Cutting Edge Cobra Replicar - A Cut Above

What type of street-driven car would you buy if all you were interested in was pure horsepower? That was Gary Morrissette's initial thought when he went looking for something that would fit the bill. Cobras, a car he'd always heard about while growing up, fascinated him so much that when he heard by word of mouth about a Cobra manufacturer not too far from his home in Folsom, California, he decided to check them out.

The word-of-mouth tip came to him via a friend who opted to accompany Gary when he visited Cutting Edge Replicas in Manteca, California (just 60 miles south of Sacramento). This was a couple of years ago, when Cutting Edge was just getting organized to become a Cobra manufacturer and full-fledged build shop. Undaunted by the start-up surroundings, Gary and his friend liked what they heard Cutting Edge was all about, so they each ordered a car.

While there are a lot of Cobra re-creations out there, none use the type of updated chassis Cutting Edge designs for their cars. Using CNC-milled billet-aluminum independent suspension parts and rocker arms, the handling aspects of Cutting Edge's cars put them in a class by themselves. Gary wasn't too impressed with some of the other makes on the market, with their big gap between the tires and body-he was looking for something sleek and low, the way a street rod would sit.

Gary, who didn't have too much extra time to build one himself, had Cutting Edge assemble the car from start to finish. Cutting Edge began with their unique chassis, which is set up on a 4-inch, .120-wall 1020 steel main tube design on 20-inch centers. Besides the aforementioned billet-aluminum rockers, the control arms are made of the same material, and the rockers link up to a set of inboard coilover shocks both fore and aft. Stopping power comes from a Wilwood four-wheel-disc system, with 11-inch rotors out back and 13s up front. A Woodward rack-and-pinion helps point the way, and power from the engine gets to the ground by way of four Compomotive 17-inch wheels (9s up front, 12s in the rear) wrapped in Pirelli PZero rubber (265/40-17 front, 335/35-17 rear).

Horsepower and torque are generated by a 427-cube Windsor motor from crate engine builders Coast High Performance (Torrance, California). They assembled a 500-plus-horsepower firebreather that starts with the lighter 351 block, forged dish-topped pistons, machined connecting rods, a cast steel crank, a Probe Industries camshaft, and Edelbrock Victor Junior aluminum heads. Up top a single carb feeds the beast, while exhaust exits through a custom system fab'd using SPD components. Energy is transferred through a TKO 600 to the massive rear wheels (12 inches wide!), and this engine/trans combo can really make those hides cook!

When it came time for a choice of color, Gary was originally going to go with red, but was talked out of it in favor of some shades in the blue family. But when he went to the paint shop (Ken's Custom Auto Body in Yuba City, California) and saw a Mercedes silver on a car, he knew it would look right on his car, and besides, it would match the Hummer he already had at home!

Next was the cockpit's interior, which is about as subtle as they come. A simple array of Auto Meter gauges (with a 180-mph reverse-sweep speedometer) fill the dash, while a Moto-Lita wood-trimmed steering wheel gives a vintage look to the cockpit. Bucket seats trimmed in black leather are comfortable, even with the wide safety seatbelts. When opening the doors to climb in, you might notice the unique door hinges. While other Cobras use tiny hinges, Cutting Edge's hinges were milled from billet aluminum and are much stouter.

Since this was the second car ever from Cutting Edge (the first was Gary's friend's black one), the shop used it as a promotional item at some of the shows they attended. But when the weather gets better (it rains a fair amount in Northern California), Gary knows he'll be able to enjoy his ride without any fears. And with all that horsepower under the hood, he'll be gone like a ghost, with only a rumble from the engine to echo in your ears to let you know he was there! KC