Spark Model's first venture into Cobra territory and I couldn't let it go by.





This is the hard top roadster that raced at Le Mans in 1963. It ran under the AC banner but the car was actually owner and raced by Ed Hugas an American and car dealer from Pittsburg. The top was supposed to make it more aerodynamic and it did help a bit but Shelby had a better answer the following year with the Daytona Coupe. Only three of these cars with the modified trunk lid were built - just the kind of oddity I like for my collection













The next question that needs to be answered is how accurate is the model? Based on comparison with photos I found of the real car it seems quite good. The biggest issues I have - besides the obvious one of it being a sealed model is that they should have included the exhaust system instead of just the tail pipes and why did they freeze the wheels? I would rather pay for things like that than the display case it comes with or the fancy packaging.

The final question is how does it look sitting next to the 'Gold Standard' for MKI Cobra roadsters the Exoto.

Here are a few pictures













You can clearly see that their are differences in the body shape.


For a possible 'tie breaker' I pulled out a Norev for comparison










Seems clear to me that the Spark looks more like the Norev than the Exoto


One thing I found interesting. The Spark windshield frame is much thinner that the Exoto no doubt due to the advances that have been made in clear plastic windshields. That said the Norev is chunkier - likely not for the glass but in order to accomodate the wind deflectors and sun shades.


Now it seems I need to pray for Norev to come out with FIA spec roadsters