by Curt Scott. 26 & 27 April, 1997...... Only five Knott-ical miles northwest of Disneyland! So spectacular, you'll feel the earth move under your feet!

It's time for a slogan update; exit "Fun-Under-the-Sun,"
enter "The Richter Scale Replicar Rumble"!

You see, at 3:47am on the morning of Saturday, 26 April 1997, Knott's show participants and attendees were treated to a Force-5 San Andreas-style salute, centered near the Santa Clarita Valley about sixty miles north of the show. The geoclysmic, bed-rattling event was the central focus of countless showgoer conversations during the day on Saturday, especially among those attendees and exhibitors from out-of-state who had never before experienced a good ol' California shakin'.

Not content with a one-night seismic stand, that pesky California faultline entertained aforesaid showgoers and exhibitors with an encore rockin' and rollin' of nearly the same magnitude at 4:09.am on Sunday. By this time the Knott's veterans were old hands at such trifles, and scarcely a discouraging word was heard about the aftershocks on the show's second day.

Time for serious specialty-car stuff, be done with earthly upheavals.

Trust me, this year's event was one of the biggest and best AHA/KBF shows ever! By the way, you'll notice that throughout this article that you've been provided with hot links (both text links and image links) to the Web page on kitcar.com or cobracountry.com where you can find more information about that company, car, product or service... an all-time first for the kitcar.com megasite!

The Classic Factory--500K Mercedes replica

You're witnessing the very definition of motorcar styling excellence. It was the marvel of the 1934 Berlin Auto Show, and the Mercedes 500K roadster has never lost its timeless appeal. This Millenium Red Mercedes 500K reproduction by The Classic Factory was the last 500K built by the late H.T. Price, and was prominently displayed at the show by Lee and Diana (Price) Foldenauer.

Bob Shaw, Operations Plus

Meet ever-cheerful Bob Shaw of Operations Plus (in center, white shirt, comfortably out of the sun), world class outfitter of Cobras and all other Ford/Shelby collaborations of the 1960s.

This is Trent Petersen of Salt Lake City, Utah. He scouted the Lamborghini replica industry carefully before plunking down his hard-earned greenbacks, and settled on a Countach replica from Mirror Image Motor Works. His comments? "I'd like to say that building this car was a much easier task than I had expected. Everything the company had done was correct. The company stood behind its product, and my Countach replica was shipped to me looking perfect. But everything did not fit; Jim (Cherry) sent my $7,000 back to me and asked me to redesign problem areas and supply him with the new templates, which I did. Mirror Image came through for me at every turn."

...Bah HummBug, Spyders & Snakes...

Without any serious argument, the star attraction of the 1997 Knott's show was the Wombat... already a big hit for its dashing military scout car/sport utility styling, nimble performance and affordable price. Above is Jeff Perry's 550 Spyder replica, featured alongside attractive Monica Sanchez of Huntington Beach, California. To your left is Ron Yates' (San Pedro, California) knock-'em-dead gunmetal gray CR427 Cobra.

The VW Riley. One of the most thoroughly engaging motorcar enthusiasts at the entire show, with a smile as wide as Hoover Dam, was Roberto Costa, of Las Vegas. Roberto handcrafted and painted this magnificent, one-of-a-kind Super.7 look-alike himself, employing a VW Beetle chassis and drivetrain. The engine is a 1776cc VW, and features RHS steering. The splendid upholstery job was done by Santa Barbara Upholstery in Las Vegas.

Snakes alive!

There were far too many Cobras at the 1997 AHA/Knott's show for us to cover them here with full justice. House of Cobras alone had over a dozen of the Shelby asphalt terrors on display. In fact, the BRG Cobra above (upper right) is an original Shelby 427S/C for sale by Dayan... for $300,000! The deep purple Cobra at top left is a brand-new machine on display by Northwest Exotics (now removed from Cobra Country); the chassis is courtesy of Contemporary Classic Motor Car Company, who also had a completed roadster on display, and the red Cobra in the bottom right came from RU Car Crafters of Sand Springs, Oklahoma (USA), who arrived late at the show due to a late-April blizzard (!) in New Mexico; that's lovely Melinda Bagley of Anaheim (California) behind the accelerator.

1937 BMW 328 roadster--Don Meyer, Irvine, California

One really show-stopping vintage repro was Don Meyer's very convincing fiberglass replica of the famous BMW 328 of the 1930s. This silver bullet was originally produced in 1976 by renowned replicar maker Franco Sbarro in Yverdon, Switzerland, and Don has completely restored it to its original splendour. Its original purchase price was 60,000 Swiss francs (about $41,500 USD). It weighs 1650 pounds and is propelled by a (what else?) BMW 2002 engine bolted to a 5-speed tranny.

Here's Mike Dresbach (on the left), President of the AHA, handing the trophy for Best Neoclassic to Vern Hance of Walnut Creek, California, for his dazzling, Classic Factory white 1934 500K.Mercedes. Among the top awards: Best of Show went to John St. Thomas' purple Lambo Diablo replica (which you can see in the very center of the aerial photo at the beginning of this story), Best Interior (Ron Santarsiero, for his 1929 Packard reproduction) Best Engine (Marty Krueger, Emerald Green 1966 427 Cobra), and too many more to list here.

.The show heard 'round the world...

Knott's show attendees were witness to a thoroughly entertaining display of four British Regulars marching on the turf in front of the park's Independence Hall building. Outfitted in full 1770s splendour, replete with bear fur headgear and (fully operable!) "Brown Bess" British muskets, these replica Redcoats were drilling for a special Revolutionary War battle reenactment at Knott's on July 4th. (Incidentally, this is how close these Regulars had to get before I could see the whites of their eyes. Bummer.) There'll be many more equally resplendent redcoats and bluecoats for that main event. If you appreciate history and you're anywhere in the proximity (read: smoothbore artillery range) of southern California and Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, you should etch this spectacle onto your Independence Day agenda!

You may obtain information about joining the AHA (Association of Handcrafted Automobiles) and participating in its activities by writing to:

The AHA is actively seeking to expand its membership among fellow replicar enthusiasts, and looks forward to hearing from you!

I'd like to voice a special "Thank You" to Janét Wilson-Irving of Knotts Berry Farm management who graciously and cheerfully went far beyond the call of executive duty to make sure that we could obtain outstanding photos for this article. She even arranged to provide a special hydraulic elevator for the "aerial" shot at the very beginning of this article... the highest shot ever taken of the show in the 18-year history of this big AHA/KBF event! Thank you, Janét!

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