I've made this, my Gardner Douglas (GD) Cobra build website, to illustrate my progress during my sessions in the garage, and I’m pleased to say the build was a pleasantly challenging and rewarding experience. The WoW factor coming after the research, the sourcing, the measuring, the remeasuring, the drilling and cutting, and the doing of things that were not within my comfort zones.
The build also caused me [by choice] to revive my dormant woodwork, metalwork and tech-drawing skills, and I also had to get to grips with the vagaries of GRP manipulation and compounding and finishing, and this is where a cursory knowledge of meteorology was useful too.
The intricacies of the Dremel was something I hadn't realised would be such a useful skill to get to grips with either; and last but not least, the varied and decidedly nebulous world of electrical jiggery-pokery was something that [to me] was a very important topic of understanding.
And within those themes, I was very pleased that my build progressed [very nearly] as planned and I [the car] got through the IVA first time.
I do like to know and understand what's going on, and the 'why' is important to me.
Loads of research and self-doubt were enablers enough to focus me to get the build right and done properly, and contrary to popular belief you really don't have to be a whiz-bang mechanic to get the job done... Getting oily is a personal option — or not as the case might be.
Website Structure
- The 'Pre-Build' link takes you to the pages containing my shenanigans up to the point of me taking delivery.
- My build articles (at the bottom of this page) takes you to the interesting stuff i.e. what's going on in the garage.
- I've also put additional build photos for all articles in the 'Galleries' menu on the right-hand side of this page.
- The 'Links' and 'Contact' pages have some useful information too.
- Also, I've set up a 'Facebook' page where we can openly collaborate. Please send me a request to view & post.
- And I've put together a YouTube page for my videos... The link is here.
So before you get into the details of the build, here are some 'taster' photos of the finished car.
(Click on the car for more photos)
IVA passed (Apr 2021)
Build Articles Listing
