SNAKES ALIVE
THE SIDCHROME PROJECT COBRA GETS ITS FINISHING TOUCHES AS IT MAKES ITS PUBLIC DEBUT AT STREET MACHINE SUMMERNATS 30
JUST OVER SIX months since Python Vehicles Australia began building the Sidchrome Cobra, the project is now complete. That’s a quick turnaround, but if you’ve been following the build, you know that a hell of a lot of work has gone into it.
The idea was fairly simple, on paper anyway; to build the first street-legal Coyote V8-powered Cobra, and give it away to one lucky winner. Fortunately, the boys at Street Machine had the right people on their side. Python Vehicles have built over 100 custom muscle cars and have likely forgotten more about mechanics than we’ll ever know. But this is the first time Python have transplanted a Ford Coyote engine into a Cobra, so a lot of bespoke parts and clever engineering was required to make it work.
Before the Cobra could be unveiled at this year’s Summernats, the guys at Python still had plenty of work to do. This included installing the engine and gearbox into the chassis, fitting the wiring and mechanicals and prepping the car for paint. This all had to be done in just over a week, but Python Vehicles founder George Vidovic was confident they’d meet the deadline.
“That’s the beauty about the whole assembly that we do,” explained George, “This [part of the project] will methodically go through quite quickly, because all the fabrication has already been done”.
The fiberglass Cobra body was then sent to Chisholm TAFE where Painting and Refinishing students painted the car red, with two white racing stripes down the middle. Until then, the kids had mainly worked with steel canvases, so adapting to the Cobra’s fiberglass panels was a steep learning curve.
“We did a lot of prep work to try and get the fiberglass as straight as we could,” said Ben from Chisholm TAFE. “There’s a lot of shape in all of these panels which makes it easy to get runs or spots.”
The shiny red body was then mounted to the rest of the car, and Street Machine Editor Simon Telford had the honour of starting the car for the first time.
“I was pretty nervous when I first turned that key, it had been a long time coming,” Telf explained “Fortunately she kicked over no worries. Never in doubt!”
The Sidchrome Cobra was then tested for emissions so it could be road registered and legally driven. The guys are over the moon with the final result, and it’s easy to see why.
“I was lucky enough to take the car for a spin before Christmas, and boy, was I impressed – it is a ball to drive and really feels like a true production car,” Telf concluded.
Head over to streetmachine.com.au to see the Sidchrome Cobra in action.