The true cost of Shelby Cobra replica - a kit, options, drivetrain, paint and registration - YouTube

Hi everyone, my name is Alex, me and my son Alex together built a Factory Five replica of 1965 Shelby Cobra from the kit that Factory Five Racing sells.

if you are here, you might have seen my video “Building Shelby Cobra in 25 minutes” with the build process. If not, you can watch it later HERE

A lot of people are asking additional questions after watching that video.

There is one question that I see the most often about building a replica like this — “how much did it really cost you?”.

And in this video I am going to address that!

One thing I want to mention before we start —  I’m not going to calculate the exact amount to the dollar, although the ballpark will be close.

Exact number may traumatize me, and I don’t want that! Let’s begin!

A lot of people, me included, somehow have this misconception that building a kit will cost you just about 20 thousand dollars.

At least when we originally thought of building a Cobra, this was the number I had in my head.

If you go to the Factory Five website, the largest builder of Cobra replica kits, you’ll see a “COMPLETE KIT” for $19,990,

and you may think “oh yes, OK, this is THE NUMBER”.

But trust me, don’t fall for this.

Don’t get me wrong, the Factory Five people are great, and their kit is awesome, and they will explain what other parts you will need

but you must know that their kit is a beginning, it's just a starting point!

When I did an additional research and realized that the project is going to be more expensive, it was too late and there was no going back :)

Quick side note: if you buy a basic kit for $12,000, and have some old 1990s Mustang in a garage,

or willing to scavenge the junk yards for parts, restore them, or manufacture some parts yourself

probably you might get somewhere in the $25,000 range, and I will have an endless respect for you in this case!

Us — me and my son, we were not that engineering-savvy, plus we were limited in time

so we were willing to buy new parts, get them delivered and proceed with assembly as quickly as possible

But I feel like our scenario of building a complete kit, is very typical

and that's why I can answer the question “how much does a Factory Five Cobra replica REALLY cost?”.

As I mentioned earlier, the Factory Five Complete kit is really only the starting point.

It’s true that “complete kit” has a lot of parts, but it doesn’t contain everything you need to get a ready to go car.

I believe it’s probably for legal reasons to qualify as a kit but I don't know for sure.

So when you start with “Complete Kit” which sets you back $20k, It’s ALMOST everything you need

But — it doesn’t have a rear part of the drivetrain, so you need to choose if you want a solid axle (which is supposedly good for drag racing)

or independent rear suspension (IRS, which is good for a normal track or just cruising).

Yes, those are extra options, and quite expensive ones.

Half of that cost would be for frame modifications depending on the rear configuration of your choice, and some suspension parts,

but also you will need a “Center section” - a rear differential, plus spindles and hubs for the rear suspension.

We chose the independent rear suspension for the comfort and handling so in our case we had to add about 4k to the cost.

The kit includes the front brakes, but you will need some rear brakes as well.

The choice will also depend on the wheel size you choose, and might add about 6-7 hundreds for basic brakes.

These brakes are fine in general and stop the car when needed, but you may want to go for premium brakes altogether.

And that’s another 1700 dollars for Wilwood brakes.

By the time we were choosing brakes, our budget was exhausted, so we stayed with the cheapest option for 650 dollars for rear brakes

Also the kit does not include wheels and tires, so obviously this will mean additional cost.

Factory Five sells sets of wheels in different sizes, from 15 in to 18 in, and they also sell a complete set of wheels and tires in these sizes,

So depending on the size you choose, you can go from $1,100 just for 15in wheels

to $3,700 for fancy bronze 18in forged wheels with Mickey Tompson tires.

In our case we were going for the old school look, so 15 in wheels and tires added $2,100 to our budget.

You don’t have to buy wheels and tires from Factory Five, but you’ll need them anyway at some point.

So just that — the complete kit and drivetrain options will be about $24,000,

wheels and tires are about additional $2,000

plus there are always nice options when ordering the kit from FFR that you may want to add.

Some options you may want to consider:

Powder coating — I heard doing it yourself is a major PITA,

Power steering kit — maneuvering in low speed gets much much easier,

Second roll bar for passenger’s safety

Or stainless steel exhaust pipes for additional bling.

We ended up checking some options here and there, so our total order from the Factory Five was about $28,000

and that included $2020 in discounts because we purchased it at the beginning of the year

A lot, right? Wait, here comes the interesting part!

Most importantly the complete kit does not include engine and transmission.

Yes, you can probably buy it from a wrecked car cheaper, but this was not our case, we didn't have time for that.

Engine choice will depend significantly on what kind of car you want.

If you want something closer to “original”, you may want an older carburetor engine,

or if you want less headache, you may choose a Coyote engine from a modern Mustang.

you can buy a used one or a new one, depending on your budget.

There are some companies that sell a “bolt-on” engine-transmission combo for FFR kits,

and depending on the engine displacement and other options (like power steering, or AC), it may cost somewhere between $10,000-$20,000.

Expensive, right?

So in our case the engine+transmission combo was from the company called BluePrint Engines

And they are recommended by Factory Five, and even sell it on website “FactoryFiveEngines.com”.

We chose 347 cubic inches engine with a Tremec TKO600 transmission and power steering, and it was $14,000.

And those “legendary 427” engines will cost you for an engine and transmission combo about $20,000

But even a “small" 347 ci engine is a LOT OF FUN.

Remember, Shelby racing team was using 289 engines for its racing cars, so there’s that.

So there you go, with a kit, engine, transmission, rear-end and some options it’s at least $40,000 just to buy things that will let you build a car.

Is this it? Technically yes, but not really :)

Don’t forget, you need to get all that stuff from the factories to your home

(unless you are willing to go and pick it up yourself, which in general, I’ve heard, is a very nice experience)

So you’ll need to include the delivery charges for both kit and engine/transmission (delivered separately), so based on your location it can be another $1k-2k.

But the delivery is definitely fun when that huge 18-wheeler pulls up to your driveway,

and you get to unload all those IKEA parts boxes, I mean the Factory Five boxes!

Then there are tools that you will use to put the car together.

If you are like us, having only some basic wrenches and screwdrivers at home, you will need a lot of tools.

my guesstime would be that we spent at least another $1k for tools. If you have them — good for you

But for use it was a drill, an impact driver, a rivet gun, a soldering gun, A battery tender, or a brakes bleeder kit, etc. They just add up!

Also don’t forget engine oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid!

And it’s not like we did a shopping spree for DeWalt or Milwaukee tools,

lots of stuff was purchased reasonably priced from Summit racing and Harbor Freight, just not the jack stands.

I won’t include it in the total cost, but you need to be aware of these extra costs, that might be in your case

Then there are various modifications and changes that you may want or will have to make during the assembly process.

Mind you, we tried to stay as close to the Factory Five assembly manual, but it’s not really possible, and partially because the manual is not that good

But it's universal for different configurations, so that's understandable

In some cases the modifications make things easier to assemble, or make the car better:

— look better, work better, or drive better, or make the car safer.

You don’t have to buy and install them but in many cases you will want to.

Nothing particularly crazy expensive by itself, but it just adds up

We ended up spending more than $4k on these mods (but there are like more than 40 different items).

For example, LED headlights, because the original suck

Or fire extinguishers, or driveshaft safety loop, or battery in the front kit

Mechanical throttle linkage kit, Seat sliders, Seat heaters, USB plug sockets, Acoustic and thermal insulation

Or a fun part like a Cobra logo center cap for a steering wheel

Also remember that some things may be required by your state to pass the inspection and register the car —

like windshield wipers, or exhaust protection, or bumper over riders, or selfcancelling turn signals.

All these things are not included in the kit, so you will have to buy them

But this got to be it, right? Eeeeeh! Wrong!

The beauty part - the subject of painting the car.

The fiberglass body originally comes in the red protective gel coating, and with all these terrible body panels seams.

The body needs to be prepped and then painted, which may cost somewhere between another $4,000-12,000, depending on your objectives

if you want to have a daily driver or a show car, these costs will differ

You don’t have to do this immediately, you can drive for some time in gel coat, as I did

but at some point you’ll want to

We have not painted our car yet, although I hope to do it this year.

I know that some people do it themselves, but I’m not one of those people, I know it would turn out to be terrible, so I'm not doing it myself

And almost a minor thing but you will need to register the car, and it will cost you.

Taxes and registration will depend on your state, but in Pennsylvania, where I live (I'm originally from Ukraine, but I live in PA now)

I had to pay 6% ($1,700) on top of the kit cost as a sales tax when registering the car.

Along with registration fee it’s another $2,000 on top of everything else.

So there you go, an imaginary $20,000 project suddenly can top over $50,000 easily

and you may start considering spending these money somewhere else

Please, don't!

This is definitely a money well spent, because the assembling journey is the reward

but the end result is also a reward! It's a Shelby Cobra replica that you get to own and to drive!

It is absolutely worth it!

So, there you go, there's your cost

I hope I answered your question, and if you have any additional questions, Please let me know in comments

Thank you for watching and goodbye!