As Told by Jeff Munson

Photos by:

Jennifer Munson Photography, 

Ever since I can remember I have been in love with cars, starting with Hot Wheels, a remote-control car, and building cars with my Erector and Lego sets.  I grew up in a family where my dad was a businessman. So besides changing the oil, he was not that involved in working on a vehicle at all, and my mother saw the car as a utilitarian object. 

So how did I obtain this love of all things automotive? Not sure, but it has been a blessing in my life and has given me the foundation to build my career and obtain the car of my dreams. 

For more than 25 years I have dreamed of driving and owning a Shelby AC Cobra. I learned early in my life about the exorbitant cost of an original Shelby AC Cobra, and at a young age it seemed out of my reach, but I always kept the dream alive.

In 1995, I was 21 and I remember seeing an ad for a replica Cobra from a company called Factory Five Racing, and I was ecstatic. At that time the ad showed a kit for $9,995 and to me that was the day that the Shelby AC Cobra and my dreams became a feasible reality for me. It was a motivator as I went through college and received my degree in Engineering. 

I started my engineering career in the appliance manufacturing industry, and then later moved to the OEM auto industry in 2001. During this time I was saving money to buy a home and get married and as we all know life happens and my dream car was put on hold for awhile.

That was up until a day in November 2014 when a buddy of mine at work said he saw a Factory Five Cobra on the www.FFcars.com classifieds that I should look at. When I looked at the ad that evening, the car had everything I had built up in my head and wanted for the last 25 years, except the asking price, which was higher than what I was willing to spend.

I went back to work the next day and talked with my buddy about the ad and I was hesitant to call on it due to the asking price. I remember him saying to me, “Give him a call, all he can say is ‘No’.”

I talked it over with my wife and she was 100 percent on board. I called the seller, but he was traveling on business for the next week and the car was over four hours away, so I kept in touch despite various delays due to work and winter weather. A few weeks later I rented a trailer headed to see the car of my dreams.

On my way there, what ran through my head were all the  necessary items that it had to have: dual roll bars, IRS, silver or light blue body, and a Ford 5.0L engine. The Cobra in the ad was a Factory Five Mark II #5175 with a ’89 Ford 5.0 (bored to 306 c.i.) with Speed Pro Forged flat-top pistons and sealed power rings and bearings. It also has a Ford Racing “B” cam, Y303 aluminum cylinder heads, 1.6 roller rockers and a Crane HI-6S ignition box. 

The engine is force-fed air by a Paxton Novo 1000 supercharger that flows through a Mass-Flo EFI system. The engine dyno’d at 461 hp and 436 lb/ft of torque at the flywheel. The power transfers through a Borg Warner World Class T5 transmission with a Steeda Tri-Ax short-throw shifter to a cast-iron 8.8 with 3.27 with Auburn limited-slip differential. The Cobra had all the options I wanted and even came in Porsche Iris Blue with Silver stripes.

Since it was snowing at the time of my visit, the test ride was surreal and slippery. Not only bought did I buy the car of my dreams that day, but also developed a great friendship with the builder Ray. Next we went to McDonalds for some coffee and he told me the story of how the car was a father/son build with his dad and he did not want to get rid of it. But he needed to due to being in the middle of another rotisserie build and life changes for him at that time. 

After I got the Cobra home I started to add my own touches. I added an aftercooler for the supercharger and increased pressure from about three to five psi to 11 to 13 psi. I also added cooler spark plugs and a blow-off valve.  I added Siemens Deka 60lb fuel injectors and a Walbro 255lph fuel pump to keep up with the increase in air.  I had the car dyno’d after these changes and increased power from 461 hp to 514 hp, and from 436 lb/ft to 507 lb/ft of torque.

Since the parking-brake setup was not working correctly when I bought the car, I redid the system. I also updated the seats from the high-back Factory Five seats to the black leather roadster seats for big/tall guys. And I added the new Rod Tops convertible top so that the weather could not keep me from any car shows or events. 

My wife and I have enjoyed the Cobra and drive it as much as possible. We are now members of the Kentucky Cobra Club and have been able to meet a lot of great people that have the same love of the Shelby AC Cobra and cars that we do. I drive the car at every opportunity and have the same if not more love and excitement for the car today as the day we bought it two years ago. We have put 10,000 miles on the Cobra in two years and never miss a moment to enjoy the great open-air ride and the rumble of the exhaust.

My wife and I became friends with Ray the original owner/builder on Facebook and I had phone conversations with him weekly until he had to be hospitalized. My wife and I have named the car “Stella Ray” in honor of two people; Ray and his father, the original builders, and Stella a friend of ours. My wife says that Stella is the epitome of class and beauty and likened those traits to the cobra.

This article is a sharing of my dream and love of cars especially the Shelby AC Cobra but it is also a tribute and honor to the builder, Ray Vanderbock, and his achievement. May he rest in peace and his memory live on in the Cobra named “Stella Ray.”