Kit Car

Shop Tour: California Cobra - Shop Tour - Kit Car Magazine

By Eric Geisert

Do you think world-renowned cooks ever retire? Maybe hang out in a one-room apartment and eat TV dinners on the sofa? Probably not. People who are good at what they do usually keep doing it for most of their lives. The same could be said for photographers, painters, and even construction workers, as they will probably continue to create long after people stop paying them for their work. It's because it's in their blood--it's just what they do.

Armond Caprio, a second-generation construction worker who ran the company his father started for 20 years, thought it might be time to retire from the business that had provided him with great success. But while he had the business, he also had a hobby--building cars for himself.

Mostly into Cobras and '32 Fords, Armond would fix one up for himself, sell it, then move onto another project. For him it wasn't so much about the finished product--it was about the build process. But the kit industry in the '80s was not what it is today, and after building one particular Cobra (Armond called it "miserable"), he shelved the idea of Cobras and focused on street rods. Armond was reintroduced to the Cobra kit car world when he ran across a Cobra kit from Contemporary. After doing some research, he decided to build an Everett-Morrison kit, and completed it with a 427 side-oiler motor and a Jaguar rear suspension. After finishing it, he took it to various shows and was approached to sell his driver. He held off for a while, but one gentleman couldn't take no for an answer and kept raising his price until Armond said yes. (It took nine months.)

With that money, he started the next project with a 427. But that first customer came back with a friend and asked Armond to build the friend an Everett-Morrsion. By the '90s, he was working on all sorts of kits: Midstates, ERA, E-M, Contemporary, Classic Roadsters--just about all of them, which made Armond proficient at building each one.

By the late '90s, he'd built his first Factory Five Roadster and was intrigued with their donor car concept. By '99, he decided to retire from the construction business, but he built an 1,800-square-foot shop behind his house so he could continue building cars.

Now retired, he could work on his cars, but not full-time (mostly, he says, because life gets in the way), so the average build time was 18 to 24 months. In the second year he sold his fourth car. By now he felt he could make a go of it as a "real" business, so he moved all his tools to a 1,500-square-foot shop on Greenfield Avenue in El Cajon and opened California Cobra in 2001. He shared the building with someone who stored cars and, a year later, bought him out and increased the shop to 2,900 square feet. He also met up with Miguel Villavicencio, an expert body and paint man and soon a valuable asset to the company. In '01 Armond sold three cars, in '02 it was six, by '03 the number grew to 16, and in '04 he nearly doubled his car output by selling 31 vehicles. The success of the business necessitated a larger shop, so Armond, Miguel, and the other employees moved a few miles west onto Vernon Way and into their current 7,000-square-foot shop. The space was a godsend as the pair was now able to have separate work areas for each aspect of a build (bodywork, paint, prep/assembly, a finished car area, a showroom and parts counter, plus an office where Armond could discuss cars with potential customers).

Not the type of builder who shuts the shop door after each sale, Armond not only drives the cars they finish 200 miles to make sure everything is assembled correctly before turning it over to his customer, but he also wants the car back after 1,200 miles for a free service that includes a filter and oil change plus another check of nearly every bolt and nut. It's that commitment to quality and customer care that keeps Armond and California Cobra's name in good standing with the Cobra crowd, but also why Backdraft Racing came calling three years ago. Looking for a West Coast distributor for its unique Cobra roadsters (using BMW suspension in the chassis), Backdraft found their ideal shop in California Cobra.

Though now a distributor for Backdraft, California Cobra will work on any type of car, and continues to be the kind of shop you feel safe giving your car to. After talking with Armond, you just know it'll come back being the best it can be. No excuses--done right the first time. For Backdraft Cobras, Armond says he'll deliver a car 45 to 60 days after it is ordered, a full runner and ready for the street. He'll even update to the stiffer M3 suspension components, but he doesn't push that option, as the ride is quite a bit rougher than the standard BMW suspension offers. The only time he recommends the M3 setup is when the customer wants a 427 powerplant, because the heavier engine requires a beefier suspension. Customers can order nearly any engine type for their ride, and many of his engines come via Ben Smeding, the performance crate engine builder (Smeding uses all-new parts in every build).

At 60 years old, Armond wonders how long he'll continue with the business, as he is oft heard to say, "I am retired, you know," (something we're sure his wife reminds him about, too). But his reward is seeing how happy his customers are when they get to climb into their cars for the first time and take them around the block. Armond believes service is what separates him from some of the other builders--service his customers can count on.

Chances are good Armond won't give up this aspect of his life anytime soon, just as great cooks will always have something good on the table for themselves at dinnertime. It's just the way the universe works.