As told by John Masick

My love for cars started as a child, and as I got older helped my father maintain his cars both mechanically and in appearance. They had glasspack mufflers, moon hubcaps, and other classic parts and pieces, and the cars were always clean and waxed. 

About 1960 we had a neighbor with a Corvette who wanted me to keep it clean and waxed. I would drive it to my house and get very excited to do a great job on it, and when it was done, I was allowed to put some miles on it as part of my “pay” for my work on it.  I would do this service a couple of times each year and I could not wait for the next time. My love for sports cars had begun.

I went to college and was scheduled to graduate in May of 1968 and had plans to buy a Cobra when I got out of school and a job. However, I got drafted in January of 1968, and went to Vietnam. When I finally returned home, I finished my education, but AC Cobras were no longer made and I was afraid to buy a car that was no longer made, plus they were a little over $7000 at that time. So I bought a 1971 Corvette 454, as it was only about $5500. I kept that car for 33 years until someone talked me out of it.

I have sold industrial air compressors for most of my working life. One day I sold a unit to Glaser’s body shop and I noticed they had several “old” cars that they had restored and looked like new. I mentioned to Aaron Glaser that I had always wanted an AC Cobra. He asked if I knew Terry Riebel, owner of The Dreamcar Company, Inc., as he builds and services AC Cobras. I called and later met Terry and his wife, Julie. We had a great conversation and looked at his Cobra. He then asked if I knew Woodsey in southern Illinois. Terry said he had a Superformance replica for sale. I soon called Woodsey and set a time to meet.  As soon as I saw it I could not resist buying it. I was the color I always wanted, white stripe and it never had an engine in it. It was brand new!

The net effect—Terry, his wife Julie and I went back to Woodsy’s place, I bought the Cobra and we trailered it back to Louisville.

There was a lot of discussion on the engine and I listened to Terry’s comments and experience. I then bought a 302ci Ford engine from Performance Engineering, which was stroked to 331ci and equipped with a 750 Quick Fuel Carburetor. It was dyno tested at a little over 500 horses and I heard it run before it was installed in my Cobra. Terry then installed the engine, with a little help from me, and my dream came true.