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Thanks Chris, I get so much from this forum that it feels like a little way to pay it back by taking the extra time to take photos and explain my builds. And yes, I too have always loved these two cars and am proud to have them in my collection now.

Way cool!

Very tastefully done!

Thank you Dan, I agree. Someone else saw a Pininfarina Corvette Rondine flavor to it, but any way you cut it - - - beautiful design.

I LOVE it Alex! I did something along these lines a while back if you want to check it out below. I mention it because I used a 1:24 Bburago diecast as my basis, and as long as your scale is along those lines, you could pick one of these up cheap and use the interior, etc. on your build. In any event, I will be following your build with great enthusiasm. The crazier the better I say!

Hello All, While I was working on my IMC Cougar II project, I not only learned the fascinating history of this vehicle, but also about its stablemate - known as the Bordinat Cobra XD roadster (named after Ford Styling Executive Eugene Bordinat who was responsible for many of the concepts his company produced during that time). I found a couple of examples of this roadster on our forum, including one from @cobraman, who was kind enough to give me some pointers on his custom creation. The natural starting point was the Lindberg production of the Cougar II as it is less expensive to obtain, and identical to its earlier IMC counterpart - albeit molded in white. I found it interesting that the exact same issues I had experienced with the IMC model were present in the Lindberg one - including door shut lines that did not line up well at all. Thus, as with my Cougar II, I welded the doors shut and aligned body panels with equal parts sanding and body filler. And while I was at it, I also filled in the vents beneath the windshield as on the roadster. The hood was going to require a long row of louvers, which I approximated with Evergreen "metal siding". The next major body modification was obviously going to be the toughest - removing the top and creating a rear deck. This was started by cutting the body apart along the upper belt line. As with a number of other decisions that came later, I had to cheat the lines a bit as it turned out the roadster had an extra crease along the upper doors not present on the coupe. The opening that was left was then filled in with .020 Evergreen and bowed in place with a curved gusset. The trickiest part was creating a tapered seam along each side like the original. The body having largely been addressed, I turned my attention to the underpinnings. The Bordinat Cobra apparently differed from the Cougar II in that it was built on the first coil spring Cobra chassis (# CSX3001). I thought it would be easy to find a suitable Cobra kit and make my creation all-the-more accurate. This of course was the plans of mice and men, as it turns out all the kits out there with coil spring frames are 1:24 scale - not the 1:25 of the Cougar II. One would think this is a minor difference, but it is not. Thus reluctantly, I stayed with the leaf spring suspension of the Lindberg kit. (BTW; if anyone knows of a 1:25 coil spring Cobra kit, I would still love to know about it) Unlike the understated tones of the Cougar II, I decided to give the roadster more panache with a Duplicolor Milano Red frame, and lots of chrome bling. I also chose to go with racing wheels from an AMT/Ertl Custom and Competition Parts Pack. The engine on the Bordinat was reportedly a 289 hi-performance v8 (rather than the 260 hi-perf found in this kit), and was mated to a C4 automatic transmission (as opposed the the 4 speed manual found here). I decided to leave well enough alone though and stuck with what came in the kit - both for ease, and because it struck me as sacrilege to have a roadgoing Cobra running around with an automatic tranny . The rest of the build was fairly straightforward, with a few artistic licenses taken - for instance relocation of the gas filler to the rear of the car, and a custom front grill to showcase this roadster's Shelby Cobra heritage. The body color is Tamiya AS-12 bare metal silver and TS-13 clear. The interior is again the Duplicolor Milano Red. All brightwork is either chromed from the kit, or Molotow pen. So without further ado, I present my best effort at the 1963 Bordinat XD Cobra... And just because I couldn't resist, here are a few beauty shots of the two cars together...

Ooh, I like your technical reasoning. Plus, it gives the car a sort of tougher look, right?

Beautiful job on a beautiful car! The grill details came out particularly nice.

Beautiful as always Michelle! And I see you're getting more and more into chrome and detailing. May I suggest grabbing a 1mm Molotow pen at your local Hobby Lobby or other hobby shop, and try that for a bit. The topic of what makes the best chrome paint can be a whole topic unto itself, but I find Molotow does a nice job and the pen is fine enough to be able to capture details. Looking forward to your next build!

Just spectacular watching your build! Is this an actual car you are replicating, or something out of your imagination? Either way, too cool!

Thank you gentlemen.

Pete, I love the tasteful way you built this rod - from the color choices to the rims, it is beautiful!

Cool stuff. I'll be interested to see how you stuff the 250GTO interior into the Royale!

Beautiful homage to a great era. Well done Sir!

Beautiful save!

Dennis, I'm loving where you're going with this! Lots of talent and creativity showing through. Now just drop in a Chrysler hemi engine with a blower popping out of the top, and you'll be picture perfect! (just kidding BTW)

The stance is awesome Greg, but the paint is my favorite part. The metal flake looks perfectly in scale.

Looking great James!

Totally going to enjoy watching this build Bob. And let's face it, the Nomad is the Debbe Dunning of automobiles....it doesn't matter how you dress her up, she's still going to look good

Just beautiful Joe. I have to remind myself this is 1:25th scale and the pictures are actually ten times as big as the actual thing! BTW, how do you get that cast metal look on the intake and exhaust manifolds? It seems so realistic.

Beautifully done Walter, although I suspect under the hood there is a 383 Chrysler hemi! BTW, I've had good luck with 3M foil tape #3311 I bought at Autozone as an alternative to usual BMF. It's a bit thicker and I find it easier to work with. Plus, it's cheaper. And I've become a big fan of Mototow pens. Just food for thought if you haven't already played with these.

Candy apple red of any variety is the best EVER!

If I had done this model, I would proudly display it in my collection. The color combinations, graphics, stance all look great to me!

Just a perfect blend of modern and vintage. Great job on color choices and build! And is that a Muncie Rock Crusher I see?

Andy, I think you just named this beautiful car.... "Li'l Hotty" would be perfect, wouldn't it?