Assembly
The Assembly Shop is where it all starts to come together for your Cobra* Replica kit. The frame truly becomes a chassis here, as the suspension is built and added. The front suspension is built up as a bolt on unit. The front cross member receives our custom A arms, Mustang spindles, Adjustable coil-over springs and shocks and the original type rack and pinion steering setup. Below is our front suspension unit ready to be added to the chassis.
In the Assembly Shop the bodies are fitted to the chassis, doors, hoods and trunk lids are hinged and fitted. Most of the accessories are also installed by craftsmen with many years of experience.
After the front suspension unit is installed, the Jaguar rear suspension is installed. This suspension has our own trailing link setup that gives the rear suspension the proper geometry to ensure both excellent handling characteristics and long component life.
The two views below show the suspension installed in a chassis. You will notice that the picture on the left showing the adjustable trailing arms and differential brace, also has the Optional adjustable coil-over shocks, while the picture on the right is our standard suspension with Optional Anti-Sway Bar.
All the chassis parts are installed here in the Assembly Shop. If a kit has been supplied an engine and transmission, they too are installed here.
Below, we see a beautiful chassis with a small block engine with Weber carbs and a Tremec transmission. This car will become a turnkey car with a customer supplied engine. Those Webers sure do add to the appearance, as well as, the performance!
This is the Assembly area. A number of kits are being worked on at the same time. It's normal for as many as ten or twelve to be assembled at the same time.
Here is the area from a different angle. The kit at the left is a completed Deluxe Pallet Kit with the optional soft top and side curtains in-place. It is ready for delivery to it's anxious new owner. This one is a Deluxe "roller" Pallet Kit. By virtue of having wheels and tires it is a "roller". The finish on this body is the standard gel coat finish. They come out of the mold like this. As you can see, not much body prep is required before painting, unlike some of our competitor's replica bodies. All the parts are fitted and installed. The owner will disassemble the accessory items, remove the body, and reassemble after prep and paint. But no extra fitting is required with a Unique kit.
This concludes the Assembly Shop tour, next, the Component Shop (please click here to continue the factory tour).