|
|
|
|
07/12/10 |
        
|
Here's a quick story about how all this started...My name is Randy Jones and I’m a Chevy guy from the high school days but that wasn’t too long ago considering I’m in my mid thirties. I had Camaro’s back then but was lucky enough to have a great friend that got to own about any type of car he wanted. He was manly a Chevy guy but had Fords and Mopars so every make was well represented. We worked endless hours on his collection and I learned about all things gearhead related… Winter 2003: One evening, we were watching TV and Julie, who is a big convertible advocate (Her toy is a BMW Z3) saw a Cobra. She absolutely knew what it was and said that the Cobra was one of the coolest cars she had ever seen. She went on about the fact that she had been in love with them since she saw one in the movie: ‘Romancing the Stone’. I said, ‘I’ve wanted to build one of those for years…’ She said, ‘What do you mean, build?’. I showed her a FFR magazine ad and said, ‘They make kits. I can build one…’ Ok….let’s do it!
With that short conversation, it was decided… It was winter but Mark Stackler who lives nearby, let us look at his beautiful Mark I. I placed the order the next day. The build: We went to the factory to pick up the kit and had a great experience. Thanks again to Mark Weber and all the guys that were there that morning. I set the kit on the jackstands on July 1st started right in. My plan was to put a Small Block Chevrolet in it that I had in a crate since the mid ‘90’s. I also had a Chevy TH700R-4 4 speed auto transmission that I would use. They both fit great and after fabricating and painting the engine mounts and transmission crossmember, the engine and transmission look like they were designed to be there. We're driving in gelcoat right now. The plan is to get things finished up and then pull the body for paint during the winter.
The Webcam: At the start of the build, I knew that I wasn’t going to have to the time to do an Internet build site like so many do so I thought that the next best thing would be to put up a Webcam so that everyone could stop in and see what I was doing from time to time. Basically, there is a 1.3 megapixel digital camera mounted on the wall in the garage that takes a picture once a minute. The page will reload automatically about every minute. The url to the web page is:
www.gpsconnection.com/project/427sc.html
It’s neat to know that people stop in for a look. Very often, I’m out in the garage working and an FFR friend will see me out there and call on the phone to talk about whatever. It’s a lot of fun…
Here’s some information on the car:
Car: FFR Mark III ordered without engine mounts. Factory powdercoated and 3-link. Autometer Ultralight gauges. Engine: 1969 Small Block Chevy 350 (stroked to 383) with AFR 195 (all ported and match ported to the DZ replica intake), Edelbrock 750 cfm carburetor, custom fabricated four into four headers, etc. It hasn't been on the dyno yet but should make the goal of 500hp at the crank easily. Transmission: Art Carr built TH-700R-4 4 speed automatic with custom lockup torque converter. It is supposed to be good for 450ft/lbs of torque, we’ll see! Front suspension, brakes, and steering: 1994 Mustang SN95 spindles and brakes, 7" vacuum power booster and Corvette Master Cylinder, and Flaming River (equivalent) 18:1 manual rack. Rear end: 1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe 8.8. 3.55 gears and disc brakes. 3 link with coilovers (3-link deluxe bundle) Wheels: FFR’s 17x9 and 17x10.5 Bullits with 245’s in the front and 315’s in the back! It looks totally mean from the rear! The working color combination right now is: 2004 BMW Imola Red with Anthricite silver metallic stripes. (Ghost flames in the stripes!) |
This site was last updated 08/26/07