[Houses]

The Cobra Daytona is among the nicest cars made by Strombecker and came in three different versions: first, the most usual blue USA version, also made in (or maybe just imported to) France; then the late French red version with mold modifications to use the green Wasp motor, and, finally, an intermediate and far scarcer French version identical to the blue one, but injected in red. This one



came to me with the underpan starting to crack along the line of the braid slots. I replaced the whole body with a new one I had, from a batch of new bodies that, fortunately, had surfaced previously on Ebay. This left me with a nice cracked body that deserved some use, so I decided to install a Scuttler in it (Strombecker should have done that at the time!). Roughly following indications given in Strombecker's magazine Inside Track for the Ford GT, I cut the underpan in five parts and glued the front and side parts to the upper half of the body.



Some cutting and filing was requiered for the chassis to fit, but the main problem was securing the chassis to the body. Strombecker used to attach the Scuttler chassis using a single post/screw at the front and a locating U-bracket at the rear, which proved not to be a very good idea (they were forced to modfy the locating U-brackets and to add brass attachements to reinforce them). In the present case that solution was even worse, due to the front post being far more advanced on the body. Therefore, I left part of the underpan attached to the rear valance/scuttle in order to have it enclosing the rear bearings and motor, thus securing the chassis at the rear.



Here is the final result:





The car performs far better that the original and is a lot of fun on a home track. However, its width and height are obvious limitations.

Eduardo

 

[stuckinthe60s]

very nice, "clean" conversion, Eduardo. I have used this technique to convert "sandwich" style snap kits to running; the Lindbergs come to mind, but never thought of the Strombeckers as candidates for such. Only guys like us would refer to a project car having "a nice cracked body"!

Steve in CO

 

[Pechuga_VLC]

fantastic !

 

[Coides]

That's a very neat upgrade. It looks just right, with its period substitutions. How quick is it, relative to contemporary cars like the Revell aluminium chassis cars?

Andy

 

[Houses]

Andy, have done some laps on my home track, just to be sure, and the Stombecker Cobra is a bit faster, but not much. Have managed to lap in 13.03 s. with the Cobra, for 13.31 with a Revell Aston and 13.39 with a Revell Jaguar, both standard kits but for having the original Mabuchi can replaced with a Revell-Pitmann RP66. Have also a couple of Strombecker Testa Rossa and D-Jag with Scuttler chassis, but if I remember well these were slower than the Revell the last time I tried. Probably the Cobra body is lighter and better balanced, and its wider rear tyres help a bit too.

 

[TSRF]

Eduardo, for the French market, both the Cobra Daytona, the Ferrari Dino, the Cheetah and the Porsche 904 were molded in red, yellow, medium-dark blue and green.

This French/Canada edition Cobra Daytona is fitted with the last edition of the open style Igarashi motor found in thr 1965 US kits:

 

[AJD350]

Great job! Works nicely on the Ford GT as well.

 

[Houses]

Yes Philippe, sure, there were yellow Porsche 904 in France. In fact the French Porsche 904 followed exactly the same evolution as the Cobra Daytona; Early models, in white, were the same sold in USA; then identical cars were injected in yellow, and the late cars, still yellow, came from a modified mold and have the Wasp.motor. The Cobra you show is of the intermediate type, identical to the one shown in the opening post and with the same motor (but for the color of the widings).

And, yes again, besides the red Cobras and yellow Porsches there was a number of French cars injected in unusual colors: red Lotus XIX and Cheetahs, yellow Cheetahs and Dinos, blue GTOs and E-Jags.... But the red Cobras and yellow Porsches should have appeared by 1967-68, while these other unusual colors are from the seventies; There were, in 1974, sets (called Pop sets) with a couple of red and yellow Cheetahs and brigthy coloured pieces of track:

 

[Houses]

Very nice car AJD, I'm glad to see another Scuttler conversion. Your paint job looks incredible! Its GT101 in its press launch version I suppose.

Before doing the Cobra, I installed a Scuttler inside a Ford GT with no modification to the body other than those needed for the motor and bearings to fit:





I did the car for a friend, in a ficticious open version, intended to look as a factory produced RTR:



Anyway I largely prefer the conversions using the complete chassis, like yours and mine.

 

[AJD350]

Yes, the i[[-fated GT101 it ts. I like your roadster conversion.

 

[stuckinthe60s]

I too did a Strombecker roadster, but for more practical reasons: the car I found was missing it's "top", and the glass was all glue-burned. So I "draw-formed" a new windscreen over the old one, and left all the running gear as stock. For a long time I have thought of it as more of a "fantasy car", as the only 1:1 roadster I knew of was a Mk. II that won Sebring one year. A recent visit to the Shelby Museum in Boulder, CO showed me otherwise: here was a Mk I white roadster with the 289 and Borrani wire wheels! First thing I thought was how I'd love to have that for a morning on a local canyon run! And if you all ever visit Colorado, you have to take in this wonderful museum. (Come and be my guest!)

 

[Pechuga_VLC]

Eduardo: I have actually found even another one variant of intermediate mold in AC Cobra. It´s about a Cobra in red for Mabuchi engine, but still without the definitive hole in chassis for big white crown, but with the previous one hole for small black crown.

A comrade told me a couple of months ago about it, so I also tried to find the same intermediate version in the yellow Porsche 904 GTS. Although I have not been able to find it at the moment, I think it is reasonable that in the future the same intermediate mold version can be detected.

 

[Pechuga_VLC]

Philippe, the french injection colors in Rumilly that I have been able to detect are:

Cheetah: white, yellow, orange (with interior of the same color, unlike the Hong Kong units in black), red and blue (very close tone to the American units, but it is not the same plastic).

Ferrari Dino: yellow and red.

Porsche 904 GTS: yellow so far in 2 different mold evolutions for Igarashi engine and equal to the white of American units and for Wasp engine.

AC Cobra Daytona: red up to 3 different evolutions, as for the Porsche GTS in addition to an intermediate.

PS: as a curiosity I have a fiberglass clone made by John Bacon of the Ferrari Dino, but with the rear modified. I do not know if this is due to rectify some failure of Strombecker reproduction or to reproduce another Ferrari Dino unit with different chassis number.

 

[Pechuga_VLC]

Good jog, ADJ !

 

[TSRF]

AC Cobra Daytona: red up to 3 different evolutions.

Jose, also blue and yellow.

 

[Houses]

Steve: I built my Ford GT as a roadster by exactly the same reason: missing roof. The screen, however, is the original one. I cut the upper part and filed and polished the edge.

José: do you have pictures? Mabuchi motor?

 

[Pechuga_VLC]

José: do you have pictures? Mabuchi motor?

YES

YES

You have an e-mail.