afx Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) This picture of a Cobra hardtop in the book The Cobra-Ferrari Wars has always intrigued me. Digging around the internet I was able to discover more photos of the car. Unfortunately I find these subsequent views of the car’s hardtop less appealing. None the less I thought I would have a go at reproducing it. I reworked the hardtop from the AMT kit and this is what I have come up with so far. I typically strive for as much accuracy as I can with my builds but frankly I find my version more appealing than that of the 1:1 car. So I think I am going to move forward with my interpretation of this one off Cobra. Edited April 11, 2017 by afx 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 I always enjoy seeing your historically accurate work, but in this case, I have to agree that your roofline and tail are much more attractive than what was on the real car.Kinda makes you wonder "what were they thinking?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) Thanks Bill. The book says the top was inspired by a '64 GTO, it looks a lot more like the Ferrari Breadvan to me. Edited December 17, 2016 by afx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublin boy Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 You'll have to do the Breadvan at some stage JC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmathew1us Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 I agree your cobra coupe looks a lot better than the 1:1. You know your cobra/Shelby stuff, so I am looking forward to what you are going to do with this one.Going off topic, the breadvan is one of my favorites, but I believe it was made as a side project by former Ferrari employees, and thus is not an official Ferrari. Which makes me think we will never see a kitted version of the breadvan due to licensing issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamach1 Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Yes JC yours is 100% better looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250 Testa Rossa Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagercr Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 It's going to look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerN Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 (edited) I hope no one minds, but I couldn't resist posting photos of a model I started some years ago. A cheap built-up in semi-decent shape but missing quite a few parts. I too was inspired by the Ferrari bread van, and had a whole backstory for my Cobra BV: backwoods mechanics made it to try to get in good with Henry F, but no luck. BTW, these pix were nearly 1 MB each until I shrunk them in GIMP, a free alternative to Photoshop. Edited December 18, 2016 by GerN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250 Testa Rossa Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 A story on CSX2001 with plenty of photos of the car with the roof it wore during the Tour de France race in 1964. http://saac.memberlodge.com/resources/0109/0109-csx2001.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Another cool Cobra in the works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 Maybe someday ShayThanks Tom. Yea from what I know of the car Enzo wouldn’t allow them to badge or even refer to it as a Ferrari. Some info here: http://www.supercars.net/blog/1962-ferrari-250-gt-breadvan/Thanks Rex and Stephen.Gerald maybe my project will encourage you to finish yours.I found the same article during my research Maxx-thanks.See Ray Cobras are never far from my mind or my work bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I don't recall ever seeing a Cobra with that roof line in any of my Cobra books. I would check for more photos but they are in storage and tough to get at. The only roof I ever adapted to a Cobra was with a 63 Corvette split window. Might have to try something along these lines here. Always looking for another Cobra to add to the collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) Ray, it only ran in this configuration a few times all in European events. The roof was later removed (it was heavy and was a handicap on shorter sprint events) and the car was converted back to a roadster. The Tour de France was a multi-day endurance event. Here you can see the mods I made to the AMT roof. Edited December 19, 2016 by afx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 Didn't see any shots of the Cobra but a neat film none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Your mods to the AMT roof look really good , much better than the real thing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 When CSX2001 was converted into a race car the fenders were enlarged (similar to what you find on the FIA roadster or the 427 Cobra) to fit the bigger Halibrand racing wheels. For this reason the Sunny/Academy/ Minicraft 427 was a better starting point than the stock AMT body. However like all the early cars 2001 didn’t yet have the side cooling vents. Therefore the vent opening as well as those for the through the fender side pipes had to be filled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetee66 Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Fascinating project!I'll be checking in for more updates ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 Converting the 427 body to the 289 requires reshaping the radiator mouth and filling of the brake duct scopes. Here is a comparison to demonstrate the modifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250 Testa Rossa Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Converting the 427 body to the 289 requires reshaping the radiator mouth and filling of the brake duct scopes. Here is a comparison to demonstrate the modifications. What did you use to reshape the radiator opening and brake scoops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy D Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Excellent body work as always from your bench JC !!!!!Randy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I like what your doing here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 Thanks Randy, really appreciate you checking out my projects.Maxx, The white plastic in the brake ducts and along the bottom of the radiator opening is Evergreen solid square rod. I added some of my special putty (styrene bits liquefied in plastic cement) inside the upper corners of the radiator opening then sanded it to shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 Some useless Cobra trivia: When the Shelby contract expired is 1966 AC Cars continued to produce 427 bodies and chassis. However instead of installing the heavy 427 AC installed the lighter 289. They of course couldn’t use the name “Shelby” or “Cobra” so they simply named it the “AC 289” Only 27 cars were built and only 6 cars were exported (1-Sweden and 5-USA) they rest were sold in the UK. That's why Academy refers to their kit as an "AC 289" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Interesting. I did not know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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