Why did I go with Hurricane? Well, I first heard of Hurricane Motorsports from our dear friend Jay Nordstrom. Jay was familiar with the original Hurricane company in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and had bought a few cobras from them over the years. Then he was involved with the transaction of Scranton Manufacturing of Lake City, Iowa acquiring the company. He was instrumental in recommending many upgrades to the now second-generation Hurricane 427 Roadster.
Now I've been hanging around the Texas Cobra Club bunch since 2001, so I've seen about every variety of cobra replica there is. And there is something for everyone. I just needed to find what was right for me. When Jay told me I should look at HMS, I met guys in the the club that had Hurricanes, and there aren't that many. There were only 120 first-generation Hurricanes in total built and sold by the Lee's Summit company. In the Dallas area are Richard Parker, Nathan Parker, John Shelton. Gregg Herdlitchka in San Antonio, Ken Walker in Austin, and Jim Reiss in Houston, Kirk Curole in Louisiana. I got some passenger seat time at our annual meets in San Marcos, and Kirk even offered to let me drive his once.
In 2010 I met Mike McLaughlin, owner of Scranton Manufacturing, and Steve Sinnard, President of Hurricane Motorsports when they first came down to our annual Texas Cobra Club Spring Meet in San Marcos, Texas. I got a lot of passenger seat time with John Shelton, who has become a very good friend. I was blown away by Jim Reiss's very early first generation, which had 427FE with dual-quads, 4-speed toploader, and 15" Goodyear Billboard tires. It looked and sounded REAL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFqEs87vQFs
After that introduction I think I was sold. Then in November 2011 when I began seriously considering a Hurricane Motorsports 427 Roadster, Steve Sinnard put me in touch with a new second-generation owner/builder in San Antonio, Russ Rittimann. Russ graciously extended the invitation to come down and visit. At that time he had the engine/tranny installed, and suspension, wheels/tires mounted. So it was a great opportunity to see how the new Hurricane components look un-assembled, the body as it comes, etc. Russ's is the 5th cobra built by the new Hurricane Motorsports in Iowa, HM-2005. Since I had a business meeting in Round Rock not far from Russ, I planned the trip for the following weekend. It so happened that Steve Sinnard of Hurricane was in San Antonio the same weekend for a convention with Bowie International, their veterinary truck business. He wanted to take us out to dinner. We went down to the River Walk and had a a great visit. We drank, ate and talked until 11:00pm - thats when I headed back home, and pulled in my driveway at 3:00am - what a day! After the visit with Russ, I was really sold.
So why is the Hurricane cobra right for me? Well, what I desire personally in a cobra replica is originality, authentic, the vintage look, being period-correct, from a distance at least. But the same time I want to be able to drive it, have it be dependable, and probably most importantly, affordable. I'm not the richest guy on the block, but I do have a rich-guy dream. So I do take some liberties as far as period-correctness goes.
So how is the Hurricane in regards to originality? Well, right off the bat the body molds Hurricane have were made from a real, original 427 Cobra, CSX3235 by a company around Dallas in 1980s called Component Craft. So I know the body dimensions and shape are very accurate. The car is 90" wheelbase, and being 5' 7", 160 lbs I'm not concerned about leg room (although thats not even a problem with hurricanes anyway, there is plenty of room). The dash and instrument layout are very accurate. The second-generation cobras have period-correct updates: The roll bar size and angle is more accurate to the original. The clutch, brake pedals are mounted to the floor, same as the original. The accelerator pedal is original-looking. Dash support tubes are added from the dash to the trans tunnel. The foot boxes are more accurate. And there are lots of other subtle updates.
There are different pedal offsets and cockpit/footbox dimensions depending on if you are going to use a small block or big block. The motor mounts and trans mounts are also specific to the drive train you choose.
So for me personally, I did not want the cost, maintenance, or gas mileage of a big block FE motor. This is probably the biggest deviation from originality that I chose. As I said, I want to be able to drive and enjoy my cobra, take long trips, any day of the year. So my choice for drivetrain was Ford 351 Windsor, and Tremec TKO600 5-speed. I also chose Ford 9" solid axle rear with limited-slip 3.50:1, instead of Hurricane's optional IRS (which is quite nice, but a $3000 upgrade). I definitely wanted 15" Hallibrand style wheels with knock-off spinners, but with the biggest brakes I could get, as Hurricanes are all manual brakes, not power-assisted. So I chose Hurricane's optional Wilwood Forged Dynalite Big Brake Front Brake Kit. I also ordered the frame and all suspension components powder coated black.
So in June of 2012 I took the wife to our favorite Mexican restaurant, got her good and liquored up on margaritas, told her what I wanted to do - and the next day made the call to Lake City, Iowa and mailed the first check. We are getting HM-2008. Let the adventure begin ..... !