I have been considering an AC Cobra 427 replica

The OP said he has a WRX so he's no stranger to performance. He's not looking for another new car. He's in the market for a "rude crude over powered sports car". Collector cars often hold their value or increase in value, unlike buying new.
Well well well.
 
The OP said he has a WRX so he's no stranger to performance. He's not looking for another new car. He's in the market for a "rude crude over powered sports car". Collector cars often hold their value or increase in value, unlike buying new.
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You are correct sir! It's uh .... right there in the very first post! Aw, well as the saying goes "measure twice cut once", or is it the other way around??? I stand corrected. :)
 
The cars that perform like that come with a self-limiting restraint. Way back when I was a kid in 1989, I got my crazy hands on a Ford Mustang GT with a 5.0 and a 5 speed. After the second set of expensive rear tires even I started to take it easy on the burnouts and "spirited" turns. :)
Agree about the self-limiting restraint. Not unlike guns... any of them but especially high powered rifles... nothing happens on impulse. It's deliberate and intentional, not just because... there is a built in respect for what it is or bad things can quickly happen without recall. A fast powerful car where there is always more... it demands thoughtful restraint... ya just gotta love that.
 
Vintage/collector cars are a "double-edged sword". I used to be into them. My last one, I owned for over 25 years before I finally sold it. When I first bought it, I used to drive it--not as a daily driver, but recreationally in the nice weather. Then it started climbing in value, rather dramatically, at which point it became more of an "asset", rather than just a fun car. It became a garage and trailer queen. I trailered it to shows, and the rest of the time it sat in the garage under a cover. I was afraid to drive it anywhere for fear of someone hitting me, and I wouldn't leave it parked unattended anywhere. It was still cool to own, but not really fun to own, so I finally sold it (at a very substantial profit) and bought a modern muscle car--which actually has far superior performance in pretty much all respects, and is certainly much safer and comfortable. And I'm not afraid to drive it or park it--if something happens, I can go buy another one.
 
Yes, bless you! A car is a CAR, first and foremost, and wants to be DRIVEN!

Vintage/collector cars are a "double-edged sword". I used to be into them. My last one, I owned for over 25 years before I finally sold it. When I first bought it, I used to drive it--not as a daily driver, but recreationally in the nice weather. Then it started climbing in value, rather dramatically, at which point it became more of an "asset", rather than just a fun car. It became a garage and trailer queen. I trailered it to shows, and the rest of the time it sat in the garage under a cover. I was afraid to drive it anywhere for fear of someone hitting me, and I wouldn't leave it parked unattended anywhere. It was still cool to own, but not really fun to own, so I finally sold it (at a very substantial profit) and bought a modern muscle car--which actually has far superior performance in pretty much all respects, and is certainly much safer and comfortable. And I'm not afraid to drive it or park it--if something happens, I can go buy another one.
 
I trailered it to shows

I can't quite come to terms with owning anything so nice it can't be used for what it was intended to. Going to car shows is fun, bringing your car and sitting next to it for 6 hours, not so much. I realize I'm in the minority. The only car I ever had painted was my first, but I've bought a lot of cams and pistons.
 
I could never own a car that I was afraid to drive, that's what they were built for. I like the Jay Leno outlook on rare expensive cars. Drive it from mint condition down to about 40-60% then re-restore it back to 100%. Sounds good in theory but not many have his budget for toys. ;) If I did that's what I would do. a Ferrari 250 GTO would be kinda fun to use as a daily.
 
I can't quite come to terms with owning anything so nice it can't be used for what it was intended to. Going to car shows is fun, bringing your car and sitting next to it for 6 hours, not so much.

Exactly--and that's why I finally gave it up. Like I posted--it was cool to own, but no longer any fun to own. It was a 1970 Camaro with a rare drivetrain and option package--100% stock (down to the original Delco 8-track deck in the dash). I paid $7K for it when I bought it back the 80's (and everyone laughed at me and told me I was crazy), but when I sold it in 2016, I got over $42K for it (they weren't laughing so hard then). Somewhere in the middle there is when it started really climbing in value, and it went from "cool car" to "financial asset"--and that just sucked the "fun" out of owning it--it became more of a "responsibility".

That's when I bought the first HellCat (the obnoxious bright green one) and then subsequently sold it and got the dark green HellCat RedEye. I still "baby" it, but I'm not afraid to drive it or park it unattended, and it is replaceable. If I needed/wanted to drive it every day, it would not be an "issue"--other than the fact that it drinks gas like a frat house with an open bar. One of the truly "retro" features of that car is that if you drive it kind of hard, you will be returned to old days of single-digit fuel mileage.
 
I could never own a car that I was afraid to drive, that's what they were built for.

I know--that's why I sold the Camaro (although I sincerely doubt the new owner will be driving it a lot).

I like the Jay Leno outlook on rare expensive cars. Drive it from mint condition down to about 40-60% then re-restore it back to 100%. Sounds good in theory but not many have his budget for toys.

There's a lot of things that I'd do if I had his "budget for toys", but that is not in the cards, so I play the hand that I've been dealt. Trust me--if I had a few hundred million dollars, the backhoes, bobcats and lifts would be out of the warehouse, and I'd fill it up with something "less practical".
 
we drove the olds 98 to shows, but since it had a mint factory landau, we cringed in horror at rain and when I garaged it for the winter, it had a nice king size comforter over the roof after we would treat it. sadly, (or happily depending) we sold it a few weeks ago and I note that of my projected 'old man' projects I want to do (el camino or square body 2wd stepside truck - either with a home brew 396/5spd) a 75 elky is at auction in two weeks. A sign?

Sitting at a show all day under a tent BSing cars is what we love to do and why we do at least 1 Carlisle show each year. going there to sell and make profit is becoming less of a priority, yet I have to sell something to get to use the 4 spots I legacy 'own'. This year the trailer is packed full of NOS moog parts but it might be a closeout of our 'for profit only motif'

My wild and crazy high hp days perhaps ended when I sold the V65. There might be a chance a CTS-V in some form is in my future but I am not holding my breath. A new class C rv holds more appeal right now...
 
Not me, while I have a 429 and a 429 cobra motor no one ever wants to buy that stuff. I'm actually speaking for experience, if anyone thinks my audio is over the top in tonnage.

My garage:confused:

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he who dies with the most unfinished projects wins? you gotta be careful to not fall victim!
 
Even 300 HP can be deadly in the wet, and GM admitted that fact for their FWD Cadillac in a R&T article years ago , which had Electronic Stability Control to make them safer. FWD obviously needed it anyways as the US gov. mandated it in 2011-2012 to save lives.
I had a deville w/northstar until recently (kid has it now) and the TC/ESC package is world class. I list the 2000-2005 D car era as 'scary good in the snow', prefer over most AWD suvs in fact.
 
I had a deville w/northstar until recently (kid has it now) and the TC/ESC package is world class.

One of my guys is working on a "project" for his son with a Northstar. He is transplanting one into a Chevy HHR "panel van"--one of the utility HHR's with no side windows. I'll post photos when he gets close to done--right now it is splattered all over the garage in pieces. Not sure if he really loves his son, or wants to send him out to die--that's a lot of hp in that little "tin can". Then, again, I'm not sure if he is building it for his son, or just for himself to play with on occasion.
 
Keeping it FWD I would imagine as he's keeping the Northstar?

Yeah--he's keeping it FWD, and the Northstar is kind of a direct "drop-in"--not too much modding to make it fit, and not a lot heavier than the original engine.

I did a similar swap a few years back (actually paid to have it done), putting a Northstar into one of my Pontiac Fieros--I had 5 of them at one point--don't ask--but they were all V-6 models and were fun for what they were. The "near-mint" gold GT with <10K miles actually sold for a lot of money. It was a fairly rare GT V-6 with 5-spd stick, and I managed to get $30K out of it, and I had bought it for $4500, so no harm, no foul there. I didn't get as much out of the Northstar conversion car, but it was only $3500 to have it done, and it was still GM dealer serviceable--and downright scary under throttle.
 
I want this one, but the "geezer" won't come off the price--he has had it for sale for 3 years now and won't budge. Of course, who am I to call "geezer"--I'll be 60 in two days. 1981 with only 30K on the clock, and it has the Buick 350X engine. Not a great engine, but not the POS Pontiac 301, and it is 100% all original. He wants $6K and won't back down a dime--I've tried. I even waved $4800 in cash in front of him and he didn't even flinch. One of us will eventually die and his kids will sell it for $1500 LOL.

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I want this one, but the "geezer" won't come off the price--he has had it for sale for 3 years now and won't budge. Of course, who am I to call "geezer"--I'll be 60 in two days. 1981 with only 30K on the clock, and it has the Buick 350X engine. Not a great engine, but not the POS Pontiac 301, and it is 100% all original. He wants $6K and won't back down a dime--I've tried. I even waved $4800 in cash in front of him and he didn't even flinch. One of us will eventually die and his kids will sell it for $1500 LOL.

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He's never going to sell it at that price and the rot will eventually make sure it goes to the junkyard.
 
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