OK, read your other posts about the sub frame connectors and the forward frame support under the battery.
I don't belive you really need sub frames, like you said yourself, your not racing it, plus if I was looking at buy an original Cobra, I would be pissed that these were installed, and the time and effort it would take to remove and repair the area where they were welded in.
Tim would probably agree with me here, I would go find a donor car, take a cordless sawzall and cut the frame horn off of that and duplicate the same cut on yours and weld it in and repaint, now remember I'm all about keeping the value of the car, sure you and G-Pa can clean up that area and weld in angle iron and "Fix it" but there again you have a rare bird, and it can be/is worth a great amount of monies.
Yes you'll have to disassemble 2/3's of the front end, but it will be worth it, you be learning some skills, and you'll feel more accomplished, and value the car for what it's really worth.
Remember I warned you about those guys on FEP, before we even got to this point they were already telling you to do stuff that wasn't on the list for keeping the Cobra stock.
I'll put it to you this way, I, personally would pay $3500 - $4000 for that car right now, unless you'd rather have what everyone else wants which it the coveted 5.0 5spd.
To also give you an idea, a quick scan over at Evil Bay brought up this car, waaay more rust, mods and missing parts and he still wants $2600, and as for the rare 1 of 3 in this combo, well? Pffft!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979...cks?hash=item4a9b1e4813&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245
I guess my point is I'm looking at the survivor factor here, and the rarity of you NEVER see these Cobra's at events or shows, unmolested, and if you see them most tool sacks have converted them to V-8's, 302, 5.0 whatever you want to call it.
But to have it all stock and running and driving says a lot more than a fast hot rod, everyone has those.
A very good friend of mine here in town for
years I beat on him about keeping all the stock parts he takes off cars, finally here in 2009 he's figured that out.
He's also figured out that if he buys them modded, and stocks them back out, then he makes more monies off the car, AND he has all the mods he can sell for even more profit, OR he has someone like me who has been buying stock "Take Off" parts from him for excellent monies, we have a revolving account between one another.
Once he saw that he collected more stock parts and has found that he has more buyers for the stock parts than the modded ones, and people are looking for good clean "Stock" 1979-93 cars than modded ones, and their paying premium $$$$$$ for them.
That's how I landed my 1985 LX, AND why I obtained it, cause it was unmolested except for the exhaust. which I now have the stock tail pipes to put back on it.
The other 2 Foxes I have are also bone stock, but one has had an exterior and interior color change done to it, but still has stock drive train and suspension, and no rust on both cars.
I dunno Alec, everyone has a personal opinion about this whole thing, I love it cause you have a rarely seen car that is for the most part other than the radio (which IS cool, cause it's high end after market for back in the day and a clean install) stock and very clean from the pictures, and would take to a minor restoration to make it look new again, fun to drive, and make everybody's turn their head.
Plus, it's an investment, NADA at 20 years old considered it a "Classic", here in Texas, at 25 years old you can run classic plates on it, like my 1985 F150 Flareside, and 1985 Mustang LX, and the Antique plates on the other two Foxbody Mustang we have, 1979 Mustang Giha and 1982 Mustang L.
Jeff - :navajo: