Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The Cobra is my personal favorite car. The original 289 Cobra is the car I respect the most. I like to drive the 289 better than the 427. —Carroll Shelby
If you’re not familiar with Kirkham Motorsports here’s some information that I gleaned from their website: Kirkham Motorsports began in 1994 with the mission to build the finest replicas in the world. It began when David Kirkham was restoring the 427 Shelby Cobra CSX3104. At the same time, a relative bought and imported a Polish fighter jet. The jet had bounced inside the shipping container and its nose was severely dented. David was called to repair the plane while inspecting the damage, realized how much its construction was similar to CSX3104.
Inspired, David found the manufacturer in Poland and sent them a fax. The note read, “Can you guys build an aluminum bodied car?” Within 12 hours the reply: “No problem.”
A week later, David was on a plane to Warsaw with an English-Polish dictionary, a toy model of a Cobra, and a dream. He spent a week scouting the factory and exploring their manufacturing abilities. The enormous factory had produced aircraft for over 60 years and he saw a silent factory with idle machines.
During the tour, David knew this was the place where he wanted to build cars. After meeting with three generations of skilled craftsmen who were eager to make these cars, he forged some agreements and left filled with high expectations and enthusiasm.
At the inception of the company, KM focused on building the most accurate replicas in the business. Since then, Kirkham Motorsports has become one of the leading manufacturers in the component car industry.
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Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography with new copies are available from Amazon for $21.50 and used copies starting around five bucks.