Although it has been a while since I have done a road test I decided now would be a good time to test Almac’s oldest production car alongside their newest. The two cars are the Almac 427SC and the Almac Sabre with the former based on a car produced through the late sixties and the latter on a car designed by Almac to be a modern nineties version of the same thing. Only thirty years and a few cubic inches separate these cars.

The first Cobra replica rolled out of the Almac factory in 1984 to attend a Hot Rod show in Masterton. The car was designed using photographs and a copy of the book “Shelby’s Wildlife” by Wally Wyss. Other problems were solved by the purchase of a die cast model of the car. This was the prototype and is owned by its designer, Alex McDonald of Almac Cars, and is still not completely built. One day he says he will get around to finishing it. The car was designed with the help of Graham Berry, of Graham Berry Race Cars, who did much of the chassis work and made the patterns for the aluminium bits. It can now be called one of New Zealand’s more successful kit cars with production getting close to two hundred. Few other NZ kit car manufacturers can match this and fewer still have passed it. After almost twenty years in production orders are still rolling in. Back in 1984 Alex expected he would have reached market saturation with only twentyfive cars being built. History has proved him wrong with twentyfive cars being produced in a single year during 1990. Examples of this car have been shipped from Almac to Australia and even to America the home of the Cobra kit market. The car is known as being a very accurate copy of the original. Almac does not need to do much advertising of this car now as it continues to sell itself in New Zealand mainly by word of mouth.

It was due to this success that the car had its first and last major redesign at the end of the eighties when the car was improved by changing the front Holden Torana suspension with a Graham Berry fabricated system although the car still retained its independent Jaguar rear end. Another change was lowering the floor to allow the driver more protection from the elements. Other changes have occurred but these have been simple improvements to make the build job easier.

As far as Alex knows all the cars have been fitted with V8 engines from the humble Rover V8 right through to the big block 428. Windscreens are purpose built for the Cobra and is the only component shipped in from overseas for the kit. Everything else is either available from Almac or can be sourced locally.

The next car to come out of the Almac factory was the Almac TC which was later re-released as a much improved Almac TG. It was a car inspired by the MG sports car of the fifties. Alex was never keen to copy somebody else’s idea and was even reluctant at first to do the Cobra but he was talked into it. The TC/TG was an attempt to produce something that harked back to the era of the fifties but was still distinctly an Almac. The TC/TG was not distinctive enough and Alex decided to have another go.

In 1990 he began design on a car, now called model S1 that would be totally an Almac with help from his son and a few other friends along the way. The brief was to design and build a modern day Cobra. He began by first looking at the 427SC and using the rear of the Cobra as a starting point in the buck that would be later used to make the moulds for the car. Using only one donor car, the Mark 4 Cortina, and utilising the front and rear suspension and most other mechanical parts that could be attached to the Almac designed chassis this prototype rolled out of the factory doors in September 1994. In those days it was powered by the Cortina 2.0 litre. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since this Sabre was first built in 1994. Unlike the Cobra it has undergone constant development and modification. The Cortina four cylinder motor has been upgraded with a 4.4 litre Leyland P76 V8 being fitted into what had been a large engine bay. Interior has been completely redesigned at least once with lots of smaller changes occurring along the way. Front and rear bumpers have been reshaped as Alex hunts for the illusive perfect look. About two years ago Alex decided to manufacture a new Commodore based Sabre and this prototype became a test bed for a lot of his ideas before he decided to start work on his latest prototype that is due to reach completion later this year.

Dave Frost purchased his 427SC kit shortly after he arrived in New Zealand. He had already built another Cobra replica in the UK and he was very impressed with the quality of the Almac and it’s attention to detail.

EXTERIOR

Walking around these two cars it is hard to see that they are related. The Cobra is totally in your face with bulges and curves all over the place while the while the Sabre is subtler but still has an aggressive stance. The thirty plus years of design development between the two cars is evident. The Sabre has higher waistline and bigger doors making it the easier car of the two to get in and out. The Cobra has the far bigger boot and when the cars are in open roadster mode the Sabre’s hard roof sections fill up most of it’s boot making it even smaller although it has some space behind the back seats where the Cobra does not. However the Sabre is the more refined of the two as the Cobra was built in simpler times. Door handles, locks, side windows and even heaters were deemed to be luxury extras that were not even offered on open sports cars during the Cobras era.

From the front the Cobra has a cheeky surprised expression as if to say, “Did I just have a little accident and leave a huge cloud of rubberised smoke behind me.” The Sabre has an expression that hints that it may be hiding a dark secret that will only be revealed upon depression of the right pedal.

History has already revealed how well the Cobra has aged although looking at it I can see that it resembles many similar cars of the same era and one of the main reasons for it remaining so popular for so long is its legendary history. Visually it would not stand out from a crowd of its contemporaries but most of them are long gone. The Healy, MGA, the Maserati Mistral, Ferrari 275GTS, Triumph TR4 and even the E type Jag can no longer get the same interest from the motoring press that the Cobra still demands. If a Cobra was to be parked at one end of a football field and the Sabre at the other then both would get a reasonable amount of attention. However once their V8 engines were started the crowd would be around the Cobra. With the Cobra you get the whole audio-visual experience, which is great when the car is stationary.

INTERIOR

Despite the Sabre being 70mm narrow than the Cobra there was far more room in the cockpit. The larger foot well leaves plenty of room for those who have big feet to use the pedals. It is probably in the interior that the thirty years between the two is most apparent. Both have the indicator stalk on the left hand side but with the Cobra this is the only stalk available while the Sabre has additional stalks for lights and windscreen wipers. On the Cobra extra functions are controlled with switches on the dashboard. The higher doors in the Sabre give the car a more snug feeling especially with the windows up. Storage space in both cars is limited with the Sabre having centre console storage but no glove box. The Cobra being exactly the opposite and with additional storage in map pockets inside the doors. Seating is comfortable in both cars and the Sabre has the advantage of built in headrests and a higher back.

The interior of the Cobra is exactly in keeping with its era and extremely well finished. Seatbelts in this car are only lap while the Sabre has the typical three-point inertia reel harness. Speedo and tachometer were very visible in the Sabre but occasionally obscured by the steering wheel in the Cobra. All other gauges are easy to see in both cars. However the Sabre has a very important device not present in the Cobra called a heater and if you listen to my children the even more important stereo. Again the Cobra shows that it is a car of a different generation. One thing I did not like about the Cobra was the position of the gear stick. It was not just to the left and down from the steering wheel but you had to move your hand back so that your elbow was level with the back of your seat. However in the Sabre it was perfect for a person of my height with my hand dropping easily to it off the steering wheel.

Of the two cars the Cobra was the better finished with the Sabre starting to show the hard life that a prototype has. I personally preferred the original black and white interior current tan leather interior. It looks tired and in need of a spruce up. That aside it is the more user friendly of two as it has more creature comforts.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Driving the Sabre over the Heywards Hill to meet Dave Frost and his Cobra in Pauatahanui I fell in love with the quiet burble of the V8. Pulling out into the overtaking lane was followed with effortless acceleration without the need to change gear. Which was a good thing too as one of the springs on the gear selector had gone AWOL making the gearbox very vague. However once I was used to the gear positions it was not a problem. Under power the car sounded awesome. There is something about the sound of a V8 engine that cannot be matched by the buzz of the average turbo charged hot hatch or the shriek of a rotary.

Steering on the car is excellent but not being power assisted it can be a bit of a grunt in a car park. Feedback from the road is good and the car has excellent handling. The all alloy V8 inducing almost no under steer. The car is a joy to drive with the foot pedals, gear stick and steering wheel in a good position. At speed, with the side windows up, wind intrusion is minimal but with the windows down a conversation can still be held with wind intrusion being similar to the Cobra.

Driving the Cobra, first impressions were a little bit different. The Sabre is a lovely car to drive but the best way to describe the Cobra is “Yowser!” It probably makes no sense to anybody reading this but I guess you had to be there. While the Sabre felt that it had plenty of power waiting to be unleashed the Cobra had clearly eaten the entire leash and was looking for something else to bite, preferably my left buttock, if I gave it half a chance. While the Sabre rumbled this car roared. The accelerator pedal quite simply was GO and the middle pedal was STOP and there was no subtlety about it. My first take off in the car was a bit tentitive as it can be quite off putting doing several uncontrolled 360’s in front of the cars owner. It would have set a bad tone for the rest of the drive. I did not actually put my foot down until after the speedo had passed 50k as I wanted to keep all the tyres on the same bit of tarmac. Then the long bonnet instantly rose to the occasion and the car surged forward. Steering was precise with lots of useful feedback not so evident in the Sabre. All the time I knew exactly where the front tyres were and I was determined to keep them at the front of the car.

This car has no stereo installed, it is the stereo. The V8 sound is everywhere and this is not a car for having a conversation as it would intrude on the engine noise. However at speed there is a fair bit of wind intrusion which is slightly improved with wind deflectors on the side of the windscreen.

Once I got used to the position of the gear stick, changes were easy and also very precise. On the open road this car was magic to drive. The Cobra legend truly lives on in this car and it is a true driver enthusiast’s car. On a fine day and an open road it would be hard to beat. But it is not an easy car to drive around town. One does not try and muzzle a snake with his girlfriend’s stockings. Town is not where this car is supposed to be unless it is parked or idling. The steering is heavy and fourth gear was a little too tall for it with most driving being in third gear. It is much easier to drive over those piddley little roundabouts than go around them. Children are oblivious to this as they stop, wave and cheer as the snake rumbles past them. The Sabre does catch their attention too and they point and jab their mates in the side to make sure they see it as it passes but it definitely plays second fiddle to the full orchestra.

Still when you are hopping out of one car into the other one thing does become evident the Cobra is a forty year old design to the Sabre’s ten. While the Sabre can continue to evolve the Cobra is trapped in the past. Time has moved on. For the legend to continue the Cobra must remain there. Otherwise people like Dave Frost would never have wanted to build it.

AND THE WINNER IS…

At the end of the day as I handed both cars over to their respective owners I could truly say that I had had one of the greatest driving experiences of my life. The weather had been ideal for driving open top cars, as it was sunny and warm.

The things that make the Cobra great are also the things that hold it back. In it’s day along with it’s contempories, luxury items like wind up windows, heaters, etc. were not even an option. Modern cars are not allowed to be this noisy and creature comforts are not an optional extra but expected. When it comes down to the sheer thrill of driving by yourself on a fine day on an open road the Cobra wins hands down. But this snake will never be tame. The Sabre on the other hand will be a car that can be driven any day of the week in any sort of weather. It has the comfort expected of a modern roadster. The years of being a prototype may have taken the edge off this car but with a little bit of tidying up it would be able to keep up with modern cars of its ilk. It is clearly superior to the MX5, MGF and Toyota MR2 and would probably be quite competitive with cars in the 50 to 60 thousand dollar price range. The next model of the Sabre called the S2 is shortly to enter production which will move the car up the range again putting it within cutting distance of the BMW Z4 and TVR.

If you wanted to take a girl on a first date the Cobra is not the sort of car you would drive if she was living at home as her father would take great pains to show you his gun collection, especially the telescopic sight which would enable him to take aim on rapidly accelerating objects easily. If it was one minute past 12 midnight she would have to walk the last two blocks as your car would have set off all the car alarms in the street as it rumbled past. Nope, there is no such thing as a subtle snake.

Heck if you did the same thing in the Sabre her father would probably be trying to sell you shares in his company. For six out of seven days a week the Sabre is a clear winner. But on Sunday God rested. Then he drove the snake out of the garden and it was a sunny day.

The Sabre does make the grade as a great modern day V8 sports car but the Dodge Viper is closer to what I would call a modern day Cobra. Somehow I doubt that it will ever be the car that new legends are made from. I may be wrong, who knows. Perhaps in thirty years time they will be making replicas of this car too. Still at the end of the day a choice must be made. Perhaps I am showing my age but for me the Sabre is a more practical everyday car and the more versatile of the two. It is the sort of car that can be I would allow my sons to drive and even on special occasions my wife. The overall winner therefore has to be the Sabre but the Cobra is the more fun.

Alex on the Almac Sabre   Likes It is different without being too outlandish. Effortless power. Fibreglass body, no need to worry about rust. V8 note on acceleration. Same make and model as Patrick Harlow’s car. Dislikes Boot could be larger (see S2) Petrol tank could be larger (see S2) Steering is a bit heavy at parking speeds (see S2) Needs a 5 speed gearbox (see S2) Exhaust can be tiresome on a long trip with the hood up Same make and model as Patrick Harlow’s car (reason for Sabre S2)

Dave on the Almac 427SC   Likes The shape Handling, brakes, acceleration The wonderful noise and "huge grin" factor Everything else. Dislikes New Zealand road makers. Cramped entry into the car with the hood up.

Specifications