Or first kill that deserved mention anyway.(I'm not counting dusting Honda Civics with huge wings a kill!!)

Let me begin by saying I'm not an expert when it comes to Cobras. I've only seen a couple around town (one actually lives on my street), but he had all the badging and actually had Corba R rims!! So could it be?? For all I know it could have been a imposter GT. BUT, he did sound bad a$$!!

Anyway, Saturday night, the wife and I are out riding around. I do have the windows down and hear a familiar sound in the distance that automatically perks me up (I don't tell my wife though!). I notice mustang tail lights up ahead meging over into a turn lane in the direction we are going. I happen to pull up behind this mustang and sure enough, SVT glares out at me!! It's a earlier model white mustang. There are two guys in the car and he's playing around with the convertible full of people beside him. He probably never even noticed me behind him. When he eventually pulls out, sure enough he shows his a$$ and tears out squelling tires and all. He even gets it almost sideways. What a jack a$$!! It wasn't until then that I decided to go ahead and play too.

The cars in the other lane finally turn and the other lane conveniently clears so I get over. What happens next?? Huh, the light just happens to turn red. As he stops I pull up next to him and for the first time he can see the "Lightning" on my front fender. I know he sees it because his buddy looks at it, then to the driver, then to me. For the first time, I also see the Cobra R rims (what? a '95 Cobra R maybe??). Uh-oh. I think, weren't those built specifically for racing? What have I done now? Oh well. While the light is red, all I hear is him clanking gears, the same thing I heard at the other red light (hint: mental note on the clanking gears). Is first gear really that hard to find on these cars?? Remember, all of this is done without a word to my wife!!

The light eventually turns green and we both slowly ease up. He gooses it for a second, so I return the favor. IT'S ON!! He jumps and I'm anticipating also. So from a roll of 10-15 he gets a very slight edge. BUT, when I get into it I start to slowly pull on him. WHAT? I couldn't believe it!! I get a little edge then I hear more of that "CLANKING". He shifted and I immediately get another 1/2 car length on him before he's going again. Obviously, this guys needs help with shifting!! I'm still slightly pulling on him ever so slowly. By now, his front bumper is near my rear wheel or rear bumper. He hits the brakes!! I let off and wait. What happens? He's now driving less than 30 sitting about 10 car lengths behind me and won't come up!! I guess that's the oposite of a ricer drive by huh??
Well, the next light turns red, but what does he do? He pulls straight past me almost into the intersection instead of stopping at my window. I can see his buddy had a smirk on his face and my wife is laughing!! The light turns green and he rolls out at 15 but doesn't want to play anymore. I go ahead calmly and go get ice cream. What a rush!!

By the way, my '03 is still stock with a little over 3500 miles on it. Should I have pulled at all on a Cobra R?? I do credit it all to driving. Not my driving, but his inability to shift!! I probably would have had even more of an advantage from a dead stop. I don't think he could have hit it hard off the line from the way he was clutching and shifting.

Oh yeah, I don't regularly do this on the streets, but he started it and the streets were clear.

Chris

 

You would've been able to handle a '95 Cobra R, but i doubt that's what you lined up with. Seems like everybody with a SN95 style Mustang/Cobra has those aftermarket "R" rims.

Good kill all the same.

 

Yeah, I just found the numbers on the earlier Cobra's. I guess my expectations got the better of me. Looks like the '95 Cobra R's run almost identical to stock Lightnings and the other Cobra's a little slower than that. Oh well, not as big a deal as I thought, but still it was fun!!

Chris

 

A 95 Cobra R is pretty much a collectors item.
They all have a hot-rod 351 inside, no stereo, no radio, no anything but the engine, they also all have the unmistakable Cobra R hood, and the badges would have had a "R" too.

There were very few of them made, so running into one is a rare occurance.

A 95 Cobra is another story, plenty of them around, and they're not that fast.
Most of them have a 5.0 with an upgraded intake and a few other bolt ons.

If it was a 95 Cobra you definitly would have taken him in stock trim, but beware my friend, and get to know your fellow Cobra's, because if it had been a blown '96 - '98 (and most of them are these days) , you would have had your *** handed to you.
So choose you Cobra fights wisely.

 

A real 94-95 Cobra would have had a brake light on the rear wing and also would have only said "MUSTANG" in the rear bumper. Very few posers go thru the trouble of adding the Cobra specific wing and bumper. I believe starting in 96 they had "COBRA" written on the rear bumper.

You should have easily handled a 94-95 Cobra. They only came from the factory with 245HP. In 96 they jumped up to 305hp and then to 320hp in 98.

Where were you in Jackson? I am from there and just moved away about 6 months ago. I still come in to visit family every now and then.

 

Nope, 305 hp in 96, 97, and 98. 320 hp came in 1999 with the new body style.

 

IF it was a Cobra R then it would've given a stock L a real good run, IF the guy driving it knew how to shift. Also, you said it sounded 'bad a$$'. Any exhaust mods to these cars really wakes them up. My R picked up 4mph in the 1/4 with just an off-road pipe, which isn't really uncommon for this vehicle being as they come from the factory with the same exhaust system as the GT's and regular Cobras, save for the Motorsport headers. That stock cat-pipe is a real restriction on the 351 engines.

As far a having any 'badges', the only 'R' found on 95R's is the wheel centercaps. Things to look for on a '95R are the hood, fuel cell, empty fog light holes, and Tan colored stripped interior w/ no back seat.

Either way, a kill IS a kill --->

 

Mook,

It may have not even been a '95 then. It did have Cobra across the rear bumper. I don't recall anything about the wing and didn't get a good look at the front. After only seeing a few Cobra's around here, I've actually seen two more since then. A newer one wanted to play close to the same spot last night on my way home from Home Depot even though I had 12ft. sections of baseboard and crown molding hanging out the bed. (It's still a truck!!) Paid way too much for the trim so I wasn't about to scatter it all over Lakeland Drive!!

As far as where we were Saturday night, we were turning off Lakeland onto Ridgewood Rd. Shoot me an email the next time you are coming to town. I know of a few more Lightnings around, but haven't been able to talk to any yet.

Chris

 

Yeah i have raced a 96 cobra before, with the cobra on the rear bumper! It was white. I hit him at a light. I pulled like 2-3 car lengths. His passager was in shock that a truck beat him, the driver said it is no truck it is a lightning! BIG DIFFRENCE!
He had said he intake, exhaust, and some kind of cam. It sounded really good. He also had drag radials. I had no idea i would pull so hard!

 

In owning both, I would say it would be dead even on the street. My car has run 12.90's, and the truck is right there with it. I would not be afraid to line my Cobra up against a Lightning on the street... It has enough to hold it's own - no power adders. Gears, computer, headers and H-pipe were all that the car needed

 

I ran a 13.5 in my 98 Cobra with 4.10 gears, offroad x pipe, borla catback, Steeda triax shifter, and a CAI kit. I ran a 13.3 in my 01 Lightning bone stock straight from the dealership. Both vehicles pulled around 2.0 60' times on stock tires. Should be a close race.