Kit Car

A Snake With Swagger

Group Five Limited's Cobrette, A Hybrid Cobra On A Corvette Chassis, Is Hip, From Its Extreme Multicolor Paint To Its 350ci Vette Engine

From the February, 2003 issue of Kit Car

By Mike Blake

Every once in a while, a designer takes the concept of a Cobra and changes it a bit to take the replication of this popular marque to a different level. Such is the case with Group Five Limited's Cobrette, which places the Snake on a Corvette frame and propels it with Vette power. Typically, Cobra replicas sit on either Mustang II donors or originally manufactured chassis, and generally, they employ Blue Oval power. However, when Chris Wilkins decided to make his foray into the Snake world in 1991 with Group Five, he did it his way, and the car we saw at last year's AHA Knott's Berry Farm Show certainly proved that he can create a stand-out car.

Wilkins starts his Cobrette (hybrid name of Cobra and Corvette) with a '68-82 Corvette chassis with a 98-inch wheelbase. He removes 4 inches from the rear framerail and utilizes a stock Corvette IRS with factory rear springs and brakes, to which he adds Penske shocks. The front suspension is stock Vette as are the spindles, antiroll bar, front brakes, springs, brake lines, steering box, and steering column. Penske shocks also are added up front. A Coleman racing master cylinder and pedal assembly are also added.

The engine is one that would get any Snake spitting venom. It is a 350ci Corvette eight-cylinder engine that spits out 350 hp. An Edelbrock 650-cfm carburetor, MSD ignition and coil, Mallory wires, and Edelbrock manifold accompany the blueprinted engine, and Hooker headers for '68-82 Vettes are bolted on. The transmission is a Turbo 400 automatic.

The body is all Group Five. The hand-laid fiberglass and Kevlar body shell sits over a stock Corvette radiator. The shell was painted a lustrous, ever-changing BASF Extreme Multicolor, and the body is accentuated by polished aluminum bumpers and Cobra headlights, taillights, and rearview mirrors.

And this car has air conditioning, courtesy of GM.

It looks like a Cobra, but it has lots of Vette in it--Cobrette, an interesting twist on the marque that gives this Snake a lot of swagger.