Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) AC Cobra Rep. Vs Plus 8

I'm in the process of selling my Caterham R500 and I had my heart set on a +8 (there is supercharged one that has taken my fancy)..... BUT, this morning I saw a really nice Cobra with a genuine 427 engine! It's not ideal as I'd love my wife and I to go touring with the kids, so the weather equipment is important. Having said that, one can buy hard tops for the Cobras so its not a complete no.

Has anyone on here driven one? The ride quality can't be any worse that a Morgan! It will be a lot faster and louder, but I presume they still have a classic car feel (no PAS). What is the cabin space like/ I'm 6'1 and found a Roadster 3.7 un-comfortable as my knees were knocking the steering wheel.

Both cars are within 25 miles of each other, so hopefully a ride to see them on the same day is on the cards, but until then, I'd love to hear of others experience with Cobras

Cheers,

Rich.

I've got the last AC Cobra MkIV produced before they went into administration which was fitted with a 302CI engine which I have had bored and stroked, fitted with Air flow research heads and an 8 port fuel injection system. This is a fairly common conversion for MKIV's as the standard 302 was well strangled with emissions kit and it results in the same (or more) power than a 427 but without the fuel consumption and engine weight. I have some friends with 427CI versions of the MkIV who report pretty horrendous fuel consumption (typically single figures) and they are are nose heavy, so the small block cars are reckoned to handle better.

Ride quality of my Cobra is better than my Aero 8 Coupe, but the weather equipment is worse than useless with a 50mph top speed recommended with the hood up. It is possible though that the kit car manufacturers will have been able to do better.

I am 5ft 7 (on a good day) and the bottom of the steering wheel is close to the top of my legs - but again the kit car manufacturers may have done better on the ergonomics - but the cabs are not big.

If you are serious about touring, I would think hard about a 427 as you will probably struggle to get much more than a 100 miles from a tank

Chap owned one near us, can't remember all the spec but it looked fab in metallic blue and sounded the dogs

We once ended up parking next to each other one evening after a blast into Derbyshire and chatted about Mog hoods and his apparent lack of even a tonneau, he said it wasn't worth bothering (I assumed correct speed - over the screen in the rain stuff) naa, he said, if it starts raining I drive home as fast as I dare but VERY carefully before I end up facing the wrong way through a hedge - it's a bit of a beast

Part built a Cobra replica using the usual Jag running gear plus Ford 351 small block wih big valve heads mated to ZF gearbox. Unfortunately the company I bought the kit from never supplied final batch of components when they went down the pan. Lost interest after that and sold the unfinished car.

“I'd love my wife and I to go touring with the kids”

You must be having a laugh. Where are the kids going, in the boot? 🤣🤣🤣

Sir P

There are dozens of Cobra replica manufacturers and each one has various options regarding engine/suspension/brakes and everything in between. Then you have factory built and customer built which introduces another raft of variables.

In short, no two replicas are the same and the only way to see if they suit you is to drive them yourself. I'd speculate that the very best would be a revelation and the worst would be virtually undriveable.

You could start with visiting a company that specialises in replicas, drive a few, and go from there. The outfit below seem to stock a fair selection.

https://www.totalheadturners.com/

I have a Plus 4, so she will habe one car and I'll have the other.

The "Touring" will be trips to the Lakes/Dales/Moors and not too frequent, 90% of driving will be 30 mile round trip to the pub or cricket. But even then 9mpg would be hard to swallow! So prob not the best idea.

Morgan have stated that they want to move from being a 3rd car to 2nd car status with the SuperSport. I think of the trads as second cars anyway, a 427 Cobra is what I call a 3rd car!

I am likely to risk offending someone but you are comparing a car made by a car maker with a lash up kit car. Admittedly the original 1960s AC Cobra were just that - shoehorning an big lazy american V8 into an antiquated British sports car chassis but over the years they were developed. Still crude but developed crude.

I guess as a Morgan owner you are used to tinkering to get things right or at least righter so you might be happy with a kit car, but in the rain? Going any distance? In ( god forbid) a crash?

Hello Rich,

Superformance produce a nice range of Cobra replicas, manufactured in South Africa. https://www.superformance.uk

Those ones are a little over my budget!

This is the car in question that got me thinking. If anything, it looks too good to be true and a bit cheap? ... Or its a rubbish kit! https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1858239


As it's so close to the +8 I'm going to see, I'll have a look at it, but I don't think it's for me.