I Wonder If The Wheels are Straight...

http://bangshift.com/blog/total-destruction-we-find-a-obliterated-shelby-cobra-replica-on-copart-com.html

I would feel some bad juju from buying a crashed car that someone died in.

Story about the crash

I wouldn't knowingly touch any part of it

damn... I guess glassfibre is not all that up to running head on into a modern car. May the driver RIP, but I am glad the family got out of it ok

I always dreamed of owning a Shelby Cobra replica. I was hoping the guy would have survived that crash.

I know that once the Europa is on the streets I'll need to drive it with the same care as riding a motorcycle - 1600lbs of fiberglass with a tiny 16ga sheetmetal backbone isn't going to hold up well to any contact with a 5000lb SUV.

Yeah, my early Spridget is like a tin can w/ zero side-intrusion protection, and the Radical, if I ever have "The Big One" will consume the entire car, hopefully leaving me intact strapped into the roll cage and main chassis.

petegossett wrote: I know that once the Europa is on the streets I'll need to drive it with the same care as riding a motorcycle - 1600lbs of fiberglass with a tiny 16ga sheetmetal backbone isn't going to hold up well to any contact with a 5000lb SUV.

the only difference between a Europa and a bike.. it's hard to lay a Europa down

fasted58 wrote: I wouldn't knowingly touch any part of it

Wuss! I've taken parts out of wrecks with blood-spattered interiors.

Looks like there was probably some significant speed involved. I've seen crash pictures of FFR roadsters and they generally looked much better than expected.

I have to say with how I have seen people driving those it doesn't surprise me to see one looking like that. Junkyards rarely put cars out here with blood in them or anything like that, the only exception I can think of is that usually if the airbag is blown in a ford focus it has a big blood stain on it, other than that not really.

GameboyRMH wrote:

fasted58 wrote: I wouldn't knowingly touch any part of it

Wuss! I've taken parts out of wrecks with blood-spattered interiors.

I got my wrx suspension off of a wagon some guy blew his head off in. Interior parts were off limits.

dj06482 wrote: Looks like there was probably some significant speed involved. I've seen crash pictures of FFR roadsters and they generally looked much better than expected.

That is a cruddy old on frame shell valley or knockoff cobra. Not a FFR tube frame car.

not that I think a tube frame cobra is say safer then a Corolla but its a darn site better then that thing.

It's a Superformance car, or was.

Owners page.

That is a Superformance after a crash?

FFR please.

I was in Berkeley the other day and saw a AC ace and it had the 289 badge on the side of it and was either steel or aluminum body as it had metal showing. The car was in overall good unrestored condition but a bit crusty with dings and dent and flaking paint. Weird to see the real deal, especially sitting on the UC campus parking lot with the top down and no steering lock.

nicksta43 wrote: It's a Superformance car, or was. Owners page.

Odd to see a picture of the car in a pond. I wonder if that was taken at the road course in Gainesville. The Deep South cobra club runs there often.

Sad to read words written by the owner. :(

GameboyRMH wrote:

fasted58 wrote: I wouldn't knowingly touch any part of it

Wuss! I've taken parts out of wrecks with blood-spattered interiors.

There may be enough bad karma in one's life without dragging someone else's home.

Looks like there was probably some significant speed involved.

Yea, I think I'd agree with that.

Having owned an FFR for 5 years and being very active in the Cobra community then, I'm sad to say that it doesn't suprise me in the least. I heard of at a fatality, or very serious crash at least once every two months. I'm willing to bet the owner of this one didn't have the car very long. 90% of these accidents were people who only had the car a month, maybe two and didn't know how to handle it. They'd do something crazy, out of character for them, over their heads and lose control of the car. FFRs are very stoutly built, but even they don't hold up really well when high speeds and other cars are involved. Cars like the SPF hold up even worse.

I had a good friend in the Cobra community who died this way... Sadly, he was one of the rare ones. He had his car for many years before the crash. To this day, nobody knows what happened.

petegossett wrote: I know that once the Europa is on the streets I'll need to drive it with the same care as riding a motorcycle - 1600lbs of fiberglass with a tiny 16ga sheetmetal backbone isn't going to hold up well to any contact with a 5000lb SUV.

I feel the same way when I drive my GT6 or the g/f's Spitfire. I'm pretty sure the Mini will feel the same. Driving the Spitfire through rush-hour highway traffic with the top down shortly after it was purchased in 2005 was one of the scariest things I've ever done. I've never felt so exposed and vulnerable and I do a lot of bicycle riding on the road...

With a roughly 5:1 HP to weight ratio, I'd imagine that car was something that could easily go from good to very bad with little warning or chance for recovery. May he rest in peace.

nicksta43 wrote: It's a Superformance car, or was. Owners page.

Much foreshadowing and irony in this page.

All of the sympathetic comments I've seen about this seem to focus on the driver of the Cobra. I feel far worse for the family that he seriously injured and for his own family, than I do for him. They will all innocent victims who will have to live with the repercussions of his actions for the rest of their lives.

Passenger seat looks fine. Not even any brown spots.

My stomach twisted up when I saw that. I never feel good seeing any kind of accident like that.

I feel bad for the family injured and the family he left behind.