Cobrastang

[Rusty Gillis]

I bought Ken McLellan's Cobrastang 1969 SS/G factory backed Mustang in 1973 on the way home from the Winternationals in Pomona. Ken got out of Drag Racing when he lost his Ford sponsorship. Ken set the SS/G record many times, the record was 11.09 when I got it. In 1971 Ken won Super Stock at the World Finals in Texas. In 1973 I took the car to the Gatornationals because I broke a converter in my car. I had not driven a 4 speed car in 4 years. With no practice the first time run was 11.11. Broke an axle during qualifying. I raced it only a few times because it was breaking a lot of parts; axles, wheel studs, clutch, etc. I used the engine as a spare for my SS/GA and set the record in 1974 with parts from it. In the early 80's we backed halfed the car, put a roll cage in and stripped it to race brackets (what a mistake). It has been in storage for over 20 years. Only has 21 miles on it.





This is how it looked in 2005



It is finally time to get the Cobrastang out of storage and start the restoration. It has been in storage a long time. I plan on restoring as close as I can as raced by Ken McLellan back in the day. It will be a long term project.

[prostockpete1]

Rusty .. As we previously talked I.m on board to help with all the period correct contingency decals you my need from my over 45 years of collecting .. anybody else doing a restoration & needing decals email me .. prostockpete1@gmail.com

[Rusty Gillis]

Today the windshield and back glass was removed.

[Rusty Gillis]

Today I removed the rear bumper, end caps and deck lid. The deck lid was sanded to bare metal and the back side still has the original black paint.

[BRETV]

Is it a true "R" or "Q" code car? Very cool Rusty. My uncle use to tell about this car when he had the Nitro 9 car. But I never got to see it run. I saw my uncle's old Nitro 9 car at Mecum Kissimmee back in '17 and other than the lettering and a 2X4 setup it was just like it was when he raced it back in the late 70's early 80's. Good luck with the resto and I can't wait to see done.





Bret Velde
2003 ??

[Rusty Gillis]

Originally Posted by BRETV

Is it a true "R" or "Q" code car? Very cool Rusty. My uncle use to tell about this car when he had the Nitro 9 car. But I never got to see it run. I saw my uncle's old Nitro 9 car at Mecum Kissimmee back in '17 and other than the lettering and a 2X4 setup it was just like it was when he raced it back in the late 70's early 80's. Good luck with the resto and I can't wait to see done.








Bret Velde
2003 ??

It's a R code Mach 1.

[Rusty Gillis]

This is the Cobrastang before it was painted.



After it was painted candy blue, magenta, green, and red.



I wasn't sure what color the base was under the candy. I thought it was white and when I sanded the fiberglass end cap you can see magenta, white and black.



I sprayed three coats of SPI black epoxy on the deck lid.

[Rusty Gillis]

I sanded the fenders down to bare metal





I sprayed two coats of SPI black epoxy primer

[340Cuda]

Great tribute to Ken. He was a good guy. Sometimes I would see him at National events after he quit. He would be hanging around in Bob Glidden's pits.

[Rusty Gillis]

I sandblasted the front fender extension and epoxy primed





I block sanded and epoxy primed again





Deck lid was block sanded and epoxy primed





Stone guard sandblasted and epoxy primed







End caps were sanded and epoxy primed