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Only
five Knott-ical miles northwest of Disneyland!
29
& 30 April, 2000
Above:
AHA President Harout Markarian (left) awarding Rich Anderson
(Shell Valley Motors) the "1st Place--427 Cobra" trophy.
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Chuck
Beck (center, seated) was there with his blue Lister and several
of his 550 Spyder replicas. Chuck has been making his high-performance
and universally-admired 550 Spyder replicas since 1983. And Chuck
will advise you that his ± 1700 lb. Lister will
run embarrassing circles around most Cobras. |
Above: Henry Caroselli
and his array of Rodsters. His red Rodster
in the background took the AHA's "1st Place--Streetrods"
trophy.
This
year the AHA's KBF show was moved (ever so slightly) to a new
location. It's still at KBF, but about 125 meters north of where
it's been held in years past... behind the Independence Hall
building, rather than in front of it. And it's all on pavement,
rather than in the tree-lined milieu of the "orchard."
That makes for a bit warmer climate, but also eliminates nearly
all of the airborne dust that plagued the previous location.
All in all, just about everyone is pleased with the new location.
Except for us photographers, who were sorely pressed to find
a good place to use as a photographic backdrop; there was no
replacement for the splendid area in front of the Independence
Hall building, and because of the obstacles (read: fences), there
was no way to access that area.
Because
this 2000 AHA/KBF coverage boasts more photographs (75+) than
I've ever provided for you in any prior feature, we've done two
things to speed up this article's download time:
Just
about every photo in this article is relatively small in size,
but hotlinks to a larger, higher-resolution image, so you'll
endure extended download times only for those photos you really
wish to examine, peruse and enjoy; and the article is divided
up into multiple pages (there's one separate page covering Sunday's
awards presentation and another for AHA/KBF's extracurricular
activities on Saturday evening... which are always pretty much
(in motorcar vernacular) turbocharged!
Again
you've been provided with hot links to the Web page on kitcar.com
or cobracountry.com where you'll discover more information about
that company, car, product or service! Note that each hotlink (both
for the Hi-Rez photos and the URLs) will open up a new, temporary
window for you to check out, while your AHA/Knott's article remains
open; this significantly speeds up your using these links.
There was an phalanx
of F.O.R. (Fun Off-Road) vehicles!
Each
(indicated) photo below is hot-linked to a higher-resolution image.
At right
and below:
Hum-lite
Hum-lite owed the crowd with this lightweight, nimble off-roader.
Featuring a triangulated, low-mass tubular-steel chassis and
rear engine configuration (this one features a smooth-humming
Mazda rotary powerplant), Hum-lite's booth proved a very popular
attraction. This red offroad-rocket took the AHA's "1st
Place--Offroad" trophy.
Hot-linked
photo.
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Wombat was represented by a visiting customer. Hot-linked photo. |
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In
addition to the sensual, red, righthand drive GT250 California
Spyder they had on display, Precision
Design
debuted their new hydrogen-powered "Ace Project" chassis
(see photo at right); employing the latest technology, it's engineered
to employ 100% clean-burning hydrogen, which is stored in an
ultra-high-impact, well-nigh indestructible fuel cell. It took
the AHA's "1st Place--Special Interest" trophy. |
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above:
Ultima Cars USA and their Ultima GT. That's Ultima's
Mike Mullen
seated in the background. This drivin' machine deservedly took
the
AHA's "1st Place--GT Class" award.
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Above:
the AHA's Ron Biggerstaff's fine Mera (308 replica).
Ron went home with the 1st Place trophy for Ferrari replicas.
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That's
Lynn Park of Trigo
Wheels.
Lynn was there in his Smoky-da-Bear headgear, mostly to harass
and give cyber-tickets out to recalcitrant Cobra owners. A certified
good guy through-and-through. |
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Fiber Jet (hotlink to FJ's website; opens in a "temporary"
new window; just close it to return here)was there with several of FJ's
Tim Figuhr's sand scramblers. Good stuff! It's a safe bet that
Tim has produced more dune buggies than anyone else alive...
including a resurrected repro of the venerable Manx!
Hot-linked
photo at right (provides you with a certified close-up of Tim
Figuhr himself, in all his native regalia; shucks, Tim's been
run outa better places than KBF).
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That's
Bob Schild of Connecticut with his Lone Star "Growler."
Bob took the AHA's 'Best of Show" trophy with this magnifique
motorcar.
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Above
and at your right: VR Engineering was there with
their Datsun /Nissan Z-car-based beauties: a gorgeous silver
VeloRossa Spyder (above, built by VR dealer/builder Steve Graber,
of Phoenix), and a black Daytona Spyder (to your right, built
and owned by actor Robert Nassry),
Above,
that's VR's Top Gun John Washington on his cellphone,
poised-for-action alongside the Spyder, micro-managing final
preparations for his next Darwin Award competition. John's motto
is "Darwin Award or Die!"
Hotlink
to VR's website opens in a "temporary" new window;
just close it to return here.)
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Thats
the AHA's John St. Thomas and AHA Prez Harout Markarian
angling for the microphone, each grappling for his 15 minutes
of fame... |
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Vintage Spyders' 550.Spyder replica (cockpit shot);
Vintage was awarded 1st Place, Porsche category, for the KBF
2000 show. |
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Wild
Rides
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Luis Yanez brought his magnificent, yellow 355 replica all the
way from El Paso. Not only is Luis' craftsmanship worthy of serious
note, but there's both a front and rear engine... you see, the
high-end electronic sound componentry (amplifiers and such) in
the front is assembled to resemble a V6 powerplant; that's the
bona fide mid-engine V6 in the photo above. Luis went home
with two AHA trophies. |
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Dick
Van Heyningen's circa 1919 Dodge truck tilt-bed truck is a real
marvel. When it departed the show on Sunday afternoon, the crowd
was startled when the driver let loose its 18-wheeler-sized air
horn. It deservedly took the "Most Unique" award.
Hot-linked
photo.
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Duloux
Motors'
Cord 810 replica. Don was awarded 1st Place Neoclassic, Category
23, for his white Cord 810. |
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Snakes
alive!
This is
just a small sampling of the dozens of
Cobra replicas (and Cobra handlers) at the 2000 AHA / KBF
show.
Below:
Lynn
Park
of Trigo Wheels and Bob Shaw of Operations Plus tryin' to look cheerful; they're
holdin' down Bob's #33 FIA to keep it from flyin' away (Hey, I'm
a poet!). Note that Bob's got his car parked right atop a 'handicapped
parking' icon; Bob, you got it wrong again... that's spot's for
physically handicapped parking...
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Shell Valley Motors had this silver &
bronze beauty on display, fitted with SVM's rollbar-encompassing
hard top. The car took the "1st Place--427 Cobra replica"
trophy, as well as the "Best Paint" and "Best
Interior" trophies.
Hotlink
to SVM website opens in a "temporary" new window; just
close it to return here.)
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above:
Superformance dealer Lance Stander of Hillbank
Motor Corp. (Costa Mesa, California) was there with this
blue beauty, supplemented with several customer cars among the
individual entries.
Hotlink
to Superformance website opens in a "temporary" new
window; just close it to return here.)
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Other Cobra manufacturers
represented at the show by private owners included (alphabetically):
B&B
Mfg, E.R.A.,
Factory Five Racing, JBL Motorsports, MidStates and Unique Motorcars. Privately-owned Cobra replicas
on display numbered several dozen. Each of the hotlinks above opens
in a "temporary" new window; just close the window
to return here. |
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The
3-image collage of the Johnex chassis sections
above is hotlinked to a larger, higher-resolution copy.
House of Cobras (HOC) displayed their Johnex
and Can-Am (Mustang 5.0-based) Cobras, and also hosted their
traditional "Road Kill" BBQ bash on Saturday evening.
On Sunday HOC's Dave Radtke requested that I attend and photograph
a special media photo-opp, to capture on film some of the attributes
of the Johnex chassis. I must observe, once again, that Johnex
does indeed execute one heckuva nice and well-thought-out chassis
setup, as the accompanying photos will attest. Note that the Johnex's 2"x4"
main frame rails (just visible in the 3rd photo) are on the outside
perimeter, thus providing significant side-impact protection,
unlike many replicas whose outside rails are merely "outriggers"
for attaching the body.
Also in the 3rd photo, note the rugged steel surrounding the
high-impact fuel cell.
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You
may obtain information about joining the AHA (Association of
Handcrafted Automobiles) and participating in its cornucopia
of activities by writing to:
The Association
of Handcrafted Automobiles
P.O. Box 1384
Apple Valley, California 92307
The
AHA is actively seeking to expand its membership among fellow
replicar enthusiasts, and looks forward to hearing from you!
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