I hadn't owned a sports car in years. I had been toying with the idea of getting a motorcycle, but remembering
all the broken bones they had provided me, I was hesitant. Then, when my wife saw a Cobra at the Pearl City
Shopping Center and said, "That's a cool car," I thought this would be something that I could actually start
scheming for. Over the years, I had been a British sports car aficionado. I had owed a 1975 MGB,
a 1971 MGB, a 1967 MGB (by far the best one) a 1971 MG Midget and 1961 MGA. Call me a glutton for punishment.
After all the torture that the people from Morris Garage had put me though, now was a chance for a real high
performance sports car. Since Real McCoy Cobras cost a lifetime of wages for most people, I knew that a kit was
my only option.I didn't like the Beatles very much when I first heard them; I am slow to recognize greatness when it is revealed. It was the same with the the Cobra. At first, I felt that a Cobra was too ostentatious. Too much testosterone. Too sexy. Too muscular. The attitude of a Harley but more snobbish. For me, a Cobra completes the fantasy of being a hood.
I called nearly every kit car company listed in the kit car magazines. I sent away for brochures, I called for information, I surfed web pages and newsgroups on the Internet to find out as much as I could about the legendary Snake and fake Snakes.
Since I had abandoned the idea of building a Cobra in Hawaii because I didn't have a garage, I had resigned myself to buying a "turnkey" in the mainland. I decided to purchase a car from Cobra builder, Mike Mack, in Brownstown, Pennsylvania.
The dream of going coast to coast in a Cobra began to take over much of my thoughts. In retrospect, there were several reasons why my obsession grew for this great adventure.
For me, traveling has always been a laxative for the routine, and what better way to travel than in a replica of a Shelby AC Cobra? Well, OK, in a real Cobra, but we've covered that ground.
Secondly, I saw the trip as a way of seeing the USA again after having been isolated from the mainland for ten years. Some say that they get rock bound here in Hawaii. They ask, "Don't you ever just want to get in your car and just drive?" Well, you can, but your only option here is to go either clockwise or counterclockwise, and in about three hours, you're back to where you started from. I was getting a little itch to "just drive." The trip would be a way of visiting old friends, old places, and I would do it in an "old" car. The word nostalgia came to mind, but this trip would not aim at living the past; it would simply be for refreshing my memories.
Thirdly, this was the year of fulfilling dreams. My pregnant wife was getting her dream, a baby, and I was getting my own baby. My baby was to be BRG with white racing stripes. This trip was to be my last hurrah before I had to accept the permanent responsibilities of a being a father. My wife was enthusiastic about my trip. She sincerely wanted me to go and have the time of my life. We were both happy.
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