Some people know what they want from the get-go, while others sometimes languish in their decisions. Ron Nelson from Burton, Michigan, knew he wanted to build a Cobra roadster, but he bounced back and forth between several manufacturers before making an educated choice about which one he'd like to build.
It wasn't until he followed the advice from a friend in the Great Lakes Cobra Club that he checked out an Everett-Morrison built by Ken Seybert at CVR Automotive (you might remember Seybert built the dark blue FFR Daytona in the Mar. '06 issue of KIT CAR). Ron, years ago a car painter by trade, had given his vocation a rest in recent years, but that didn't mean he'd lost his touch. And when he checked out the roughed-out Cobra at Seybert's shop, he didn't find anything rough at all-he felt he'd have this car blocked, primed, and painted in no time!
Ron, who has attended the Detroit AutoRama for years, ran into Murray Pfaff of Pfaff Designs at Cobo Hall in '05 and asked him about designing a paint scheme that would be striking yet different from what you'd normally find out there. Pfaff came up with a unique tri-color band that would accentuate the car's roundness but still give it enough of an aggressive edge to make it look appealing. Once the paint scheme was figured out, Ron knew he needed to start on his project.
Nelson built a backyard shop for the car's assembly, and now that he'd gotten to know Seybert, he worked out a schedule with him to get the job done. The chassis, with its IFS setup and Lincoln IRS out back, went together smoothly. It wasn't until some of the body modifications that Nelson wasn't convinced he should cut into his Cobra body. But design won out, so items such as the driving lights were tunneled into the body, and special one-off parts were made. That done, Nelson painted the car following Pfaff's layout, and the result was striking without being overbearing.
Since Ron didn't want the added headache of building an engine himself, he had a 418 Ford stroker engine built for the project, backing it to a Tremec TKO five-speed trans. Soon the project was finished, just in time for the 2006 Detroit AutoRama (where it won First in the Handbuilt Sports Class as well as a KIT CAR Magazine Editor's Choice award), where these photographs were taken.
The car is so new Ron hasn't driven it much, but he plans to do so soon. But driving the cars isn't what really gets Nelson going-it's the build itself (a concept shared by many KIT CAR readers). The build of this car (and working with Seybert) turned out so well that the two have decided to work together again on future projects, too, with Seybert building and Nelson painting (under his new business name, Hollowpoint Paintworks). You can catch up with Seybert on his Web site (www.cvrautomotive.com), as there is always something interesting going on there. As for Nelson, he's ready to build another one!