Photos by Dean Larson

Living in the northernmost portion of Wisconsin, it’s really not everyday that you see collector cars out on the road. So when a group of Cobra roadsters spent a few days touring around our favorite back roads, it created quite a stir in the area, and people were sure to let us know.

The group consisted of two matching pairs of Superformance Cobras and a couple support vehicles, all from central and northern Wisconsin. Rick Mueller of Northwoods Motorsports LLC organized the annual cruise, which would come right through our backyard in the Land O’ Lakes area. Thankfully it didn’t require too much arm-twisting to schedule a quick visit to our shop when we first me Rick at Road America earlier this year. 

After snaking across most of central Wisconsin to get the group together, the Cobras headed for Land O’ Lakes, hitting all the scenic drives and back roads in the area. Saturday morning featured a chance to enjoy the cars at high speed at a local 1/4-mile radar run. The un-prepped surface made launches a bit tricky, but the Cobras didn’t disappoint the local crowd, and clocked passes between 110 and 120 mph. After that, the group met up with one of our own for run down our favorite local drive, Military Road, ending at our shop in Three Lakes. With a dozen people, a few beverages and some fantastic cars to look at, the visit was a great one and we hope to see this club, and more like it, next year.

The Cars

While it's a pure coincidence, the two matching pairs of Superformance roadsters made for a great looking group. The cars share a lot in common but featured some cool differences in the finer details. Kort Knope of Shawano, Wisconsin, owns the silver roadster with the stainless side pipes. It’s powered by a 427 small block and shows well with Goodyear billboard tires and great bright work. We like the nod to the Terlingua Racing Team as well. The other silver car belongs to Mark Larson of Neenah, Wisconsin. Mark's car shines under the hood with a 392 small block topped with new Webers from Jim Inglese, definitely the induction envy of the group. The blue roadsters are owned by Rick Mueller of Chilton, Wisconsin, and Mike Bingen of Winter, Wisconsin. Rick's car is powered by a 428 Ford while Mike's utilizes a 460 big block. When I asked Mike how the car handled with all that iron under the hood, he said it handles remarkably well, and actually has a slight rear weight bias—ideal! 

One other 1960's Ford design was present, a 1965 Ford Falcon Futura owned by one of our good friends Steve Kutchera of Three Lakes. As a life-long mechanic and true jack-of-all-trades, Steve restored the Falcon to showroom condition himself with its numbers-matching 289 and factory A/C.