Cobra replica cars in demand

COBRA MAN:
Bill Emerson sits in one of the racing Cobra replicas that his small company in Anderson builds.

Every car enthusiast has heard of a Cobra. The Shelby Cobra made a name for itself in the 1960s on the racing tracks and then on the streets around the world.

Bill Emerson of Anderson makes replica Cobras and he has been making a living from building the cars for more than 30 years.

For those not so familiar with the name, a little background is in order.

AC Cars (Auto-Car and then Auto-Carrier) in England had been using a Bristol straight-6 engine in their low volume production vehicles. The engine in the AC Ace two-seater was a pre-1940 design developed originally by Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) in Germany. Bristol was going to stop production of its engines and use a Chrysler engine, but instead decided to put a 2.6 liter Ford Zephyr powerplant in all their AC cars.

In 1961, ex-racing driver Carroll Shelby asked AC if they would build him a car to accept a V8 engine.

At about that same time, Ford Motors was also looking for a car that could compete with the Chevrolet Corvette. Ford’s 260 HiPo, 4.2 L, engine had a new thin-wall cast small-block V8 and in 1962, AC Cars fitted a prototype chassis with a 221 ci Ford V8 engine.

After testing, the engine and transmission were shipped to Shelby in Los Angeles. Shelby named the car “Cobra.” The first Cobra Mark I had a 260, 4.2 liter engine and the rest of the remaining Mark I models were fitted with a larger version of the Windsor Ford engine, the 289-in a 4.7 V8. The new car went into production in 1963 as the Mark II. About 528 Mark II Cobras were produced in 1965. The Mark III was designed by Ford Motors in 1965. The car was a financial failure, so some of the AC Cobras MK Ill’s were fitted with Ford’s 428 in., 7.0 L, engines for road use and not racing.

Three hundred MK Ill’s were sent to Shelby during 1965-1966. Thirty one cars were not sold and were made for road use. They were called SC (semi-competition) and today can sell for in excess of a $1.5 million. In 2006, Shelby’s own Cobra sold at an auction in Arizona for $2.8 million.

Fast forward to today in an shop near Anderson.

Emerson Motorsports is a company that manufactures a Cobra replica. These fine automobiles are individually hand-crafted for Emerson’s wealthy clients, customers who typically must wait eight to 10 years for their cars. The custom-built cars are also larger than a standard Cobra as Cobra replicas are much easier to enter and exit.

Emerson said that past and present Oakland Raider football players are some of the “larger-sized” people who are looking at having a car made for their body size. Emerson’s cars typically feature power seats and full stereo-CD sound systems. They have a late-model 32 valve, four cam, 4.6 L or 5.4 L (liter) Ford engine with Edelbrock Power Package and Jacobs Electronics capable of achieving 600 horsepower. The cars also have Hi-Tech’s dimpled-core radiators with custom overflow and expansion tanks, custom wheels and “tripod lights,” which are reproductions of the Lucas headlamps from the 1960s. Oil pumps and tank reservoirs keep the oil from sinking to the bottom of the massive engines.

Ten chassis, in various stages of completion, sit in Emerson’s garage. Emerson and his two workers, Richard Singleton and Jim McDonald, do the hands-on work on the cars. Both of his employees went through the Shasta College automotive program and served apprenticeships before they were hired four and two years ago, respectively.

The custom-built cars are re-engineered and have wide doors and seats that raise and move in tandem with the steering column so that a driver can easily enter the vehicle. The 600-lb. capacity door hinge holds 17 inches of folded steel for reinforcement making it one of the “best-sounding and side-impact protective doors” you can get, according to Singleton.

A huge air-conditioning system, originally intended for a Kenworth truck, was installed in one car. It is capable of cooling the car’s interior from more than 100 degrees down to 70 degrees in just 25 seconds.

Singleton explained that the oversized cars are not stretched or expanded. Rather, they were re-engineered by Emerson.

“Bill Emerson custom fits the tallest, largest, or smallest drivers to their cars,” Singleton said. Emerson’s cars all have a roll bar connected directly to the frame, a full harness of seat belts, and double-sided, quilted metal for firewalls and floors.

Some custom cars have gold plated accessories instead of the chromed accessories found on other cars. One of the cars even has a custom paint made with gold flakes embedded right into the paint.

For obvious reasons, Emerson likes to keep a low profile. His garage bears no identification signs and he does no advertising.

Word of mouth on the fast-car circuit keeps him so busy that he does not want a lot of people coming in to disrupt the three-man operation.