09x08 - Gardner Douglas Mk 3 AC Cobra

[bunniefuu]

This time, on Wheeler
Dealers, it's foot to the floor as

I track down one of the
fastest cars I've ever driven.

That is what we're talking about!

It's a stunner, but it
does have big problems.

What is wrong with it?
Because obviously there's

going to be something
massively wrong with it.

Unfortunately, yes.

And Ed isn't happy.

It's not good enough.

It's never as easy as you try and make out.

It's a full on ride as we head
towards a high speed showdown.

Where there's only ever
going to be one winner.

This is to show where I buy the metal, Ed
wheels the spanners, and together we turn

rusty wrecks into shiny classics, working
hard to make a profit on every motor.

Muscular, low slung and with a
massive engine shoehorned under

the bonnet, the AC Cobra is
what sports cars are meant to be.

There are no compromises
at all. Everything has been

designed to make the
Cobra go as fast as possible.

Take the best of British car design
from AC, add in the engineering

skill of US speed freak, Carl
Shelby, and you get the Cobra.

It's a savage car with a reputation
for exciting rear wheel drive handling.

In 7 litre V8 form it can blister
to 60 miles an hour in 4.2

and keep going to 165 miles
an hour if you've got the guts.

So we're on the hunt for
the awesome AC Cobra.

The truth is, I don't think me and Ed
could ever stretch to buying a genuine car.

That's because I'm looking at one
right now and it's a very cheap £117,000.

However, I'm going to show
you the Wheeler dealer way

how you can get that Cobra
feeling for a lot less money.

Two words, kick car.
I'm not talking about some

fibreglass body bolted
onto a Cortina chassis.

No, I'm thinking of a bespoke motor,
handcrafted, real top end sports car stuff.

There's a few companies
making standout replicas like

Gardner Douglas, Pilgrim,
and Dax, but they're not cheap.

Price tags of 25 grand are common.

There's a gorgeous car
here. This one's a Gardner

Douglas for sale and they
seem to do very good replicas.

It was built by a guy
it says in the advert 10

years ago and he's
only done 800 miles in it.

I definitely think this
one is worth a phone call.

Hello there. Yeah, I'm thinking
about the car you got for sale.

The Gardner Douglas is built
on Jaguar mechanicals, rear axle,

brakes, chassis, so it's rugged
and the parts are readily available.

The company has established a
good reputation in the Cobra replica

world, something which is all
important when you buy a kick car.

Bye bye.

Wow, that sounded really interesting.

This car could be gold
dust to me and Ed. This guy

can't get it through
what they call an IVA test.

All cars, whether they're imported
into the country or they're kick cars,

need to go through this exam so
they can be registered for the UK roads.

He can't get it through the test. I reckon
we could. That is a great bargaining tool.

It's for sale for 20 grand.
I reckon I can get it a bit cheaper.

I know one thing's for sure,
I'm definitely going to see it.

Well, here I am at this
airfield. It looks empty, this

place, and it's windy, it's
bleak, and where is Stuart?

There he is, Stuart.
Oh, it's nice to be out

in the wind around
here, isn't it? It's lovely.

How are you, mate?

Good to see you. Thanks for bringing the
car down. Tell us a little bit about it.

Well, Mike, I built the
car 10 years ago. I fell in

love with this iconic shape
when I was a teenager.

Looked at various kits.
Fell in love with this one.

Took me three years to
build, and it's my pride and joy.

I can see that, yeah. This is the poster
on every boy's bedroom wall, isn't it?

It certainly wasn't my
bedroom wall. So tell us

about this IVA problem
we got with the engine.

Yeah, basically, when I
built it, as I say, 10 years ago,

the engine that was in it
was fine then with emissions.

Now emissions have tightened
up, and this engine's going to

struggle to pass that, so it's
stopping me to get the IVA.

So the offending article is under here.
Can we have a look?

You can.

Wow! Look at that.
That is gorgeous, isn't it?

It's a 6.3-litre V8 Chevy, Edelbrock Eddas,
and it dynoed at 370 brake horsepower.

370 brake horsepower.
Could you fire her up?

I'd love to hear what she sounds like.

There you go.
Can I have a little bit of a rev out of it?

Ah, yes. That is music
to my ears. OK, jump

yourself out. I love that.
Very, very nice indeed.

Let's have a good look at this interior.
Oh, yes, look at that. Like a glove.

Oh, Stuart, that feels lovely.

It's all leather interior, Mike. Leather
seats, leather door panels, leather dash.

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

Right, let's have a look down the back.

Very nice. It's nice and
sharp down the back. I

like those twin pipes
and that lovely bright work.

And the bodywork is in smart condition.
I really like it.

Well, believe it or not, Mike,
it's not painted. It's gel-coat finish.

That's polished gel-coat. So that's
basically fibreglass that's been polished up.

Very nice. Right, all
I need to do is to get

this baby out on the
track and give it a ragging.

OK, can you handle the power?

I think I can, yeah.

This car might not be
street legal because of the

engine work it needs,
but from where I'm sitting,

this 6.3 litre V8 engine certainly
does it for me because just listen to this.

Oh, my God!

The power is
absolutely crazy. That's if

you can hear me. I'm
going to exhaust pipes.

Through experience, Cobras
are really twitchy, but this one,

I think Stewart's done a
great job of screwing it together

because it really does grip very nicely.
Indeed, very exciting.

And I'll tell you what, the brakes as well.

They give you confidence.
You can stand on them.

You can see the smoke
of the anchors come into

play. This car works.
It works really well.

The gearbox feels lovely and tight. It's
flicking through the gears with confidence.

Do you know what? This is a dream
car that everyone would love to own.

Unfortunately for Stewart, though, this one
has turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.

That's what we're talking about. That
is what we're talking about. Look at that!

Standing on the sixpence.

Woo-hoo!

I love my job! I love my job!

Is my wig still in place?

That was some test drive. What a...

It's a loaded weapon, this car, isn't it?
It's amazing.

It's got loads of torque, loads of power.

I think you can see I kind of like it.
I like it a lot.

There are those problems,
but I do like the motor.

So you've advertised it the 20 grand.

It could be a bit of a
risk, this, because to get

it through that IVA test
could be a big gamble

and it could cost us a lot of money.
With that in mind, I still want the car.

I think I'd make you an offer of 17.

I can't go as low as 17, Mike.

I think 17's a fair shout.

18? 18 grand.

If you make it 17 and a half, I'll
have a deal with you. Come on.

You've bought yourself a car. Yes!
I've just bought myself a Cobra.

Our Cobra replica is an awesome bit of kit.

And if we can get it through
that IVA test and register

for the road, then the
profits could be massive.

But this is a performance sports
car, so parts prices will be high.

The other unknown is Ed.

How will he react when I rock up
for the first time ever in a kit car?

Well, what an amazing test
drive and what a cracking car,

swinging out the back
there on Paul's trailer.

Absolutely cracking deal.

17 and a half thousand pounds.

You've got to think that's
a bespoke, hand-built car.

It gives you all the look and feel of a
real Cobra, but a fraction of the cost.

Now, although Stuart's
obviously done a great

job of building his
Gardner-Douglas Mark III

car, I reckon we can
add some value to it.

I've sold quite a few of these in the past,

and I know that people really go
for that bad boy street racer look.

So I reckon wide rear
tyres are order of the day.

And I'm also not convinced by those
twin tower pipes coming out the back.

They just look a bit ordinary.

I reckon we could come up with
something a little bit sexier than that.

You know, I do love this
car that's on the trailer

behind us, but I know
it's a bit of a gamble.

I've sort of pinned
my hopes on Ed being

able to get it through
the emissions problem.

If we can't get our car
through the IVA test,

we won't be turning
a profit on this one.

But if we can't get it sorted,
we could sell it for 25 grand-ish.

Mega money.

Time to wake up Ed with the loud pedal.

What a fantastic sound.
An AC Cobra, what a wicked car.

Well in fact it's not an
AC Cobra, it's a replica,

but it's as close as an AC
as you're ever going to get,

and I think it's a sweet looking car.

It is a wonderful looking beast.

I want to hear you, but I
want to hear that instead.

It does sound wonderful, and
it looks really really straight.

Probably one of the straightest you've ever
brought here, so what is wrong with it?

Because obviously there's going to
be something massively wrong with it.

Unfortunately yes there
is a problem with this car.

The guy that built this
car, he built it 10 years ago,

and he never got it
registered for the UK roads

because he never put
it through an IVA test,

and on emissions alone this car will fail.

So we need to get this
car through an IVA test.

You can actually smell in the
air, it's kind of running a bit rich.

I'm guessing it's got a
big old V8 in there, has it?

It's got a great big American Chevy V8.

Fantastic. Exactly the right
kind of engine for loads of fun,

but of course nowadays
to get it through an IVA test,

people would either run a really
brand new kind of modern style engine,

or perhaps you'd
change the car brushes on

an older engine for a
fuel injection system.

Either way, it's a very expensive fix.

I hope you're ready to spend some money.

No, I'm not ready for that, because listen,
I got this car I think really cheap,

and I think whatever
we need to do to this car,

we've got to do it on the cheap.

That way we can maximise the profit.

But look at it Ed, it
looks fantastic, doesn't it?

It does look wonderful actually.

I think it would be quite nice if it
looked a bit more retro perhaps.

So I think what would be really
cool is to change the wheels,

even though they look
like they're brand new,

for maybe get rid of the silver
centres, go for maybe a black centre,

but also perhaps do
something with the back end,

give it a bit more of a deep dish look.

Maybe that is the way
to go, but I'll tell you what,

that's all we need to do, isn't it?

A little bit of tidying up here and there,

and that car is staring straight down
the barrel of a huge chunky profit.

Should we get it in the workshop?

I think we should, yeah, but you know,

it's never as easy as you
try and make out a challenge.

I am hugely excited to have this
beast of a car in our workshop.

What I'm less happy about is the
problem that awaits me under the bonnet.

Now I might manage to get this car cheap
because technically, despite appearances,

it's not actually street legal.

It hasn't passed its IVA test.

Now that's kind of like a tough
MOT that all component cars

have to go through before
they can be allowed on the road.

Now in its current state,

this car would fail that
test down to emissions,

but I don't think it's
going to be that easy.

Undoubtedly, it's a
beautiful looking engine,

but this huge block
is all about raw power.

And to meet current emissions,

you need to be a lot more street friendly.

Just how friendly?

Well, I need a special
test to help me find out.

The real work starts at the
back here because of course

this is where the emissions
are actually measured.

What I have to do is stick a probe up the
exhaust pipe with a nicely warmed up car,

and then leave the rest for
this magical machine here.

Let's find out how much CO
or carbon monoxide is in there,

the carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons,

which of course is the
soot of the unburnt fuel.

So we just have to wait and see now.

This is the kind of kit you
see at a standard MOT centre.

After three minutes, the readout is ready.

You can see we've got
about 2.8 or so of carbon

monoxide and about 1400
or so on the hydrocarbons.

The bad news is for the IVA test, we've
actually got to get down to less than 0.2

on the carbon monoxide
and less than 200 on the

hydrocarbons, so we
have got a lot of work to do.

Now I can make an impact on the emissions
by playing around with the carburetor,

so that's my next step.

Now this wonderful bit of machinery
is of course the classic 350 Chevy V8.

Nestling on top of the inlet manifold
is a four barrel carburetor whose job

is to mix the fuel and air mixture
in just the right proportions.

Now by tweaking around with
some of the internal settings

we can actually make the
engine run more or less efficiently,

so my plan is to take the carburetor off
and see if we can make some improvements.

Today most modern cars
have electronic fuel injection

which delivers the best
fuel-air mix for the engine.

But our car has a carburetor system

and I'm planning to do an internal modification
on this one by changing the jetting,

a component which regulates
the mix entering the engine.

But before I can do that,

I need to wrestle the whole setup off
the engine block and onto the bench.

Now if you haven't done this before
this might look a little bit daunting

and if that's the case
the best thing to do is get

yourself a digital camera or
nowadays a phone will be fine.

You can take some pictures
of the various bits of detail

that way when you come
to put it back together again

you know where
everything is supposed to go.

The things I'm looking
for are down here and

here in the base of
the float bowl chamber.

They're called jets.

Now basically they're rather like
little grub screws with holes in them.

and a hole in metering the amount
of fuel that's going into the air mixture.

Now the theory is if I
can put smaller ones in

then of course the engine is
going to run a bit more efficiently

and hopefully we can bring
down some of those emissions.

The original jets simply unscrew out.

Replacing them will have a
small impact on the power output.

This is our brand new
carburetor calibration kit.

It's got loads of jets and
other bits and pieces in there.

Now having a look at the jets

I've just taken out, the first
one I took out was a 407.

Now obviously this
engine is running very

rich so it might as well
go down two stages.

So 404, so the next one I want is a 401.

Then the other jet at
the moment is a 413

and again if I go down
to 410 and then 407.

So let's have a little look then.

So this will be the 401.

Just check that using
my magnifying glasses.

Check, there we go, smashing.

This kit costs £60 together
with a guide on how to use it.

Fitting the new jets
will recalibrate the

carburetor and should
help the engine run leaner.

Less fuel to air in the mix.

With both sets of jets in place the
four pot carb goes back together.

That's it.

Every other part remains standard.

It's hard to believe that
these tiny components

can have such a big
impact on an engine.

This is the kind of job you could tackle

in your own garage and re-jetting yourself
could save you £100 or so in labour.

So with the carburetor in position
the theory is with the smaller jets

we're going to have the same amount of air

going into the engine
but slightly less fuel.

Therefore the engine is running
leaner and therefore cleaner.

But of course any real way to
test this is to start her up again.

Well that is pretty amazing.

When you think we
only spent £60 on this fix

we probably saved about
80% on the carbon monoxide

but pretty much halved our
hydrocarbons which is absolutely amazing.

The bad news is it's not
good enough for our IVA test

so we are going to have to
spend some more money.

The obvious place to try and spend
this is going to be on the exhaust system.

So Mike got us into this mess maybe it's
about time he looked for some custom parts

to get us out of it.

Our Cobra replica needs a new
exhaust and because it's a hand built car

they don't come off the shelf.

So I've come here to
talk custom built pipes.

Hello mate, you Barry?

Barry how you doing? I'm Mike.

How you doing Mike?

Spoke to you on the
phone regarding my Cobra.

That's right, yeah.

Now my car is never
going to get through its

emissions the previous
owner couldn't get it through

so I'm going to need some
help, what can you do?

Well what we can do first
of all is get you some cats.

You're going to need two of these things.

What's in here?

There is a number of precious metals.

and what happens is when
they get to a certain temperature

they react and they burn
off all the horrible gases.

So this is the thing that will reduce.

the power of the Cobra?

That's right, yeah. Fantastic, okay.

Now the car is rather noisy.

Okay.

Well we do a number of different silencers.

This one here, this is a good
example of a straight through sil*ncer

and if you're looking for that little bit
more we can supply you the vortex unit.

which will actually give you
more power with better economy.

Barry invited me out back to find out
more about his patented muffler system.

Here they can make pipes for anything

from a race motorbike to
the biggest articulated truck

but the eco-friendly vortex
muffler is the Jewel in their crown.

And the magic happens in there does it?

Yeah it does, what we do.

We pass gas over shapes,
accelerate it down the outside,

we create a low depression in front,

that creates the vacuum, extra
power and better fuel economy.

How much is it all going to cost?

Bear in mind there's going
to be two exhausts on that car.

1250 pounds.

1250 quid, sounds
expensive but I'm convinced

after talking to you and seeing all of
this it's definitely going to do the job.

Hold out your hand, got yourself a deal.

If the exhaust system works
then we can get the car registered

and ready for sale but if the
car fails the upcoming IVA test

we may have to replace the V8 for a
cleaner lump at the cost of 1500 pounds.

I gambled when I bought
this car and the stakes are high

because a new engine
would wipe out our profit and

mean we're looking down
the barrel of a potential loss.

Our Cobra could sell for around 25 grand

if we can get it through the
tough new emissions laws

so I'm waiting on
delivery of a custom built

exhaust but our car
won't land the big money

unless we can also make
it show as well as it goes.

This Cobra replica does look pretty mean

with its low slung body,
lovely shiny roll hoops

and the big wheels but the
original Cobras look so much meaner

and part of that distinctive
retro feel was down to

these big fat wheels on the
back with deep dish alloys.

They just look like the car was
hunkered down on the tarmac.

Now our alloys do look rather
nice but they're just a bit flat.

If they had a deep addition
then they'd give the impression

of much fatter rear wheels and
of course that's exactly the look

that the aficionados
are going to be going for.

in the ultimate Cobra replica.

Now handily there is a
clever way of getting that look

by narrowing the rear track
or width of the back axle.

So first thing to remove
is the rear carpets,

then the roll bars, the gear knob.

Now the more observant amongst you
might be wondering what on earth I'm doing.

What have these parts
got to do with the rear axle?

Well I'm readying the Gardner
Douglas for its party trick.

Here we go.

You see, pretty cool isn't it?

Lots of Gardner Douglas
owners race their cars

so having a body which lifts off this
simply makes them easy to work on.

So this is what we're looking at.

All of the running gear,
the brakes, the suspension,

all of these parts come
from a Jaguar XJ6 donor car.

Now they're fantastically strong and
reliable parts and like many manufacturers

many of these parts are interchangeable
with models from earlier and later

and it turns out that many Cobra
fans actually then replace the drive shaft

and the bottom arms from this suspension
with ones from an S-Type Jaguar.

Why do they do that?

Well it's because they're 70mm shorter
so when they're fitted to the suspension

you end up with actually a
considerably narrower track

so that way you get to
fit your deep dish allies.

which of course gives
you that fantastic retro look.

Sounds like a pretty neat idea.

I'm going to go down the S-Type route.

and with the body on the
ramp I'm using a trolley Jack to

get the axle off the deck so I
can remove the rear wheels.

You can now more clearly see that the bottom
suspension arm is attached to the hub.

with a big bolt that goes through down here

and also there's a big bolt that
goes through the chassis at this end

and then the drive shaft is
actually a bit more conventional

you've got a couple of bolts, I've
got four holding it onto the differential

and at this end it goes through
a spline shaft onto the hub here.

Now to get all this
apart I can start with that.

This castellated nut holds the hub together

at a set amount of torque.

To remove the hub I'm
using this bearing puller which

separates the hub
assembly from the drive shaft.

Having removed the hub I now
need to disconnect the other end

of the drive shaft from the differential
so there are four nuts holding it in place

and it would be a lot easier to get
to them if I remove that dust cover.

With that the drive shaft's
inner joint becomes visible.

Access is good and
it's quickly disconnected.

The coil over suspension is next.

So far this strip down has
happened in around an hour.

Good going.

So far everything seems to
have come and done pretty easily

but the next problem I've got is to
remove this lower suspension arm.

Now on a standard Jaguar
that should be okay because

there's a bolt that goes
all the way through here,

you undo the nut side of
the side, slide the rod out and

then you can actually get the
suspension arm out quite easily

but on this car because
it's got this custom cage

and various other added bits of metal.

because of that.

Now if I undo these two bolts
either side that plate will be removed.

That's great.

Then I could have a go at trying to
get this kind of rod out of position.

On a kit or component car like this
you'll always come across problems.

If I'm being charitable I'd call
it an engineering compromise.

At last.

So now finally I can try and
undo the bits I wanted to undo.

Finally the lower suspension arm is
free and I can move on to the other side.

again.

Now the time is mounting up on this job.

I'm five hours in and haven't
even completed the strip down yet.

Well this is what it's all about.

These are our old parts,

these are our new parts.

Now you can see these bits that came
from the XJ6 and were fitted to our Cobra

are considerably longer
than the parts from the S-type.

Now if you look at that you can
see a big, big difference at both ends

and of course it's because of that difference,
that narrowing that means we can fit

our deep dish alloys and
everything's going to work beautifully.

Now these parts are second
hand, they have been kind

of cleaned up and painted,
they cost about 270 pounds.

Now if you couldn't actually get hold of
some second hand parts an alternative

would be to actually narrow the suspension
arm and also narrow the drive shaft.

You need to get a professional to do
that, probably going to cost about the same

sort of money but it would
take about a month so if

you're short on time try and
find those second hand bits.

Next call over on, our best pop in,

our shortened drive shaft.

It's going well though.

This might seem a massive amount of
work to do just so you can get a wheel

which looks a bit meaner
on our Cobra replica

but it will add value to the car
making it much more saleable.

The original cars went
out of production in

the 1960s and fans
love that pure retro look.

With a two-seater sports
car like this there's a

short weather window due
to August when they are most.

of the top money.

Our job is to make our
Cobra the best available.

Thankfully the mix and match
Jaguar parts are slotting together.

I'm only about half an hour
away from finishing now.

I'm getting excited to
see how this turns out.

Everything's in place but before we refit
that body I need to put some wheels on.

Now you can clearly see the difference.

in the offset between the new ones
and the standard ones that we just.

want to really give this
car street creds to both the

uninitiated but more
importantly those connoisseurs

of the Cobra kit car.

Our deep dish rear alloys,

standard front wheels and a set of tyres

are second hand and
they came in at £1500.

The original Cobra wheels
were made from magnesium.

They were super light and improved
the car's power to weight ratio.

Thanks to our newly shortened back axle
our deep dish wheels do look rather good.

They look even better
with the body in place.

Now this is where I have to concentrate.

It's been a long hard day and dropping
the body down now and cracking

the gel coat exterior would be a nightmare.

So Paul's here to help land the
Cobra replica body bang on target.

So what do you think
of that finished effect?

I think it looks great and what's more
so will buyers because to get top money

for this car we do need to
get those details right and I

know it was a real good looker
when Mike turned up with it.

We've enhanced that and by giving
it a bit more of that retro 60s feel.

like it could end saleability.

Ed.

All right mate.

How you doing?

Not too bad.

I hope you've come bearing gifts.

Ah, I know what you mean.

You mean the exhaust pipe don't you?

Well I have been to see a specialist
custom maker for the exhaust

and they've sorted us out
a really cracking system.

It's high tech, got a couple
of caps on it and it'll be.

great to say it can do.

I think that would be okay but if you
couple it with the cost of our new wheels.

They're very nice.

Aren't they actually?

Well then unfortunately we're
looking at Pelican size spend.

Pelican? Really big bill.

See what you did there.

I'm removing the exhaust ready for
the arrival of Mike's new super system.

Throughout their history replica
Cobras have had all sorts of engines.

V6s, V8s and even huge V12s.

Its basic layout and simple.

don't shoehorn anything under the bonnet.

This exhaust is going to be
changed from the headers at

the front all the way to the
rear silencers at the back.

Cobras are often used as track day
cars because they're such fun to drive

but of course that means they
often do incur a little bit of damage

therefore the second hand market
can be quite buoyant so rather than

just weighing in some shiny bits
like this you've just taken off a car

why not recycle them and make some money
at the same time just by selling them.

Exhausts are usually
heavy so if you can get

someone else to help
you lift off the system.

Well this is our great looking
custom-made exhaust system the most

important part are these two lumps
here these are the catalytic converters.

Now the idea is they are packed
full of catalyst and what happens is all

these bad gases coming from the
engine go through here and get purified and

end up being the right side of the
law which is exactly what we need.

This exhaust paste helps the new
system slide into the headers it's a

tight fit but it will help
create an even better seal.

I've got most of the system on but
now it's time for the rear end mufflers.

Now what makes this
sil*ncer so special is the fact

it's completely different
to anything else on the.

market your standard sil*ncer is
going to have these kind of perforated

metal in it it's going to have maybe
some wadding some kind of fibreglass.

it's got some special metal cones
inside also some spiraling bits of

tubing in fact I can show you just
a glimpse of what's going on inside

there you can see hopefully there's
a little cone there and just the edges

of that tubing and what that
does that clever metal work inside

actually creates a vortex rather like
one of these modern vacuum cleaners it

actually sucks out the air from the
exhaust system and of course that's

where you get all your
benefits clever stuff. This

new system should make
the difference between a pass.

test and an all-important IVA test
but it's a custom-built piece of kit

and until I test it I can't really
be sure it will do the job so with

fitting complete it's time
to check the emissions.

So there is quite a lot riding
on the push of this button.

I'm giving the engine time to warm
up and the tension is growing with

every minute it's ticking
over what will the gas

analyzer tell us about
the state of our Cobra?

Well that is absolutely amazing this
new exhaust system is so good look at

that you can see here the carbon
monoxide needs to be less than 0.2

we're looking at 0.16 0.15 0.17
that kind of thing that's going to be.

fine and the hydrocarbons are so
much better than before they need to be

less than 200 and here they're like
what just bumbling around just under

there so hopefully with any
luck on the day they will be fine.

But join us again soon when the

Cobra replica and I face
our final challenge getting

through that tough IVA
test better get back to work.

We love our Cobra replica but

getting it ready for the road has
been a real mission. Ed managed to

dramatically reduce the emissions on
the V8 Chevy lump and he's upped the

bad boys spec by fitting these deep
dish alloys. Now she's ready for the

street but only if we can get
the car registered for the road. It's

time to head to a specially licensed
Bosa test centre where our gardener

Douglas has an appointment
with a man and a clipboard.

So here we are at a Vosa IVA test
centre this is the place where any

component car built in this country
grey imports they've all got to come

through here they're going to pass
the test before they're allowed on

the British roads so the question
is is all the work that we've done

enough to make this thing go
through the test. Fingers crossed.

They start with a few basics. The
headrest is the right height. Then.

there's all kinds of arcane tests
with angles and bits of string. At

the last minute I had to borrow a
set of stand-in headrests to meet

the test requirements. Fantastic
so the headrest is at the right height?

It is. I have to say I'm rather
intrigued by this test what are we

testing here now Dave? This is the
exterior projections test. Cars need to

be as safe as possible for
pedestrians. The cone defines the

outline of the car and therefore
which protuberances need particular.

attention. The test chocks the front
wheels to check the calibration of

the speedo, checks the brakes and
the general construction of the car. So

far so good. Then he did the
all-important emissions test. I was

quietly confident but... Just raise
the engine speed to about two and a

half thousand please. Oh
Dave you're going to have to

put me out of my misery.
Have we passed? Yes we have.

we've just scraped it. We
needed one and we're just

underneath. That's awesome
news thank you very much.

We've done it we've actually passed
our emissions. Fantastic. Success!

Just a few more formalities and
the car will have an IVA certificate and

be officially roadworthy. Well that's
what I thought but then I realised our

man was about to test the
exhaust decibels and this car is loud.

Very loud. After all this work with
the new exhaust system to sort out.

emissions I completely
forgot they're also going to

test how loud the exhaust
is by doing a decibel test.

So Dave are we all set for this
test? Yes we are if you'd like to

give me three thousand nine
hundred revs please. No problem okay

fantastic. Now if this meter hits
100 it's all over and as you can

see it's hovering dangerously
close to a fail. How

did we do? That was just
in. What a relief. Fantastic.

The IVA test didn't come cheap it
cost four hundred and fifty pounds to

do and took a day of my time but in
the end the result was superb. Now

without this bit of paper I would
certainly be in the doghouse this

car would be less desirable and
worst of all you wouldn't be allowed to

drive it on British
roads but I have got this

bit of paper which makes
me a very happy bunny.

I took a massive gamble on this
fabulous Cobra replica. It looked

amazing and sounded incredible
but it had a floor right in its V8 shaped

heart. I was sure we
could cure the emissions but

it cost a lot more time
and money than I thought.

A carb jet overall bought the
emissions down but it needed a full

exhaust swap and a custom designed
system to really make our car street

legal. Our Cobra replica is a
stunning bit of kit but narrowing the rear.

track and adding deep dish wheels
made it super desirable for the fans

of this cult car. The IVA test was
tough but we squeaked home. We've

done it we've actually passed our
emissions. Fantastic. And now the car

is registered for UK roads and
can be bought and sold without any

problems so we passed one of
our biggest ever tests but what did it

cost? Well the car was cheap. Honest
at seventeen and a half grand. The

carb overhaul and the axle narrowing
kit would cheat too but the second

hand wheels and tyres and the custom
exhaust system cleaned out the bank.

Overall we're into our car for
over 21 grand. Whoa. There it is.

How are you mate? I'm doing
good how are you sir? I'm better now

look at that it's looking fantastic
better than the day I bought it and

now it's passed its IVA test so
good times ahead. Absolutely we were

both losing a lot of sleep over
that test so I'm really chuffed I

actually managed to get it through
in the end. Well it's a big weight

off my mind now I know we can
clear some big profit on this motor. Any

problems with the test? Well there
are a few last minute fixes to do

for the IVA test including those
really rather nasty headrests. We

are gonna have to change those.
I'm already way ahead of you they're

turning up any minute now the right
colour and a nice shape as well. Any

other problems? Well that lovely
exhaust system that sorted out our.

road in my book is a pass and I
do like the sound of loud pipes. Do

you want to put them to the test? I
am desperate to hear these things

on the open road so you got a
good idea for a place? I've got the

perfect place to give this a
thorough shakedown. Well Ed our

Cobra replica is a really fast car
so I brought us to a place where

we can really test its top-end
performance. In front of us you

will see a quarter of a mile of
blacktop that way me and you can

go head-to-head in a top-end
top-speed challenge. Excellent so

it's all gonna be about our top
speed as we pass through that

quarter mile marker. That's right
but who's gonna go first? Let's

find out. You ready? It's got
to be Ed's. It's Tows! I go first.

Right then here we go. I've got
a quarter of a mile of drag strip to

try and set a top speed that
Ed's can't beat. I've got a great big

American V8 engine. I've got
a car that weighs fundamentally

nothing and I'm convinced that
I can do it. He looks a long way

away through all that heat
haze but it's not going to take him

long to eat up this track. Here
we go. Here come the Christmas

tree lights. I've got
yellow and green. Oh I've

got a little bit of wheel
spin but that's okay.

Wow this car is so fast! Woohoo!

That is fantastic!

And I'm coming up to the quarter
mile marker and I'm going through

I reckon that was about 110
miles an hour. That is one quick car.

I love it. 108 miles an hour.

That is awesome.

So I know the speed I
have to beat and to do

that I had to do everything
perfectly. Now I know

I set a good time.

Absolutely blistering start!

His foot is flat to the floor.

He's going quick isn't he?

Fantastic! This thing sounds.

amazing! Woah! This is such a.

great car. Oh my word! Woohoo!

Well Ed the results are in.

I lost. Fantastic!

Yeah! 110 miles an hour
for you. Awesome! 108

miles an hour for me.
Well it goes superbly.

It looks fantastic but the.

question is what are we going
to sell it for? Well because it's

such a nice car I reckon
we could go for late 20s. Well

that is catching quite
a lot of people. You're

probably right but
hopefully this wonderful

British summer will bring out some good
punters. Fingers crossed. Well it cursed the

weather and after that glorious
summers day we had nothing but

rain for weeks on end. Not great weather
to sell a car with no hood. I got the car a

UK registration plate and waited
for phone calls but eventually I

had to drop the price to get
potential buyers through the door.

Now this chap behind me he's.

driving it. The weather could.

be helping today. Now I've
advertised our Cobra for £24,000

which should bring us nearly
£3,000 profit but I've got a.

funny feeling that this chap
he wants a bit of a bargain so I

might have to fight for every
penny. So you still like it?

Love it. More I look at it,

more I like it. Good. Well if
you've got the money for it

you could be driving it home today with the
sun shining as well. Perfect. Well I've.

got the car worth that. £22.

£22 for that? No it's such a
beautiful motor and there's been

so much work gone into it. I'd let you
have the car for £23,500. £22 and a half.

£22 and a half. It's just not enough. I
think we know where this is going don't we?

Why don't we just agree to
agree. So £23,000. Go on then.

You just bought yourself one tasty motor.
Almost £2,000 in profit. Not bad at all.

If we'd hung on we might have
got more but in the end we need

the workshop space for
our next stunning classic.

Well we've had quite a journey with our
Kobler replica. I can't remember a car that's

given us this much fun and
excitement. Now it's off to its

new home. I'm going to miss those lovely
lines and the awesome growl coming from the

exhaust pipes. If you
want to see what me and

Ed work on next then
join us again soon on.