Text and Photos by Juan Lopez-Bonilla

After 13 years of participating in the London Cobra Show, the question sometimes comes up, “Whattya mean, show?” Do you mean the event on Saturday where lines of Cobras cruise through the countryside and into the town of London, Ohio? Or is it the gala night under the big tent where the raffle car is awarded? Or maybe all the Cobra companies displaying their latest replicas? I guess we can assume all are true, but there’s more to it than that.    

How about the overwhelming amount of friendships that are forged year after year there? Perhaps it is the excitement of getting together in the hotel parking lots at night with your extended Cobra family and share beautiful, funny—and sometimes sad—anecdotes from years past, tales we have all experienced jointly. What about the surprise of seeing Cobras and friends arriving at the host hotels, prior to Saturday’s gig, from all parts of the country and even abroad? That too, is the show.

At each of these precise moments the spirit of the London Cobra Show comes alive. And then when Sunday comes all too quickly, each of us carries with us the moments of the show as we head home. Some of us will even pause, with happiness and sadness at the same time, at the thought that a whole year has to pass until the spirit of LCS comes alive again with the sound of roaring Cobras, along with the warm of the voices of an extended Cobra family enticing you once again to make the show truly happen.