday (22:54)
There are less expensive aluminium body Cobras if that is what you want and you look hard enough


I think you need to be a little less subtle with your suggestions. If the product is half as good as it looks then it deserves shouting about.

Thanks Gareth.
But if I said too much it would be seen as advertising
However, if someone has spotted something of interest on the WWW and mentioned it then I would be freely able to reply..... At least that seems to work rather well for a certain other manufacturer of kits

[ch427]

I will do it for you as it looks so good!
http://www.cobraclub.com/forum/general-cobra-discu...

[julian64]

ugg10 said:

You could always buy this "real" ac cobra and spend the £20k that is left sorting out the handling and beefing up the engine. May hold it's vale a bit better, you do understand that spending £60K on a cobra kit will have a resell value of £40k? Kit car building should be viewed as a hobby that costs money not a way of making or retaining money.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

About as real as a 3 bob note.

[Steffan]

Dave Brookes said:

ugg10 said:

You could always buy this "real" ac cobra and spend the £20k that is left sorting out the handling and beefing up the engine. May hold it's vale a bit better, you do understand that spending £60K on a cobra kit will have a resell value of £40k? Kit car building should be viewed as a hobby that costs money not a way of making or retaining money.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

On the whole I would agree, but....
The CRS you mention was around £43K when it was brand new some 13 years ago.
A typical professionally built fibreglass replica that has sensible colours, options and engine spec. built 13 years ago would also be worth now what it cost back then (Low to mid £20k's).
At £60k though (For a fibreglass car) it would take longer before it came around to level on value.
The GD Euro and the XCS are sort of out there on their own and would attract a different type of customer.
Aluminium body, orig. spec. round tube chassis replicas of the MkIII Cobra. Ala Kirkham etc. are prized more highly due to them retaining more of the originality from the 1960's.

I agree with both ugg10 and Dave Brookes. The kit cars (some would eschew the name) that utilise aluminium bodies and effectively are near equals to the historic cars they seek to emulate do indeed hold, perhaps indeed, gain value. One of my KC manufacturer friends have just completed an XKSS tribute car registered as an XKSS which has cost about £30K to finish with a 5.3 V12 Jaguar on board six speed box all Jaguar mechanics. 2O14 registered. Aluminium body all paneled and riveted by hand. Spaceframe purpose chassis. I drove the car to and from the IVA test which it sailed through and it is breathtaking in looks, handling, ambiance, power, grace, space and pace!

Clearly this already has a value significantly more than its build cost although how much I know not. But these cars do command a different pricing structure to all of my KC'cs over the years (probably combined). As ugg10 says a car registered as a genuine Cobra must have a value that few other KC creations could ever approach. Up to the OP clearly but I would have a weather eye on the likely value in 10 or 15 years time because bought wisely I do think depreciation could be virtually nil. Good hunting and good luck in the choice.

[smash]

julian64 said:

About as real as a 3 bob note.

Yep agreed. But...it legitimately wears the name and it's alloy bodied for £43k plus entry to the AC Owners enclosure at Le Mans Classic etc. And putting the dash right wouldn't be too painful; - maybe stick the original VW column switches in at the same time. Finally strip the body back to raw for the Kirkham look at half the price.

[Dave Brookes]

smash said:

Yep agreed. But...it legitimately wears the name and it's alloy bodied for £43k plus entry to the AC Owners enclosure at Le Mans Classic etc. And putting the dash right wouldn't be too painful; - maybe stick the original VW column switches in at the same time. Finally strip the body back to raw for the Kirkham look at half the price.

Body on that version (The CRS) is carbon fibre.

[Clivew]

Have a look at the 289 FIA. Much better looking than the 427. http://www.hawkcars.co.uk/hawk289/comp/hawkfia.htm...

[PaulDav]

Steffan said:

I agree with both ugg10 and Dave Brookes. The kit cars (some would eschew the name) that utilise aluminium bodies and effectively are near equals to the historic cars they seek to emulate do indeed hold, perhaps indeed, gain value. One of my KC manufacturer friends have just completed an XKSS tribute car registered as an XKSS which has cost about £30K to finish with a 5.3 V12 Jaguar on board six speed box all Jaguar mechanics. 2O14 registered. Aluminium body all paneled and riveted by hand. Spaceframe purpose chassis. I drove the car to and from the IVA test which it sailed through and it is breathtaking in looks, handling, ambiance, power, grace, space and pace!

Clearly this already has a value significantly more than its build cost although how much I know not. But these cars do command a different pricing structure to all of my KC'cs over the years (probably combined). As ugg10 says a car registered as a genuine Cobra must have a value that few other KC creations could ever approach. Up to the OP clearly but I would have a weather eye on the likely value in 10 or 15 years time because bought wisely I do think depreciation could be virtually nil. Good hunting and good luck in the choice.

Which company did your friend use to get the XKSS kit from?

[ugg10]

Probably not the same kit as this is GRP but Realm Eng do/used to do an XKSS - http://www.realmengineering.com/pricing.html

Trevor Williams Racing (the other TWR) do a GRP XKSS and also state that ally bodies are available - http://www.twrreplicas.com/XKSS.html

(EDIT - just notices Realm and TWRR is the same kit not sure about the ally version)

For me the XK13 is a thing of absolute beauty, that may have just mopved up to the top of my euromillions list.

Just a thought - if you didn't want to go with the jag v12 boat anchor in an XK13 you could always use the BMW 850/750 engine which is more modern and probably a bit lighter. Or if you want to bring it up to date the BMW m5 v10 or Audi S6 V10 (use an audi transaxle as well ?) or the R8/Gallardo if budget allows or finally go the whole hog and put in a diablo/mercialago v12 powertrain.

Edited by ugg10 on Monday 24th February 12:51

[runt]

I asked Dave Brookes to build me a Dax eight years ago, having sold a very nice TVR Chimaera. I'd wanted a Cobra 427 since I was twelve in '67. Wasn't interested in the 'sanitised' modern interpretations with power steering, Chevy motors, magnolia hide piped blue and blinding brightwork. Even in a Dax with period detailing seems to be an original Shelby to many folk out there, not that I need attention, I'm just loving the driving of it. Nothing but another 427 would do, I've managed to avoid rain (just !) and if you know your limits as a driver there is nothing to fear, obviously in a big crash you'd get hurt in one of these. The new DB427SC with alluminum etc authenticity IS tempting, though fibreglass makes so much sense, and the Dax rides/handles so well.If I did go for it, I'd have the Ford seven litre with 500 horses.Seems whatever your preference, there's a Snake for you out there nowadays !

[jason61c]

I think Gardner Douglas make the best kits. Some of them just look chavvy(not the retro looking ones).