Greetings from Tucson

[aduarte]

I currently reside in Tucson, AZ. I lost my beautiful wife of 25 years to Glioblastoma in June 2016. This tragic situation has caused me to reevaluate my priorities in life. I have always had a burning desire to own one of these awesome cars and she has always supported my desire, but with family obligations and the normal distractions in life, I picked up a Porsche Speedster replica kit that was more affordable at the time. I have owned the Speedster for almost 20 years. With the outstanding support that I received from my wife over the years as my crew chief on my Speedster build, I am driven to build a FFR Cobra in her memory. This forum has shown me that with the support of current owners, and those planning to purchase a roadster soon, has motivated me to pull the trigger on placing an order for a Mark IV complete kit. Now that our two kids are grown, this might be the best time for me to make my Cobra dream happen. The icing on the cake would be that my wife was born in 1965, the year of the Cobra. Good luck to everyone on their builds.

[Gordon Levy]

Welcome to the forum

[aduarte]

Welcome to the forum

Thank you, Gordon. I look forward to dropping by your shop to discuss a possible Roadster build with you.

[Gordon Levy]

I will be here

[Desert Cobra]

We have a fairly active local group of about 50 cars in Tucson, so welcome. We are all willing to help and will give you our two cents worth on how to do it. With the temps here not much during the summer as far as drives. I built a MK4 starting in April 2013. see it at www.FFRMK4Cobra @ blogspot.com. Send me an email at M3Mike@hotmail.com when your ready. I can show you how I set up the garage and the parts I got to complete the job. Get to know your Ace Hardware nuts, bolts and fasteners guy and Harbour Freight Tools. The build for me was a lot of fun. The driving is simply fantastic.

[aduarte]

We have a fairly active local group of about 50 cars in Tucson, so welcome. We are all willing to help and will give you our two cents worth on how to do it. With the temps here not much during the summer as far as drives. I built a MK4 starting in April 2013. see it at www.FFRMK4Cobra @ blogspot.com. Send me an email at M3Mike@hotmail.com when your ready. I can show you how I set up the garage and the parts I got to complete the job. Get to know your Ace Hardware nuts, bolts and fasteners guy and Harbour Freight Tools. The build for me was a lot of fun. The driving is simply fantastic.

Thank you for the response. I truly appreciate your interest in offering technical and moral support on my planned build. Since I have only been in the Tucson since October 2015, I am currently renting a home. Since I have limited space in my garage at my residence, I have contacted Gordon at Levy Racing to discuss the possibility of building the roadster for me. I possess the mechanical skills and most tools to do the build. My only problem is that I do not want my neighborhood HOA police to contact my landlord of my car building activities if I built the roadster in my garage that may result in me being kicked out. I plan to stop by this week to see some of the FFR cars at Gordon's shop. I would also be interested to meet some FFR owners such as yourself on your next get together, to get some build ideas and establish a friendship base. I am impressed by the number of FFR owners in Tucson! That sounds awesome.

[aduarte]

Thank you for the response. I truly appreciate your interest in offering technical and moral support on my planned build. Since I have only been in the Tucson since October 2015, I am currently renting a home. Since I have limited space in my garage at my residence, I have contacted Gordon at Levy Racing to discuss the possibility of building the roadster for me. I possess the mechanical skills and most tools to do the build. My only problem is that I do not want my neighborhood HOA police to contact my landlord of my car building activities if I built the roadster in my garage that may result in me being kicked out. I plan to stop by this week to see some of the FFR cars at Gordon's shop. I would also be interested to meet some FFR owners such as yourself on your next get together, to get some build ideas and establish a friendship base. I am impressed by the number of FFR owners in Tucson! That sounds awesome.

[Desert Cobra]

If you haven't been to cars and coffee you can usually see 2 or 3 Cobras there. Next is June 10, from 7-10am. You might get your landlords' OK then check out the HOA CC&Rs and get their OK (probably conditional). If the garage is fully enclosed I don't think they can object to what goes on inside. Levy is good. Depends on how much DIY you want. It is good to explore and research your options before pulling the trigger on buying and not making the same mistakes we did.

[aduarte]

Where will the next cars and coffee get together be held at? I would like to see some of the Cobras and talk to the owners to learn from their experiences as you mentioned. I will be up in the Mesa area until next week, but as soon as I return to Tucson, I will make it a point to make a few of these group meetings before starting my Cobra project.

I met with Gordon this morning to go over some plan options for my Cobra project. Gordon is extremely knowledgable and helpful in offering sound advise from his vast experience in building FFR cars. I left his shop with a better understanding of the work involved in building these performance cars. As for the HOA issue, I will talk to my landlord to discuss the neighborhood limitations as far as my car building plans go. The house does have a fully enclosed two car garage. That should help in keeping neighborhood spies at bay. Thanks again.

[mach'er]

aduarte: You have my deepest sympathies for the loss of your wife. My wife and I have been together for 23 years, and I can't fathom the loss you've gone through. As I stated elsewhere, my brother is ~1 year in after diagnosis, and I'm still amazed at how many people I've now met that have had to deal with a loved one with Glioblastoma.

I've not yet started my build (kit has been ordered, and I'm looking forward to delivery), so I'm no help when it comes to sharing build experiences for now; however, if you ever need to talk GBM loss support, feel free to PM me. I'm not a counselor or anything, but I'm willing to listen. I hope a new build project helps your recovery process, if that's what you're after.

Good luck with your build plans.
--Curt

[Desert Cobra]

Cars and Coffee is a Tucson event not a Cobra club thing. They have a face book page (Google cars and coffee Tucson). It is at La Encantada mall Campbell Ave. and Sunrise Drive northwest corner in front of AJ's.

[aduarte]

Thank you, Curt for your message and thoughts. I truly appreciate it. My wife was a wonderful woman and so supportive in my interest in cars. Since our early years of dating before we got married, I have always told her of my desire to own a Cobra. She has always told me to get one, but it was always me who kept making excuses. I know she is smiling down on me as I speak about starting a Cobra build and I want one to honor her memory and support for all those years. Good luck in your build and I will be following your progress. Take care and my prayers to your brother and family.

[aduarte]

Thanks for the message. I will check their Facebook page for the information. Best regards.

[Eespensen]

I'm about to start my build, scheduled to arrive in mid July and I'm on the east side of Tucson. I also want to go visit Gordon and see what I might want from him to help in my build. We should talk!

[aduarte]

Not a problem. Send me an email at aduarte91@yahoo.com. We can meet when I return back to Tucson in a couple of days. I would like to meet you and discuss your build plans and see the car when it arrives from FFR.