Tony purchased a New Zealand Hot Rod magazine in 1985 because he liked the car that was on the cover. The car was unique in that it was the first Almac 427SC produced by a partnership of Graham Berry Racecars and Alex McDonald of Almac Cars. At the time he made a promise to himself that he would build one of those cars one day. However due to an another expensive hobby, jet boat racing, it would be a couple of decades before the opportunity arose again and over 180 Cobras would have been produced.

In 2005 Tony put his last jet boat up for sale and the people that purchased it paid for it in cash, it was a lot of cash. They bought the boat on the Friday morning and by Friday afternoon Tony had placed an order with Graham Berry Racecars. The new boat owners did not want the Ford 351 Cleveland V8 that was in the boat so this became the first donor part for his car. The motor was a little tired so Tony got it bored and stroked and balanced so that it was now 410 cubic inches.

E-Bay became a car builders dream as Tony hunted and found various parts that would add such impressive detail to the car. Going back to the original 1985 magazine which he still had, Tony decided that he liked the 1965 cobra square taillights that were on the Berry car and after much searching he purchased a set. They were the genuine Lucas part, expensive but important to getting the look that Tony wanted. The Berry car also inspired the colour format of his own car. The V8 engine transmits its power through a Ford Falcon 5 speed box to a Jaguar XJ12 dif. Tony purchased an entire XJ12 for $400 to get the diff and then sold what was left for $400 making the dif one of the less expensive parts that would go on the car.

 

 

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