Many people have asked me about the particular paint job on the Aardvark, as it differs from the classic “blue with twin white stripes” seen on many replica Cobras. My answer is always too long and incomplete, so I’ll try to explain it here once and for all!    Blue with White stripe Cobras were the factory livery for a few years  My first glimpse of an original Shelby Cobra was at the Dayton, Ohio, Peffley Ford showroom in 1964. We’d go there every year to see the new Fords, as back then, every new model year brought major changes to most American cars. A British Racing Green 289 Cobra was the star of the showroom that day, and was the coolest car I’d ever imagined. Its looks and color burned into my teenage mind, never to leave. 1964 - 289 Shelby Cobra - started it all for me!  I followed European racing avidly in those years,   spending a lot of my paperboy earnings on sports car racing magazines. My favorite driver in those days was Jim Clark, a Scottish dri...

Gale and Lainie meet up with Aardvark just after the rain shower  Col. Gale Larson (USAF retired) and wife Lainie, drove down from their home in Michigan to Valparaiso, IN, to meet up with Aardvark and me today...Gale purchased this Factory Five Racing Mk4 roadster kit almost 10 years ago! Life, health, family and other concerns kept him from finishing his build of the car for 7 years or so, until he sold the unfinished car to me almost 3 years ago. FINALLY, we were able to meet up here with the completed Roadster (Aardvark) just before the Route 66 effort begins. What a great day! Short reminder: Aardvark is named after the F-111f fighter-bomber aircraft Col. Larson piloted during his Air Force career, many times in severely hostile war zones. This FFR build is dedicated to him and his service, with some graphics included on the car to explain why we call it Aardvark. young admirers!  After some initial familiarization instructions and body-folding exercises getting ...

Building a car is a relatively easy concept, complicated by attention to detail required to make the finished product safe and reliable, and hopefully good-looking. I worked on the Aardvark while we were in North Carolina during the summer and fall of 2022 and 2023. Then, the winter of 2023 Aardvark spent in the hands of Jeff Kleiner, in Bloomfield, Indiana, who perfected the bodywork on the car, then removed the body and all trim to do one of his artistically perfect paint jobs! Jeff is a Cobra friend from 25+ years ago, who has had  a hand in three of the four Factory Five Cobra replicas I've built (flames!!!), and there was no question he was the guy to finish up the Aardvark. Wait'll you see the way he improved my design for front-wheel mudflaps!  After picking the car up from Jeff in March, 2024, I helped Jeff Collins and the crew at Whitby Motorcars, Greensboro, NC, install a removable soft-top. Might need it for the long trip we planned as the Aardvark's maide...