Mustang Cobra 1997 Coupe Newbie from Germany

Timm

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Hello everyone!
I am a Ford Fan that has finally managed to get one of my "dream cars"; a Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Coupe from 1997. I bought it via a Ford dealership which is owned by a German Racing driver who used to drive a Ford Mustang Racer in Germany in 1985 and 1986; Roland Asch.

The car itself was apparently built dircetly for a Japanese buyer and that is good for me because it had a kilometre speedometer right from the beginning. I bought it from someone who bought several cars on his holiday in Sweden.

So finally it found its way to me and I am quite happy to have it.

I know it might be a sin to change anything on the car but still there are some things I would like to optimize for myself. The most important thing is to find an IRS from a 1999 to 2004 Cobra and put it in the car instead of the rigid axle. Of course the Cobras are rare in Central Europe and I would be more than lucky to find a crashed Cobra for small money to get the IRS out of it.

So as with other parts I might need or want I am really hoping that you guys could help me to find and obtain these parts. I have so far found a second trunk lid and another steering wheel. My steering wheel is a bit worn and bits of the beige colour or whatever it is has come off. So I going to have it covered in leather by a professional. I also want a rear spoiler that looks like the Saleen style item. I have already gotten the spoiler and a friend of mine is going to collect the other trunk lid in Cologne hopefully next week or so.

On the long run I also would love some wider wheels on the rear. In Germany with our TUEV this is of course rather complicated and becomes a very expensive project very fast. But all of these changes have some time for now as I will only really work on the car during the winter. I will not sacrifice this little Cobra on our German roads where they always spread tons and tons of salt as soon as there is one snowflake visible. That is a really dumb habit and has gotten worse.

Some more facts abou myself: I have grown up in several European Fords and the first one to really have a big impression on me was the Ford Consul/Granada from 1972-1977. My dad used to have several in a row and when I was old enough and had a driving licence I got a Granada Coupe with a 2.3 litre V6 in it. For Germany this used to be a big engine and I had to pay a lot of tax for the car. I was training to become a Ford Car Mechanic and my dream was to put a Ford V8 in my little Granada; a 427 unit was what I wanted. Of course this never happened. Just like any of my real dream cars: AC Cobra 427; Ford GT40 and a 1970 Mustang Fast Back like a Boss or Mach 1 (I am born in 1970). Later I learned that Basil Green and Perana Cars actually built a European Granada with a 302 Windsor in it and even equipped with a toplaoder 4-speed gearbox. So I wanted to recreate such a car as a tribute car. But I wanted to use a German car because of course all the cars in South Africa have the steering wheel on the wrong side. I managed to find a Coupe and later I even imported an original Ford Granada V8 from South Africa. Always using every Penny I had; buying some parts like the original oil pan that fits under the 302 in a Granada made of alloy and so on. In the end I was not able to finish that project and had to sell all the cars. Now, some years later I took a new start and sold a lot of stuff and cars and motorbikes I had collected again. All of them were not really expensive cars and bikes. But I really made an effort and hung on to the money and put it in a savings account straight away. And now 2026 I was finally able to have the money to get that Cobra.

That is part of my story so far.

Kind regards and Greetings from Germany (not too far away from Ramstein Airbase)
 

96blak54

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Welcome to the forums! We here are happy to see new members across the pond. Youll find other regular visiting European members here too. Your enthusiasm for the sn95 platform is refreshing. Be sure to post us some pictures. Better yet, start a build thread in the "Build ups and Projects" thread! Post pictures and build progress in that thread so that we all can watch you grow and best yet, years latter you can enjoy seeing your car evolve.

There are a few guys here that have experience with shipping parts across seas and we all together are always tracking down parts to help each other. Welcome along and dont be a stranger!
 

cobrajeff96

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Man you just missed out, I just sold a nearly complete IRS to someone here in the Kaiserslautern area. But I can get any of that stuff shipped over here through FRA Cargo, I've done it many times with big/heavy parts. Just let me know what you need and we can work out a deal.

I've been helping a German friend of mine with his Coyote swap into an S197 who lives near Stuttgart. He loves the car and wants to keep spending money on it. I'm actually mailing him parts by local DHL soon.
 

Daryl

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Welcome, Timm
Appreciate all the info and backstory in your Intro. Great job! I have a feeling that Cobrajeff is going to be your new best friend. Not only is he reliable but he’s extremely knowledgeable and he’s in Germany! Lucky you++
 
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Timm

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Thank you very much for this encouraging welcome!

Yes, I will take some pictures and let you know what is happening.

And yes, that seems to be me finally having some luck! A fellow Ford Maniac located in Germany!!!

Of course as the Mustang came to Germany officially in 2014/2015 with Ford Europe finally playing along there are 1000s of new Ford Mustang fans. But they surely go not such a long way back and have been longing for American Muscle since they were kids. And they are not really interested in the "history" of the Mustang and all that goes with it and the older V8 engines. Most of them just have more enough money and they just buy the newest Mustang or get the most powerful one or have them powered up some more. But most of them also do no work themselves and get their hands dirty. But that is just part of my interest in Ford. For me it is always the "working class cars" and I love it when they leave the expensive BMWs, Mercedes and Porsche or other expensive sports cars in the dust. I just gave up on my Ford Scorpio V6 24Vs. These cars are quite rare but during a lot of years you could pick one up for very little money. Still they had this Cosworth V6 24Valve engine in it. It only had 195 hp but they only came with an automatic 4-speed transmission which was just going on and on with the top speed. On the speedo you easily hit 260 km/h on the Autobahn and it would still go higher. Of course that were no real 260 or 270 but all of the Porsche, BMW and Mercedes of the period and even newer cars were restricted to 250 km/h speedometer wise. So you could overtake any +100.000 Dollar car in your Ford V6 which you have bought for something like 2000 or 3000 Dollars. The Sierra and Escort Cosworth got quite expensive now but basically it is the same. If people can drive they will crush any Porsche on country roads in cars still half the price or less.

Okay, so I will try to take some decent pictures and maybe start a thread in the "Build up and projects" section.

Thank you again for having me!


Man you just missed out, I just sold a nearly complete IRS to someone here in the Kaiserslautern area. But I can get any of that stuff shipped over here through FRA Cargo, I've done it many times with big/heavy parts. Just let me know what you need and we can work out a deal.

I've been helping a German friend of mine with his Coyote swap into an S197 who lives near Stuttgart. He loves the car and wants to keep spending money on it. I'm actually mailing him parts by local DHL soon.
Wow, that is great news! Well for now that is exactly what I need, a complete IRS from a 1999 to 2004 Cobra. If you can get that for me I would be in your debt!
 
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Timm

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I am also desperate for Recaro seat consoles. I can find some seats but I have a hard time to find any consoles that are a direct fit for the Mustang 1994-1998. There must be some around or at least someone must have a set as there were Recaro seats in the 2000 Mustang Cobra R and the Saleen cars. I would be very thankfuö if someone could help me with this.
 
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Timm

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Yeah, well I figured this will not be easy......Still, I will not give up easily.
 

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