A couple of years ago i decided to look into possibly building a Cobra kit car. The main problem is that the RTA considers you a car manufacturer and you therefore have to comply with all of the current regulations, set out for design in the ADR's .

A build can take a couple of years during which the regs can change, fortunately the RTA recognises this and gives some time based concessions. The problem of meeting the emissions regs in particular precluded me getting a 'half cut' Lexus from Japan and I therefore settled on trying to identify a suitable written off non-rergisterable Oz car from the NRMA auctions at Smithfield. Attending the aution was a story in itself, maybe for telling at another time.

The donor car, a Commodore SV6 was built in Oct04. This car clearly complied at that time and therefore I have 3 years to build and register the car before I am subject to new regs. The kit I have chosen (from over a dozen Cobra kits in Oz!)is by Homebush Fibreglass. Whilst not the most technically advanced chassis the bodywork is excellent and Brian Crane came with a number of good recommendations regarding assistance through the build. He is also local which counts for a lot as far as I am concerned.

People have different aims when building Cobras. Some want a car as faithful as possible to the original Shelby Cobra, others want a racing car. For my part I want a practical car using the technology which is available today. I want to use as much off the donor car as possible consistent with the Cobra looking like a Cobra.