The page "Other Cobra Manufacturers are Available..." covers my initial research into available kits and which ones suited my needs.
Before the show I had in my head the order of preference as AK427, followed by the GDMk4, followed by the Pilgrim Sumo. I had ruled out the Hawk 289 (as being a 289 and not a 427) and the CR427 (as likely to be out of my price range) but would still have a look at them at the show.
First stop was the Hawk stand. I had a very good chat with the representative on the stand. He was very helpful and answered all my questions very patiently! The Hawk 289 was indeed a very nice car and couldn't fault it or the company other than I really prefer the look of the 427 Cobra and don't want to upset those who are selling authentic replicas by going down a more modern route in some areas of the build.
Next was the AK Sportcars stand. They had brought their latest demonstrator a candy apple green LS7 supercharged beast putting out about 630hp as well as their LS3 powered demonstrator the candy red "Rufus" plus a couple of owners cars as well.
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| AK Rolling Chassis |
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| Interior of "Rufus" |
Carla of AK Sportscars was extremely helpful, answered my long list of questions, and made sure that I was definitely on the list for the AK open day and had a test ride booked. The quality of the cars and the rolling chassis on display was really good and the guys on the stand were helpful and answered some follow-up questions that I had after looking round the show further.
The JK Sportcars stand was (for me) a bit disappointing. There were no completed examples of the Dax 427, only a couple of (just about) rolling chassis, one of which was fitted with an unfeasibly large Viper V10 engine. They did have a very nice Dax 427 Coupe, which looked very well finished, but not what I was interested in. I had a brief chat with John Kox, who was very helpful and managed to answer some of my questions, but I have to say the look of the stand did not reassure me as to my concerns of the longevity of the company!
Gardner Douglas were next. Another large stand with one of the GDEURO rolling chassis on display and a number of owners cars as well as a couple of the GD T70 sport cars. Meena gave me a full overview of the GD427, explaining the benefits of the GDEURO chassis in terms of handling and the safety aspects of the car including the "Whole Side" impact protection. A couple of the features of the GD that I really liked where the fact that the body is fully demountable allowing easy removal in the future should the need arise. The other aspect was that GD offer an option to include racing stripes within their gel coat finish thereby potentially saving the need for painting the car. The example on the stand finished in gel coat only looked pretty good to me.
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| GD427 with Gel Coat Stripes |
Next we visited the Crendon Replicas stand. Again I had a good chat with Anthony Hall who runs the company. He was very passionate about his product and the quality looked very impressive including the fact the body is bonded to the chassis for increased strength. However one of Anthony's big selling points was the authenticity of the CR427 and, as with the Hawk, I don't want to offend the purists by not building a true replica.
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| Crendon CR427 Chassis |
Finally we visited the Pilgrim Motorsports stand. Now maybe the chap on the stand was having an off day but despite me walking round the car on the stand for several minutes and trying to attract his attention there was no attempt to come over and engage in conversation. Eventually I went over to him and tried asking some questions to which I got very curt responses with none of the enthusiasm which all the others had given in talking about their products. At that point I'm afraid Pilgrim got crossed off my list.
Mulling over what we had seen and heard, we wandered around the rest of the show, which included an interesting chat with Cris Glover of Brasscraft (supplier of windscreens and petrol filler caps amongst other things to the Cobra replica scene) and Ben Thomson of Simply Performance (who provide full Jag axle donor packages for Cobra builders).
Having narrowed the choice down to either AK Sportscars or Gardner Douglas, with Gardner Douglas surprisingly just in front, we returned for a final look at the stands.
Now just as I had decided on Gardner Douglas primarily because, as an Engineer myself, I was extremely impressed with their ladder chassis and the GDEURO chassis being based on all new components, my son made an observation. He noticed that the transmission tunnel in the GD427 was slightly larger compared to the AK427. Obviously with the ladder chassis enclosing the gearbox on the GD427 the tunnel does need to be a bit bigger. However suddenly my eye was drawn to this and, while I'm sure it is actually only slightly bigger, it appeared huge! I could not un-see it!
We returned to the AK stand, and having checked out the interiors on their cars, my decision was made. It may not be be the most logical or considered reasoning behind such a choice; but AK was now the first choice.
On the way back to the car park we stopped off at the Cobra Owners Club area outside. I had a good chat with Mark Clayton (his build blog is listed to the right) about why he chose AK and how his build went. Everything he said convinced me even more that going the AK route would not be a bad choice.
Next step would be the AK Sportscars open day on May 20th.
