2017 London Cobra Show Rocks!

[Dave Smith]

I traveled out to the 2017 London Cobra Show for yet another great day on the main streets of London, OH with hundreds of Factory Five and other make Cobras. The day starts earlier with a parade/cruise into town… nowhere else will you see so many Cobra replicas in one place thundering down the street with a police escort. The build-up to the Saturday car show is a week-long of cruises and track days that more than a handful of people participate in.

The big day is Saturday, and Saturday night is the awards dinner. This year, the club donated $100,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! I was assisted in the Factory Five display by the great guys from the Factory Five Build School (Quentin, Jim, and Scott), Chris Ronni, and a whole host of Factory Five customers including Henry Renaud, Jeff Miller, Jeff Kleiner, Karen Salvaggio, Sten Johnson, and so many others. Pete from BluePrint Engines was at the show to answer customer questions about their engine packages for Factory Five builds, and Chris from FormaCars brought his award-winning Mk4 Roadster and 818 Sports Car to the show.


The London Cobra Show is a great place to reconnect with friends from the forum and the Factory Five community. I was stoked to see Jeff “Da Bat” Miller and his trusty sidekick Robin, a.k.a. Jeff Kleiner.


The weather was absolutely perfect. Clear skies and cool temperatures in the low 70s all day long. The event got lucky as the remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy pounded the area the day before with more than 3″ of rain.



Some great VIP guests were on hand this year. Above: Racecar driver John Morton. Below: Sherry MacDonald and her son Rich (right) with myself and Karen Salvaggio (left). Sherry is the wife of late and very great racecar driver Davey MacDonald who was killed at the Indy 500 in 1964.




Factory Five is about father-son projects and showing off the 600+ HP car you just built!

[Dave Smith]

I can promise you that this little girl’s dad is counting the days until he can do a father-daughter Factory Five.


We brought our newest Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe street car and race version, our 289 USRRC/FIA Roadster, our Mk4 street car, and our famous half mobile Mk4. Factory Five customer Karen Salvaggio brought her brand-new Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe all the way from California.


It was a perfect day to check out Factory Fives close-up.


The running and driving, completely functional Mk4 “Half Mobile” is a crowd favorite everywhere it goes.


Factory Five Chris Ronni brought the big rig out with all of our cars.


Old Bob here built an absolutely beautiful Gen 2 Type 65 Coupe.


Roger and Me. But this story is a lot better than that one about GM!

[Dave Smith]

Factory Five customer Frank Winship and his beautiful Factory Five Roadster was giving charity rides all day. He gave more rides than any one else logging 50+ blasts down the street with passengers for charity.


The London, OH police are on hand to make sure the charity rides are fun and SAFE for everyone.


Factory Five customer Henry Renaud did a great job helping out in the booth and showing off his Robin’s Egg Blue Factory Five Mk4.


Factory Five customer John Takvorian celebrated his birthday at El Vaquero. One of the great things about the London Cobra Show is re-connecting with friends.


The parade is simply awesome! And the weather made it even better.


I am Batman!


The Ohio Cobra Club manages this show keeping it fun, safe, and something that should be on everyone’s bucket list.

[Dave Smith]

Blue skies + blue Coupes = Paradise.



Above & Below: I was honored to have had the chance to add my name to some serious craftsmanship.




Gordon Gross from the Ohio Cobra Club was in charge of the track day at Mid-Ohio. He was also in charge of the charity rides. I like the sticker on the back of his car that says, “Four out of five of the voices in my head tell me to go for it!”


The line for Cobra rides was long all day throughout the entire day and everyone left with a smile on their face.


The rain-out on Friday meant that Factory Five customers invaded the local go-kart track.

The London Cobra Show is much more than a few photos or videos can even convey. It is a group of big-hearted car guys and gals committed to raising money for a great cause and having a ton of fun doing it. See you next year in London!

Photos courtesy Karen Salvaggio.

[GoDadGo]

This Run Will Definitely Be On My Bucket List!

[David Hodgkins]

This Run Will Definitely Be On My Bucket List!

Yep, ditto. I want to drive there too.

[steno]

A great time was had by ALL! The best thing about carting was that if we bust them we don't have to repair them! Rain or shine, we'll have a good time!

[edwardb]

Another great year for the London Cobra Show. Our 6th year attending with a Roadster. We went a couple times before just to look. The monsoon rains on Friday shut down all the cruises, but Saturday was the nicest since we've been attending. Awesome drive into London and great time visiting with lots of folks during the event. Gave several charity rides with the new Anniversary Roadster. Was fun seeing what it would do (pretty amazing) but even more fun seeing the reaction of the riders. They announced during the driver's meeting that some people had asked for slow rides vs. the normal fast ones. So we should be prepared for that. I asked each of my riders whether they wanted fast or slow. "Fast!" was always the answer. No surprise there. I also spent more quality time drooling over the Gen 3 Coupe. Discussed a bit during the ride home, and looks like it's a go for sometime later this year. Cool!

[Dave Howard]

Another successful 1,200 mile round trip in the roadster to the London Cobra show. Many thanks to the organizers for a job well done. Thanks to Gord Gross for leading a contingent of cars for a cruise to the National Air Force Aviation museum in Dayton. Yeah, it was a wet day but all part of the driving adventure. If I was concerned about the elements id buy a trailer and keep the car in it even on sunny days for fear the UV rays might fade the paint. Haha..... NOT A CHANCE.
The car ran great. Crammed in a dozen hard charity rides and drove 600 miles home. Thanks to FFR for a great product.

[PeteH]

This was my first visit, just a day trip down from NW Ohio, and will definitely put it on my calendar for next year. Maybe the 289 will be ready by then. Took all back roads with the Healey, great drive. Without knowing exactly where it was, I just drove into town until I heard "the sound", and followed to within a block of the drags. It was great to see all the activities, met with a few of the local Lake Snakes club members, and had a chance to meet Dave Smith briefly, and have a good look at the FF cars. Seeing all the various builds is an awesome experience, is a sensory overload situation. I saw Dave Howards car with Ontario plates, and was pointed out edwardb's car, booth stunning to see up close, I look forward to meeting the forum members as well in the future.
Having helped plan Conclaves and major cars shows, I certainly appreciate and thank the organizers for a great job in planning and executing this show, there is an unbelievable amount of work that goes on for many months in the background to put it all together. Well done!