2002 Gardner Douglas MkIII. 'Cobra Re-creation'

The distinctive GD Mk3, although inspired by one of the most widely recognised and féted American sports car of the sixties, should not be confused with the many attempts over the last few years to replicate the legendary Cobra. Whilst it is natural to want to reproduce the Shelby Cobra's achingly beautiful looks, to build a car using a chassis and suspension designed in the fifties and expect it to ride and handle like a modern car makes no sense. With a sound engineering background, Andrew Burrows and his team at Gardner Douglas set out to create an uncompromisingly modern sports car, designed and built with innovative engineering solutions, meeting all the current safety regulations and delivering modern levels of performance, whilst clothed in a curvaceous body shell that echoed the historic Cobra. The resultant design featured a fully triangulated backbone chassis supporting a one piece, semi-monocoque, double skinned GRP body, on no less than 14 rubberised mounting bushes. This mounting arrangement provides the car's occupants with a much greater degree of comfort and has the unique advantage of allowing the body and chassis to be separated in under two hours enabling a close inspection of the latter.

This particular Mk3 was initially built privately by the first owner, but finished off by the factory and registered in 2002 as a Gardner Douglas. The car looks fabulous in gleaming Bright Red with Magnolia and Red-Piped hide sitting on sparkling 17 inch Image wheels. The dashboard is well laid out and covered in Magnolia hide as are the padded headrests attached to the twin chrome-plated roll hoops. The car is powered by a 350 (5.7L) Small Block Chevy V8, with high-lift cams and a Holly 4-barrel carb, and the power is transmitted to the road through a Tremec 5-speed gearbox. The engine bay is very well detailed and enhanced by chromium Edelbrok rocker-box covers, a chrome Edelbrok air filter and a Stainless Steel exhaust.With only 10,700 miles covered from new, a fresh MoT, V5C and having been looked after by only two fastidious owners, YO02KPL drives and handles as you would hope, looks 'a million dollars', is mind-focussingly quick and a wonderful example of modern British engineering.