Well, its been a whirlwind of a ride! In a matter of 2 months almost to the day Mike Everson and myself have managed to build in my opinion an awesome roadster, complete with many mods and frills…..







My first ride…. For some reason no sound; but with the CATS and GasNPipes, the sound is soft and quiet….makes for an easier long distance drive….

http://s347.photobucket.com/componen...psh6fjrar9.mp4

So, I've given this whole experience a lot of thought…… I know that many have built these cars on their own, relying on help from the forum and their own abilities to build their cars. Once completed, I can only imagine the sheer joy of accomplishment of something so cool being built by one's self. I would say nothing could be more satisfying; however, there is another level of satisfaction and accomplishment. While not for everyone, it worked out perfectly for me given my unique circumstances. I paid for the privilege of working with a Master Builder for the past 2 months, of which in reality only 21 days of actual labor was put into the build, while taking into consideration the body and paint was being accomplished in unison. It took 2 months to the day only because of delays waiting for my drivetrain, powder coating, and a couple of parts on back order…I took advantage of this time to help Mike on other customer's builds while we waited for my stuff to come in...

What I learned from the experience is many fold; first I realized while I may have been able to do it on my own, but it would have been more than a year to work through the various stages of the build. Having a Master Builder (who's built more than 60+ cars already!) by your side and giving instructions on what we'll do next and the rationale why is priceless, which was why the build went so fast. Having someone who has all of the tools needed, and the capability to engineer metalwork on the fly was the real secret as to why we could do a build with only 3 weeks of labor.

Mike had all of these self created "jigs" that made any of the body drilling a breeze with no fear of drilling in the wrong spot; whenever I ran into an area of which I was tentative to do something, he would look at it and say "you might want to try this, this way" I would laugh and see the relevance of what he was saying and press forward with confidence. Actually it was more than that; the kit itself while remarkable, still has some issues that require one to think on the fly to resolve. But that never seemed to be a real problem; between the both of us (more Mike than me) we could come up with a solution, and having Mike's machine shop in back, manufacture a part that would solve the problem in short order.

If I had to pick one aspect of the build that I enjoyed most, it was doing just that…solving the problems and having the where withal to effect a solution….so now its over…

Tomorrow I leave for Nova Scotia with my roadster on the trailer; I am so grateful for a very supportive wife who I kept in a small studio apartment for 2 months while I fulfilled one of my dreams, I couldn't have done it without her support. I've made great new friends with Mike and his lovely wife Laura; as well as a number of Cobra owners in the area who always seem to stop by to ask Mike for advice (loved those days). I'm very humble in the sense that not everyone can do what I did (retiring and living out of a suitcase for 2 months); but if you could, I believe you would find the same exhilarating experience that I had….I could say more but to sum up… I planned for this for 7 years and was able to see it through…so happy and grateful…..