Looking For Opinions

[$tangman]

I have two 93 Cobra's, both black with opal leather and no sun roof. One is really clean that just rolled 59,000 miles on it, but it has a rebuilt title. I bought it out of Atlanta and it had been in a front end collision with the left front frame rail pushed over a little and the aprons and radiator core support buckled. I had it professionally repaired and you would never know it has been in an accident. The other one is the one that I am looking for advice or opinions on, it has 180K miles on it and needs everything. I am in the process of restoring it to pretty original but to my likings as well. The interior is totally worn out and it needs pretty much everything replaced, I have a really nice complete black cloth interior I'm thinking about switching it out with, what do you Cobra guys think? I know it won't be original but the factory motor has already been changed out also so I wouldn't think it would really matter. The car itself is very straight and never been wrecked according to carfax, just driven to death like a regular car. I just don't know how far I want to go on the car as far as putting it back to original. Need opinions

[Mike S.]

It's certainly no secret that the '93 Cobras are the most valuable and sought after of the factory Foxes. Not too long ago, the advise would have been to do what you like, it's your car, it's a high mile example, it needs a bunch of stuff, etc. so just go nuts. But in the current and foreseeable market, you'd be better off restoring that car to as original as you can, and with as few Chinese parts as possible. It's getting to the point that high miles don't matter as much anymore. The old example is a late '60s Shelby, like a GT500. Those cars are 150-250K regularly, nobody cares about whatever mileage they may have accrued, and many of them have replacement engines. (And many of those have re-stamped blocks and transmissions and are sold as numbers matching, but we won't go there) Correct, nice restorations as stock as possible bring the money, and always have. the '93 Cobras are headed there, and faster than you may think.

This isn't to say that you shouldn't do anything to them, just keep it down to bolt-on mods that can be easily reversed, and keep the stock parts in storage. Best of luck with the restoration.

[buddha]

A car like that you aren't going to hurt the value of. One, they aren't that damn rare. Look how many of them have been bought and sold the last 2 years when the market went sideways. There's alwasy going to be a nicer, lower mileage car out there. My first one had some miles on it but was clean and rust free. Perfect for the stroker/blower combo I put in it. I didn't go nuts with the car or do anything as silly as screwing a monster tach to the dash. The "worst" thing I did was cut into the fendor apron for the blower inlet. I'd just freshen the car up the way you like it, be mindful of the 93' Cobra specific parts and enjoy it.