Messages

Tried to sell it on ebay for a while. 

John

I like the almost aspect of it, too . . . .  I was almost a lot of things . . . .

John

If the quarters are any indication, the bottom won't be pretty . . .

Occasionally, and mostly for collections, they will list estimates, which are worth the paper they are no longer written on . . .  In a few recent auctions the estimates seemed realistic, but the bids blew right past them.  When being a $500 gold bidder meant you could go to any auction, I went to Glendale.  With $200 an auction now to bid, I'll stay at home and get some things done.

Too technically challenged to send pics, which even I can do, but uses fancy payment methods?

Hmmmm  . . . Good call!

John

I learned a few things . . . Now the trick is to remember them . . .

I am sure none of these processes are a walk in the park.  Like everyone else on the internet, though, I'll act like an expert even though I have little experience. 

As was mentioned above, sand along the glass and you can get by with a lot.  Go against it (i.e. at 90 degrees) and you'll make it easy because you'll be finished before you get started.

I once watched a documentary about Cubans keeping old us cars alive.  They would take curved glass from one car, place it on hot steel and recurve it to fit other cars!!!  After the bending, the grinding would begin.  I can only guess how the optics would be! 

Good luck!

Thanks Bill for making me do a deep dive on the pics. From pic 239 to pic 246 I'd say the inner rockers are toast and that is the foundation of a vert and it's at 100K right now? Wow....Pic 238 shows the header panel being incorrectly mounted.  "Drdent87" just jumped the bid to 100K. Lets see. Joined Feb 2022. No posts and only bid. Could be a real person bidding but is a new member and jumping bids the first day of auction is in my opinion a red flag. If you notice it was bid to a 100K no sale  in a prior BAT auction. Also the high bidder to that auction joined in July of 2020 and bid 7 times and was the only car that person has bid on in 1.5 years....Weird? A pattern? Other than the car is being sold in another state by a private individual and not a dealer like 2020.

Astute analysis.  Smells worse than the underside looks.

Kudos to whoever painted the blue car pictured above.  It would have been tempting to have finish welded the quarters and cleaned all of that up - and a big mistake . ..

I think I have seen the orange car at Monterey.  Cool car!

John

I have seen the car a couple of times, once when it was shown at Keels and Wheels, and once at this dealer's shop.  I didn't go over it with a fine tooth comb, but she is a really pretty car with really professional paint.  When at Keels and Wheels, the restoration was fresh, and the owner and restorer were very nice.  The owner bought the car in high school, so I am surprised he ever sold it.

The current owner/dealer is also a really nice guy, who does not seem to have a cash flow problem . . .

John

It appears the support has been changed or modified. It appears to have grinder or cut off wheel marks on the drivers shock tower. The passenger apron is questionable. I don't see any tilt steering hoses. Would be interesting to see if there's a can? Both front fenders are service parts. It appears both quarters have been replaced and probably the floor pan. The console is a reproduction, the cheap export brace is hideous.

The detailing on the car is horrible. I have a friend that could find something wrong in almost every picture.  Maybe someone just wants one really badly? It's pretty and sometimes that's all it takes. The forum tends to look long term investment and for correctness. Buyers can be careless and have short term outlooks.

It's also interesting, the door tag doesn't match the Marti report exactly.  The extra letter on the interior code is there and not on Marti?? 

This car pretty much demands pre restoration pictures. Especially when you have original Shelby parts swapped out on this scale. Bottom line...The quality of the restoration is not a very high standard for a 200k car.

I'm feeling a little naïve here . . .. no dog in this hunt, but in need of a teachable moment . . .perhaps you can educate me on this . .. How can one tell service replacement fenders from the originals?  And what was the tip off on quarter replacement?  I've certainly seen bad replacement jobs, but nothing jumped out to me on this one.

Many thanks!

John (old but still learning)

Graves has always done nice work for me.  I hear great things about Paul's.  I only wish I had a decent shop locally.

John

I've always used the appropriate size open end wrench, or crescent wrench as mentioned.

Make sure to remove the fill plug first. If you remove the drain plug first and then cannot remove the fill plug you are in trouble.

+1 . .  . Make sure you can get the fill plug out!!!

John

I don't think it is a fraud, but it is an original chassis (or at least frame, since I think the hot rod version of it killed the original suspension parts) with a non original VIN, engine, trans and body. . .    Make of that what you will.  Cool car and I had some interest in it, but I didn't know what to make of it.

The worst thing I can say about this car is that it was auctioned by Fantasy Junction, I think, on BAT some time ago.  No reserve auction and, by the BAT comments, the owner shilled it without Fantasy Junction's knowledge. Ugly, ugly, ugly.  Read the auction comments on BAT and that'll be an hour of your life you will never get back . . .

John

Everything that you and Ned wrote is in the ebay listing. Unless Ned is going to say that's not the original chassis,  what's the problem?

Except for the owner shilling an auction.  That part isn't in there, so everything isn't there. 

That said, I like the car, and was somewhat interested in it.  I just couldn't figure out if it was the cheapest Cobra out there, or the most expensive replica . . .

What does that have to do with the chassis ?

Not one little thing.  Nor did I say, or even imply, it did.  Please reread, as I started with "I don't think it is a fraud ..  ."  That means what it says.  Like I said, the tough question for me is not what it isn't, but what it is???  Cheap Cobra?  Expensive replica? 

I don't think it is a fraud, but it is an original chassis (or at least frame, since I think the hot rod version of it killed the original suspension parts) with a non original VIN, engine, trans and body. . .    Make of that what you will.  Cool car and I had some interest in it, but I didn't know what to make of it.

The worst thing I can say about this car is that it was auctioned by Fantasy Junction, I think, on BAT some time ago.  No reserve auction and, by the BAT comments, the owner shilled it without Fantasy Junction's knowledge. Ugly, ugly, ugly.  Read the auction comments on BAT and that'll be an hour of your life you will never get back . . .

John

Everything that you and Ned wrote is in the ebay listing. Unless Ned is going to say that's not the original chassis,  what's the problem?

Except for the owner shilling an auction.  That part isn't in there, so everything isn't there. 

That said, I like the car, and was somewhat interested in it.  I just couldn't figure out if it was the cheapest Cobra out there, or the most expensive replica . . .