Clone Cars/Fake Cobras/Fake Cobra R's

Makoto

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As a real cobra owner I've seen it from all the angles. There are a few different views from what i can gather:

1. the person who thinks the car is just flat out amazing but couldn't really tell you why
2. the person who see's that its special but not like some superdope amazomachine
3. the person who see's it as just another mustang

i'm somewhere between 2 and 3. I didn't even want a cobra. i proved that when i stuck a V6 nose on it. so for me, who see's a cobra as 80% branding and 20% upgrade with 90% of that being the motor which isn't THAT far removed from the GT's powerplant... I think clones are silly but not for the reasons most people do.

I don't look down my nose and scoff at a guy who wants to pretend he has something he doesn't. I think its silly because GT's are just fine.
SVT quality control was worse than ford's factory quality control and that's REALLY saying something in the 90's'.

most of the problems that were a headache to fix on the car were done by FORD. the cluster sucks. the engine is overly complex. the panels weren't right. they didn't even put the rear end holes in the right spot so going out of your way to make a clone of something that wasn't that great to begin with... is silly.

that said if someone could legitimately copy a 2000 cobra R and throw some AC in that hoe i'd be down like james brown for some of that.
 
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lwarrior1016

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But if you have a cobra outright, crash the car, buy a v6 shell to rebuild the cobra and swap everything from the cobra in to the v6 (vin included), do you still have your cobra?

Nobody would know the difference.
 
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garrittpwl

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Yes, still a clone. I covered that in my first post lol.

Let me put it to you this way
Let's say you make a Cobra clone as perfect as possible. (The VIN will ALWAYS tell you the truth about the car)
Would you sell the car as a Cobra?
You're still too literal. pretend VIN's don't exist.
 
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garrittpwl

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That is a tough one
You really have to look at it close
Thats the thought debate, you could, hypothetically build a terminator to exact terminator specs and noone would ever know otherwise unless you were to try and sell it. I've never seen anyone scanning VIN tags at a car show ;)
 

badass98svt

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But if you have a cobra outright, crash the car, buy a v6 shell to rebuild the cobra and swap everything from the cobra in to the v6 (vin included), do you still have your cobra?

Nobody would know the difference.

I'll ask again, would you be comfortable with selling it as a Cobra?
What states allow VINs to be swapped? I always assumed it was fraudulent in every state.


What else do we have for scenarios :D
 
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garrittpwl

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Also note, if this posts disappears and I show up with a terminator or 95 cobra R. You should probably scan the VIN ;)
 
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garrittpwl

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I'll ask again, would you be comfortable with selling it as a Cobra?
What states allow VINs to be swapped? I always assumed it was fraudulent in every state.


What else do we have for scenarios :D
disregard the sale/VIN scenario. Only the "I walked by a cobra R at cars and coffee" scenario.
 

ttocs

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if vin's do not exist then they are all only mustangs, until you add the cobra parts, and then the shelby parts. As we have pointed out you can stick a badge on anything, or swap a part or the motor but the vin is what is the designation legally.
 

duh09

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A clone is a clone is a clone.

At the end of the day, the only thing that makes a Cobra "special" is that Ford built it as a Cobra. You can swap everything, but that still doesn't make it a Cobra. It might be 100% the exact same as a Cobra, but that doesn't change what it was originally built as. That being said, there's a ton of Cobras out there and the "special" is easily lost so seeing a clone doesn't really excite me anymore than the real deal. I'm not a purist by any means and I don't really care what someone has, but seeing something legitimate and rare is special. I've seen tons of Thunderbolt clones, some really well built, some probably better than the OG, but I got to see a completely original true Thunderbolt, owned by the same man who bought it new, and the story and presence of that car made it a very special moment for me. That Y2KR that you're referencing is a super well built car and I can appreciate it for what it is, but it's still not a R.
 

Musturd

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But if you have a cobra outright, crash the car, buy a v6 shell to rebuild the cobra and swap everything from the cobra in to the v6 (vin included), do you still have your cobra?

Nobody would know the difference.
Not legally vin swaps aren’t legal and there’s Lot more then one
 

Musturd

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Clones or tribute cars are just that . Owning gt’s and cobras the 8th digit of the vin is very important to mustang people . I won’t ever be able to afford a teal 93 cobra so I’ll have to make a fake one .
 

ReplicaR

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About two years ago, I decided to turn my GT into a Saleen clone. I bought all of the original Saleen body kit that was still for sale from Saleen, the spoiler had to come from Kaenen, but it's still top notch part. I even bought all of the Saleen factory decals. I'm pretty honest with people, when they ask if it's a real Saleen, I tell them that it isn't, because VIN entry aside, I didn't think Saleen was THAT SPECIAL. At the core of it, the very basic package was mostly a body kit and some wheels, if you didn't spring for the performance upgrades, you would have all of 215 hp to shout about. My car outperforms any SN95 factory Saleen ever made. Cobra R is slightly more unique, and I don't know how to feel about that. If the original owner is happy with his effort, then so be it, I'm not the one to judge. If the original owner goes out of the way to tell people that his car is the real deal, that might be a bit silly in my opinion.
 

Musturd

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About two years ago, I decided to turn my GT into a Saleen clone. I bought all of the original Saleen body kit that was still for sale from Saleen, the spoiler had to come from Kaenen, but it's still top notch part. I even bought all of the Saleen factory decals. I'm pretty honest with people, when they ask if it's a real Saleen, I tell them that it isn't, because VIN entry aside, I didn't think Saleen was THAT SPECIAL. At the core of it, the very basic package was mostly a body kit and some wheels, if you didn't spring for the performance upgrades, you would have all of 215 hp to shout about. My car outperforms any SN95 factory Saleen ever made. Cobra R is slightly more unique, and I don't know how to feel about that. If the original owner is happy with his effort, then so be it, I'm not the one to judge. If the original owner goes out of the way to tell people that his car is the real deal, that might be a bit silly in my opinion.
Well said . I love the looks of saleens
 

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