Man'l Get'cha

Ever been rolling down the highway at a speed slightly (or even not so slightly) higher than what's posted and get that funny feeling in the pit of your stomach that someone is watching you? Mike Fields knows that feeling all too well, and from both points of view.

You see, Mike is a hot rodder at heart, and he has owned all sorts of muscle cars, Vettes, and Mustangs, and he likes to take them out and let them perform as they were bred to do. But Mike's day job puts him in a different kind of driver's seat--and some of that time has been spent behind the wheel of a North Carolina state trooper's vehicle.

After 25 years (he's now a first sergeant and district supervisor for the force) as a trooper, you can bet Mike has heard every excuse in the world from drivers trying to avoid a speeding ticket (his favorite is the guy who was doing burnouts followed by three spin-outs who told Mike his accelerator pedal stuck). But why on earth would a cop want to drive an "arrest-me-red" Cobra with a hi-po motor and side pipes? Well, it's because he's just like the rest of us: It's just fun!

Cobras have been a part of Mike's memory since childhood, as his father owned a Ford dealership from the '50s through the '70s, up until the foreign cars killed the business. By the time he was ready to drive, the only cars on the lot were Mustang IIs, but Mike made do by getting involved with Cobra Jet muscle cars and Torinos. In the mid-'70s, he worked in a body shop (the same shop that maintained Jeff Bodine's Monte Carlo race car) that did repair work on Corvettes, so he ended up owning a few of those, too, over the years. While in his early 30s (he's 46 now), Mike bought a Unique Motorsports 427 car and built the car at home. But when he went to Unique's shop in Gadsden, Alabama, to pick up the kit, he saw the prototype for their 289/FIA car being worked on. The 289/FIA cars were among the most rare of Cobras back in their day, with only five being built. They had some of the design characteristics of the 289, but also had a wider fishmouth, a wider oil cooler vent, and the doors were cut back into the rear fender, similar to the 427 cars.

Fields went ahead with his 427 project, but always kept the 289/FIA car in the back of his head as a car he'd like to build someday. Nine years later, Mike sold his 427 car, and called Unique back up and ordered the vehicle he'd been thinking about all that time. But this time around, he wanted something that, though offered by Unique to their customers, rarely gets added to the build sheet: a LeMans top.

When the original Cobra race team was driving their cars at speed, and we mean above 150 mph at various tracks, they found the car was a bit "skittish" due to the wind bouncing around in the open cockpit. In 1963, they came up with the idea to add a removable aluminum roof to the car to keep the air turbulence at a more manageable level (though the cars still didn't have side windows) and allow the driver to concentrate on driving rather than be buffeted by the high winds. The concept worked and the cars became even faster. Fields has always liked the look of the LeMans-topped Cobras, so that is how he ordered his from Unique.

Mike's order from Unique Motorsports began with their basic package, as he wanted to do much of the work on his car himself. The kit consisted of the complete frame, with the front independent suspension in place, but Mike built his own rear trailing arms (and many other small pieces) just to keep the cost down-he says he had more time than money on this project. About the only thing Fields farmed out was the work on the Jag's IRS center section, which was reworked by Butch Capps.

But after Mike took his kit home, he created a jig that would hold the body while he worked on the chassis. Fields also did his own bodywork before spraying his Cobra with a two-stage urethane paint. The twin racing stripes were next, a job he hadn't tried to do before. Laying them out on the body wasn't too hard, but Mike says making them flow onto the roof was a real chore, as everything had to match up perfectly when the roof was on the car, even though it had to be painted when it was off the car.

Fields also did his own interior, using the upholstered bucket seats from Unique as well as their carpet kit. Wiring up the Stewart Warner gauges, Mike also allowed for the plumbing of the Vintage Air heating system he installed, too. A wood-trimmed Moto-Lita steering wheel was also added to finish off the interior. Some of the other pieces Mike made include some of the aluminum work under the hood, as well as the brackets to hold the overflow tank and twin oil filters.

Mike says the best thing about building his Unique Motorsports kit was there were no surprises, and everything fit the way it was supposed to, especially in critical areas like the door gaps. And, though Fields really likes driving his car (to the races as well as on the street), he even liked building it even more. The only downside? At a little over 6 feet and 250 lbs, Mike says the worst thing about building his own car was trying to get his hands and body up under the dash to do some of the wiring. But, other than that, it was an enjoyable endeavor and one that he is glad he undertook.

You might think that since he's built Cobras in his past, that he may be looking at doing another one soon, but that's not the case. Mike says this car is everything he ever wanted, so why sell it? It certainly wouldn't be from getting any speeding tickets--that's for sure! The only time he's been pulled over with his Cobra is when he was towing it through South Carolina and a state trooper pulled him over. Not for an infraction--just so he could take a closer look at Mike's car!