Dondero14
07-21-2025, 10:24 AM
Hello Everyone,
I figured being new to the forum and FFR community, I would take the time to introduce myself. My name is Mark Dondero. Some of the older folks on here may know my father Hank. He was one of the early builders of the MK1, and I believe had chassis number 75 to roll out of the shop. He spent many years taking it to the track, working on it out in the garage and going for cruises every once in a while. I have many fond memories of that car, was how I learned how to drive a manual, and was able to take it for a few spins up at Walkins Glen. I believe he sold his cobra back in 2004/2005ish but he has always still been a gear head. Recently I had the bug in my head to locate his car and try purchasing it back so I could bring it back home and we could have some fun with it. I had virtually no luck tracking it down but figured how cool would it be to buy one that we could share because I knew he had that spark still in him even at his age. I ended up letting him in on my little secret and the gears started turning in his head big time. We ended up taking a trip down to FFR a couple weeks ago to see how well he could get in and out of the cars now since he's pushing 80. After spending some time there and talking to some of the guys, the both of us came to the conclusion that we wanted to build our own cobra together, which I couldn't be happier with that decision. I had floated the thought previously but lacked the confidence in being able to build a car from scratch, especially never being a huge gear head like he was to have the experience to do so either. After looking at the designs, especially with the body off, and the whole process, it gave me a lot more confidence knowing I'm mechanically capable of doing it all. Having my youth(compared to him haha) and mechanical background alongside my father's experience with cars and him having already built his car twice, I know we could definitely put one of these bad boys together. The both of us are extremely excited to move forward and it will be a great bonding experience together. We are both still going back and forth whether to build the Mk 4 or the Mk 5 so if anyone has any input, I'd love to hear it. I'm sure I'll have many questions from here on out and I look forward to interacting with all of you on here.
Mark
I figured being new to the forum and FFR community, I would take the time to introduce myself. My name is Mark Dondero. Some of the older folks on here may know my father Hank. He was one of the early builders of the MK1, and I believe had chassis number 75 to roll out of the shop. He spent many years taking it to the track, working on it out in the garage and going for cruises every once in a while. I have many fond memories of that car, was how I learned how to drive a manual, and was able to take it for a few spins up at Walkins Glen. I believe he sold his cobra back in 2004/2005ish but he has always still been a gear head. Recently I had the bug in my head to locate his car and try purchasing it back so I could bring it back home and we could have some fun with it. I had virtually no luck tracking it down but figured how cool would it be to buy one that we could share because I knew he had that spark still in him even at his age. I ended up letting him in on my little secret and the gears started turning in his head big time. We ended up taking a trip down to FFR a couple weeks ago to see how well he could get in and out of the cars now since he's pushing 80. After spending some time there and talking to some of the guys, the both of us came to the conclusion that we wanted to build our own cobra together, which I couldn't be happier with that decision. I had floated the thought previously but lacked the confidence in being able to build a car from scratch, especially never being a huge gear head like he was to have the experience to do so either. After looking at the designs, especially with the body off, and the whole process, it gave me a lot more confidence knowing I'm mechanically capable of doing it all. Having my youth(compared to him haha) and mechanical background alongside my father's experience with cars and him having already built his car twice, I know we could definitely put one of these bad boys together. The both of us are extremely excited to move forward and it will be a great bonding experience together. We are both still going back and forth whether to build the Mk 4 or the Mk 5 so if anyone has any input, I'd love to hear it. I'm sure I'll have many questions from here on out and I look forward to interacting with all of you on here.
Mark