Herman's 65 MkII Roadster Build Site

November 2004

11-06-2004: I finally made it to Baji's Cafe for a get togehter of some BAACC members having an early morning breakfast. This event occurs on the first Saturday of each month. This was designed for those of us that found getting to Dublin to be a bit of a drive for us on the Peninsula. Today's group had about 8 or 9 Cobra's with one Daytona Coupe. Just about every Cobra there was a Superformance except one: a blue Factory Five:

This one was owned by a guy simply known as "Steve", and his co-pilot Greg Wynne. This is a stock donor build with a wooden dash. After everyone had left, I asked Steve if I could get a drive in the FFR. Greg was tasked in driving me around. I posted this impression on FFCobra.com afterwards:

"Understand that this is only the 2nd time I've stepped into ANY 427 S/C replica, much less getting a taste of what everyone else here has experienced.

First off, getting into the FFR IS nice with a dropped box. NOW I understand what that's all about so this is going to be one of my "must get" options in the future build.

Next, pedals; I'll have to figure this one out but I see the need for all the "bending" you all have gone through.

Highway speed - noise and wind: this is not as bad as I thought, granted it was perfect weather today (72 deg., clear skys). The exhaust note on the stock 5.0L EFI, is not as bad as I had anticipated; at speed, conversation isn't the easiest. In the streets, we could talk but more like yelling.

Getting to speed was the big thrill for me; it rekindled the kind of acceleration I had been used to in my 65' Mustang, only louder and with infinite headroom! At 80mph, looking down and seeing how close I was to the alphalt, gave me a rush I haven't had since my motorcycle days.

I MUST thank Greg and Steve for the ride. As promised, they will get my 3.27 gear set and perhaps at a future date, he will give me another "acceleration" test with the new gearing.

I kept that silly-ass smile on my face all the way back home. I'm going to have to find a way to accelerate this 5 year plan!"

I'm still playing the video I took of this first historic (well for me anyway) drive in a Roadster. It reconfirms my decision to stay with a Factory Five build plan.

11-13-2004: One of my rare weekends with nothing to do! I flipped through the old MkII build manual and decided I should modify the e-brake even though I'm not 100% sure I'll be using it. Killed some time at least and I felt a little productive: