New London Based Cobra

[gavk]

Hello all,

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I have just inherited my dads pride & joy as he sadly passed away last month.

The cobra had always been his dream and he finally made the purchase only 18 months ago.

I was trying to be a voice of reason and get him to shop around but his heart firmly ruled his head and when he saw this one with its blue and white paintwork, understated interior, ford v8 and underslung pipes he was SOLD!

Its so sad that he didnt get more use out of it but we did take it to Lemans the last 2 years running and the 1st time round we took it for a detour over the swiss and italian alps and up to stelvio!

I have always been more of a caterham/westfield man but just before he bought the cobra he asked me what i would do if he passed away one day and of course i promised him i would keep it. So here it is, a project for life, my list of mods is endless and I really can't wait to get started!

Its had a new clutch, new holley and reconditioned diff recently but the first few mods ive got listed are:

• Diff out to be correctly adjusted for use in cobra (sadly wasnt done when recon'd)
• Relpace Pinion/Spigot bearing that resides in the flywheel (again, really annoying that it wasnt changed when we did the clutch but we had assumed the squeeking noise was the clutch release bearing)
• carb professionally setup and rolling roaded
• Touch-up fiberglass and paintwork around windscreen mounting
• Suspension professionally setup
• New tyres

I would love to get involved with the jobs myself but until i can move house and get a nice garage/workshop setup then i think I might have to send the cob to Thunder Road Cars for a spot of pampering!

After all those jobs have been seen to then i can spend years ploughing money into the engine!

Looking forward to picking your brains, potentially being of some help on the odd occasion and meeting a few of you over the years to come!

[Clive]

Hi Gav and welcome to the Club. I'm sorry to hear about your loss and I'm sure you'll remember your Dad every time you sit in the car. What great memories you must already have, I too was at Le Mans this year for the Classic travelling down from Central Scotland. It was a wonderful trip and will live in my memory for years to come.
Looking at your attached pictures the scenery is very like some of the Highland roads (Although the mountains are probably higher there!)
Take care and enjoy your legacy.

[gavk]

Cheers Clive. Lemans is amazing isnt it! Dad and I have been going to the main race for about 10 years now, we have about 15 of us who go and camp together so im sure we will continue to go each year and toast him with a beer or five! We have talked about switching to see the classic race one year but never really had the guts to change the tradition!

As for the alps, i really cant recommend them highly enough, i have driven across them on 4 seperate holidays now and they never lose their impact or thrill.

Must be great for you to be so close to the highlands, I keep wanting to see more of the great roads and landscapes britain has to offer so the cobra is gonna give me the perfect excuse to drag my girlfriend away for many more weekends of driving!

[pat b]

What part of London are you in mate. PAT

[Clive]

Gav,
As the Le Mans Classic is every two years, I would highly reccommend the Silverstone Classic which is every year. There is a large number of Cobras there and excellent racing with access to all areas including pits and garages to see some of the best racing cars ever produced!

[chr15w]

Sorry about your dad but he did have seriously good taste. I can see why he bought the car, it looks really good (apart from the plastic pig, but Im sure its there for a reason)

[gavk]

Pat, Im in Bow in East London. The cob is still at dads house in southampton until i can sell the house. After that i can keep it below my flat in secure parking but i wont really be happy until i can get another garage for it!

Clive, Silverstone sounds great, ill definitely be looking to get along to a few events and meets once i have the car up here and fettled!

Luckily the pig in the picture isnt a permanent fixture, he has traveled the world with all my friends, you can probably find him under "intrepid pig" on myspace or facebook!

[craggle]

Hi Gav

Welcome to the club and sorry to hear about your Dad but glad to hear you have decided to keep the memory alive by keeping the car.

I found Intrepid pig on Facebook! Looks like he has travelled a bit.

Do you know what make of car your one is? I was trying to decide from the photos but I couldn't make my mind up.

Craig.

[gavk]

Craig,

Glad to hear you found the pig, did you see the pic of him going under the dunlop bridge at lemans? My friend took part in the Lemans 24hour skate and he took the pig for a picture while lapping! I would post the pic up here but I still havent signed up to facebook.

The car is a KCC from South Africa, via sovereign cars.

As an aside, I would not recommend sovereign to anyone. They took ages to prep the car after dad bought it, the assumption being that they were giving it a full service and health check. When we later changed the oil we found that the existing oil filter was so many years old that it was out of production and the oil was so bad that there was a block in the flow to the oil cooler! They clearly never checked it which you would have hoped would be the first thing they would do on a car they sold for 20k! Dad never took it up with them but personally I was livid so i would just ask anyone else to beware!

I think I have counted 5-10 other KCC's on the forum so thankfully there should be a bit of knowledge about the model

[slogger]

Hi and welcome to the mad house. Nice looking cob and I hope you enjoy it.

All the best at this sad time.