Jeff,
Interesting that someone has finally considered this. The Cobra Bruce
Cambern drove in AP at Topeka is an original for sure, and he has owned
it for 34 years. The value of the Cobra is not due to costs associated
with hi-technology design and development, as is the other car in the
discussion. The big $ value of the Shelby is due to investors/demand
scarce supply/collectability. What really would be the difference between
his driving his car and someone else driving one he just bought last month?
You may also find it interesting that Bruce told me he did everything he
could to the car (within the rules) that would not damage the car's value.
No big cutout flares, etc.... The biggest factor he felt that contributed to
his lack of competitiveness was his own driving, by his own admission.
Apparently he feels he has lost "the touch". Didn't help that he has had
little seat time in the car since the changes. I'd love it if he could
resharpen
his skills and show what a vintage machine can really do! BTW, he said
that the intake restrictions in the rules cost him about 200 HP. But how
much could be used in a autocross anyway? (oh, that's another discussion)
>I was thinking some more about the original 427 Cobra too. In my mind,
>if someone bought one of those when they were cheap and raced it I
>wouldn't be irritated about someone "buying the win." OTOH, if they
>plunked down 500K or 1M because they had it and knew the car would
>be an automatic winner with a good driver, then that doesn't seem fair.
>Jeff Winchell
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