Restore or Scrap?

1WildII · May 11, 2004

Ok I need some serious advice, I was looking at my Cobra II more closely today and the list just keeps growing on what needs to be done just to get the body straight. Heres a sample,

Rockers
Cowl
Floor Pans
Bumper mounts (the bolt on the inside busted! LH side)
quarter panels
re-alignment of everything, gaps are funky between doors and fenders and basically everywhere where there is a gap.

All this is tuff as you know, As for the bolt on stuff, it all needs to be replaced... all of it! Not to mention I do have a budget. The price and time just went through the roof.

Now the other option is I have a 1976 Mach 1 thats a perfect speciman, it has almost no body damage, zero rust, as far as that car goes the body is done, just some rust proofing and its good to go. I could simply swap everything over from the Cobra to the Mach and it would cut the work and costs a good 75%

And another thing about my Cobra is it does not have the original engine and possibly not the original transmission. So would it be worth the time and money to restore the Cobra, or should I just make a Cobra clone?

Let me know what you guys think,

Chris

lwkauble · May 11, 2004

1WildII said:
Ok I need some serious advice, I was looking at my Cobra II more closely today and the list just keeps growing on what needs to be done just to get the body straight. Heres a sample,

Rockers
Cowl
Floor Pans
Bumper mounts (the bolt on the inside busted! LH side)
quarter panels
re-alignment of everything, gaps are funky between doors and fenders and basically everywhere where there is a gap.

All this is tuff as you know, As for the bolt on stuff, it all needs to be replaced... all of it! Not to mention I do have a budget. The price and time just went through the roof.

Now the other option is I have a 1976 Mach 1 thats a perfect speciman, it has almost no body damage, zero rust, as far as that car goes the body is done, just some rust proofing and its good to go. I could simply swap everything over from the Cobra to the Mach and it would cut the work and costs a good 75%

And another thing about my Cobra is it does not have the original engine and possibly not the original transmission. So would it be worth the time and money to restore the Cobra, or should I just make a Cobra clone?

Let me know what you guys think,

Chris

Since you have to do so much work anyway, just hold onto it for a while and work on the MAch1. It can't get much worse than it is from the sound of it... Just my .02

BTW: My Sister lives on San Juan Island. I have taken the Ferry from Anacortes to San Juan. Cool to see you're from there. Nice town.

77sleeper · May 11, 2004

haha small world, I practically grew up in Oak Harbor

IICrazy · May 11, 2004

Let me know what you need I have resources over here too, i can probably get you most of the parts.

74ProII · May 11, 2004

Worst case scenario, there has been a nice white/blue cobra for sale last couple of days here, and a king over in Chimicum. I just can never seem to get rid of anything, only scrapped one car I ever owned.

lwkauble · May 11, 2004

77sleeper said:
haha small world, I practically grew up in Oak Harbor

My sister and her Husband live on a fixed up old Navy Tug boat in Friday Harobor, But the used to live oak harbor and snug harbor. Nice little island.

IICrazy · May 11, 2004

74ProII said:
Worst case scenario, there has been a nice white/blue cobra for sale last couple of days here, and a king over in Chimicum. I just can never seem to get rid of anything, only scrapped one car I ever owned.

My sister told me about that II, She is supposed to send me a pic of it.

Sad thing, I have my entire family on the lookout for II's, and i cant even buy another one.

IICrazy · May 12, 2004

She just sent me the picture of the II, it is off of a camera phone but is this the one your talking about.

1WildII · May 12, 2004

well I have all the parts to fix it, its just I do all my own work and that can only go so far... never done a rocker or cowl before. The Cobra has pretty much seen better days, I think what I will do is do the swap to the mach, but not scrap the Cobra, maybe set it aside for a later date when I get the know how to do what needs to be done, worse case I'll sell it to someone who will actually restore it.

Hows that sound?

Chris

1WildII · May 12, 2004

Oh yeah, San Juans are pretty cool, neat little town. City doesnt like all my cars though, one almost got towed!

Chris

THE COBRAMAN · May 12, 2004

You can't be serious...a unibody car that needs cowl, rockers, floors and quarters? Those are all structural parts, and to get good ones you're going to have to cut up a good car. Scrap-bound after removing all the usable parts.

Not that I would, but if a guy swapped core supports, buck tag, and the dash upper panel, you'd have your "factory" cobra back.

This issue is being hotly debated on many forums, but my position is: how is a car that has had the above parts replaced (many times by repro sheetmetal)any more an "original" than a car that was built by Ford as a lesser model, that has had all the mechanical components swapped, and retains all it's original sheetmetal? The bodies all came off the same line.

The mach 1 is actually more rare/desirable than the Cobra anyway.

jshcobra · May 12, 2004

I agree with the Cobraman, get the Mach and restore it. If your Cobra is half as bad as you say, it's a lost cause. Just take a look at all the $200 junkers that show up on ebay and never even get a single bid. In the end, its tons more fun to work on a solid car than a rustbucket.

The other problem with a rustbucket is that the rust you see is probably only a third of what's actually hiding in other places on the car.

With the mach, you could store all the Mach specific parts, make and enjoy your cobra clone, and later, put the mach back to original and make some $$$ with it.

dmoody · May 12, 2004

I've replaced quarter panels, cowls, door panels, etc. Can't say I've ever replaced rocker panels ...those parts usually don't rust on a Ford. Anyway I wouldn't do it if the car wasn't something really desirable, like a highly optioned King. If you are a weekend warrior and know how to weld good, it could take you several months to replace all of those parts. And if you want a good scare to ward yourself away from the car take a look at the number of welds on the cowl. Each one would have to be drilled out and filled back. Then you'd have to find a donor cowl and saw that off the donor car. Usually a rusted cowl will scare most do it yourself'rs away.

d

Mstng2 · May 12, 2004

I agree with the above post... the cars are identical except for the stripes/accesories. Swap all the parts including the bucktag, drivverside door, dash w/VIN Keep the Cobra title with your new "Cobra", and part out whatever is left to those of us who need parts. I mean whats the differance?! If I rebuild a frame from the ground up with aftermarket parts, but Ive got a cobra title for it?? Is it a "real Cobra"?? I say sure! I have a buddy whose II was in BAD shape, but there was a Perfect body in a local salvage yard. So he rebuilt the "frame" of the salvage car with all the parts of of the rustbucket. Then use the "good" title. Agreed the purists cry foul at this but, Do as you must to save a good II!
Oh and PS Also on the other car Ebays a good option also. This will offset your costs as well.

westernlady1123 · May 12, 2004

So jealous! Would love live in Washington. I have a sister up in Kelso. Such a beautiful state.

1WildII · May 12, 2004

Thanks for the input guys, as for switching numbers to the mach, I think I have to because the mach has no title or bill of sale from the registered owner (just one frome the previous owner), I guess if you followed a paper trail it leads to the actual owner, the previous owner was a police officer so I doubt its stolen.

Chris

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