Time for paint!

[Ron J]

Finally got the car over to the body shop for paint. Using a place near me called Blue Ridge Hot Rods. Crawled all over some of their previous work and they appear to be top notch. They were very impressed with the quality of the body. Hat's off to the Weavers!

Now it's time to get the tires and wheels. Going with 15's this time and after measuring thigs up it appears the backspacing will be 3.5 for the front and 5.5 on the rear. Since Compomotive is no more I'm leaning towards Team III. Tire wise I really love the look of Billboards but am having a difficult time locating them so may wind up with Cooper Cobra GT Radials.

[pbrown]

Have you looked at Vintage Wheels (http://www.vintagewheelsus.com/)? Are you going with pin drive or bolt on?

Post some photos when you get a chance.

[Ron J]

I've got bolt on and was under the impression Viintage didn't have the proper backspacing available..may have to make a call to them. I'll get some pics up after I get it back from the painters.

I'm only making one change from the original design and that is that since I've had issues with the hood wanting to fly off the prop rod while at shows ect. I'm putting gas shocks on the hood and trunk to hold them open and keep them in place when the wind decides it wants to yank the hood off it's prop rod.

[Ron J]

PBrown...thanks for the vintage wheels suggestion..just got off the phone with them and they're going to be geeting some info out to me!

[weaver]

Ron, I don't think you can use Vintage with your length axles, they don't make a wheel with the offset you would need. I have a Midstates car in the shop now with a gas shock hood prop, when the hood is closed the preasure of the shock forces the hood over and the stripe is misaligned.

[pbrown]

Maybe you could fabricate a clip of sorts for the existing prop rod.

[Ron J]

Here is the reply I got from Vintage about the wheels.

Dear Ron
thanks for calling ,nice chatting witlh you today
Our 427 pin drive wheel was deveoped to allow more backspace than the HA series wheel.
The wheels are very similar as you will see from the attached photo.We do have all of the specifications for the Unique Cobras and have supplied many sets over the years for that vehicle.
Our quotation is as follows;
427pin drive
2 x 15 x 8
2 x 15 x 10
4 x AD01 adapters 4 on 4 3/4 (chev/jag)
20 x drive pins
4 x TR01FP forged polished spinners
Outer rims are polished and the centers can be gray ,black (as shown on photos) fully polished ,other colors upon request.

Regular price $2250 currently on special $2095
shipping to VA $110.00
Build time is around 4 weeks from order.

[weaver]

Ron the rear wheels will not wofk with your axles, we offer 2 defferent lengths and yours are too long. The only way would be to narror your axles or run 4 front wheels and that would look wierd on a 427 car. We have bought several sets of Vintage wheels but they were for cars with narrow rear ends.

Alan

[Ron J]

Bob Lacey from Vintage wheels called me back today and said he called and spoke with Maurice. Decided that their 427 rims will work with a 4" backspace on the front and a 5" backspace on the rear. Is that correct?

Thanks!

[pbrown]

Bob Lacey joined the forum earlier today. Just FYI.

[Ron J]

That's great! Welcome to the forum Bob!

[weaver]

That is correct, he said they have a new wheel that allows them to change offsets by welding in the center, the adapter is only 3/8" thick.

[Ron J]

Ordered the wheels from Bob at Vintage today! Got a call from the body shop last night. She's all primered and ready to shoot. Going by there tomorrow to go through all the paint chips and make a final selection on color!

[pbrown]

Don't forget to bring a camera. Hmmm.... Mary Kay Cobra? Just kidding.

Look in my gallery and you'll find several photos of original Cobras from a recent Pepple Beach show. They might help with color selection. Good luck.

And congrats on the wheels.

[Ron J]

Hi all, This is a question for Alan or Maurice,

You have supplied me with the round lights for the rear of the car while the body style requires the rectangular ones to fit and look correct since that is the way the fiberglass has been formed. Can you please send me the correct lights for the car along with a return receipt so I can send the incorrect round ones which are incorrect to fit the moulding back to you.

Thanks, Ron

I went out and looked at my my other Unique over the weekend and it is the same way. So I guess they're all that way. It was something the body shop pointed out to me. I stopped by to give them the final paint codes and they mentioned everything looked perfect other than that so they figured I had the wrong lights.

[Ron J]

3120Getting closer to coming home from the paint shop!

[Ron J]

Once again the staff at the paint shop can't believe the high quality of the body! Gotta love Unique!

[pbrown]

It looks good.

[pgermond]

Looks reeeeal good, Ron. I could be wrong but I believe the FIA car has the rectangular lights.

[weaver]

Paint looks great, I really like white with blue. Have the guys at the paint shop undercoat the bottom of the car, I use about 3 cans of 3M rubberized undercoating.

[Ron J]

Yes, They are doing the underside as well. I have a few miles of gravel roads to travel before I hit hard surfaced roads so I need all the protection under there I can get. The fear of gravel is also what kept me from getting Goodyear Billboards.