A Car Not For Novices

He should try the same trip in the 427. The new frame, still fabricated at AC Cars in England—but to Shelby specifications—is as stiff as a Redwood trunk and permits the equally-new coil sprung sus­pension to operate at maximum efficiency. Arning has designed the same anti-dive and anti-squat charac­teristics into the 427 Cobra that he used so successfully on the Ford GT and they contribute immensely to the 0–100–0 times the car is able to record. Under heavy acceleration, the car tracks nicely for a machine with such power, and its braking manners are magnificent. The massive Girling discs haul the car down from 100 mph-plus speeds like you’ve suddenly run into a sand bank, and much of this is due to the suspension’s anti-dive capability. The only defect we found in the Cobra’s acceleration-deceleration performance was a nasty little habit of trying to dog track when the throttle is wide open. The car will break traction to speeds beyond 100 mph and imprudent applications of power will send the tail-end slewing sideways. This apparently is an inbred trait in all front-engine auto­mobiles with power-to-weight ratios in the 6:1 range and no amount of suspension work can eliminate it entirely. Certainly wider-base racing tires will reduce the problem, but the fact remains that the Cobra 427 is not an automobile for novices.

Unlike the 427 Sting Ray, the Cobra has retained its identity as a raw-boned, wind-in-the-face sports car. While the Sting Ray is a completely civilized vehicle, available with everything from multiplex FM radio to air conditioning, the Cobra comes across the counter with the same kind of side curtains that English sports cars have carried since Sir Henry Seagrave first turned an ignition key. Another feature designed to delight the Purist is the hand-operated top, the erection of which may rank second only to folding up a road map for sheer, brain-addling com­plication. Some of the staff complained about these archaic fittings, claiming loudly that any automobile that lays claim to being contemporary should at least have roll-up windows and a power-operated top. Others defended the Cobra, arguing that its raw power, the great brakes and the advanced suspension create a vehicle with such unabashed appeal and excitement that the owner plain won’t give a damn about creature comfort. He might object if he knew that at any mo­ment an automobile could invade his chill, wind-buffeted world and blow his Cobra into the nearest ditch. But that just simply ain’t going to happen. The driver of a 427 Cobra, at the moment this is written, has about as much fear of being passed by a herd of stampeding Water Buffalo as he does by a faster automobile, and that alone can make up for a lot of uncivilized traveling.