Young Tom hatched a plan. He could build a chassis out of 2x4s (his dad had those), he would put bicycle tires on the front and snow tires on the back\u2014and shazam! He would have himself a hot rod, just like the ones he saw in \u201cHot Rod\u201d magazine.<\/p>\n
There were two things that stood in his way. #1: no motor. #2: his buddy Ricky Anderson wouldn\u2019t help him drag the body home. Even though he didn\u2019t help Tom with his dream build, they remain friends to this day, and Ricky is a hot rodder. \u201cTom, I would check closely at your friend\u2019s 32, he may have kept that body for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom was Ford-conscious up to that point, but what made him a true Ford believer was the site of Mayfield\u2019s local bully Lumpy Ruthaford\u2019s 1940 Ford ragtop<\/a> from that black and white TV show \u201cLeave it to Beaver.\u201d The die was cast; Tom was a Ford guy.<\/p>\n In fifth grade, you had to put covers on the books the school lent you to protect them. Tom\u2019s family didn\u2019t have a lot of money, so his books were covered with brown paper salvaged from shopping bags. A classmate knew Tom liked cars, so he bought him a book cover with sports cars on it. Cotter remembers it vividly, there was an Aston Martin<\/a>, a Ferrari<\/a>, a Lotus<\/a>, An MG<\/a>, and a car he had never seen before, a Cobra<\/a>.<\/p>\n There was just something about that car\u2019s profile that did it for the young Cotter. It was love at first sight.<\/p>\n That car became the carrot that was hung out in front of him. Someday, when he really made it, he would own a Cobra. All these experiences in his life cemented Cotter\u2019s belief that Ford made some cool cars.<\/p>\n At 14, Tom bought himself a 1940 Ford convertible just like Lumpy\u2019s for $25.00. He had big plans for that car. He was going to drop in a 283 Chevy<\/a>, it was going to be a cool ride. But\u2026<\/p>\n He had no money, no garage, no tools, no talent, and one last thing\u2014no license. Still, he made out pretty well when he later sold it for $275.00.<\/p>\n At 15, Tom came upon a 1939 Ford Woody<\/a> sitting next to a barn. He went up to the house and knocked on the door. The lady who answered said it was her son\u2019s surf wagon. He had picked up a bread truck so he could sleep at the beach and change into his wetsuit, so the Woody was for sale for $300.00 cash.<\/p>\n Tom didn\u2019t have that kind of cash. He told his dad about the car, and he went and had a look at it with Tom. He thought it was a nice car, but he didn\u2019t have the money to lend him.<\/p>\n Cotter went on the street for the money. Well, down the street to a lady he did yard work for. She fronted him the cash, and he worked it off during the summer by washing her car, planting bushes, and mowing her lawn. That was the seed money for the woody.<\/p>\n Still, 10 months away from his driver\u2019s license, Cotter felt he had plenty of time to take the Woody apart and restore it in time to start driving it around. Unfortunately, he still had no money, no garage, no tools, and no talent. But Cotter jumped in with both feet.<\/p>\n Tom\u2019s dad started in on the woodwork\u2014stripping, bleaching, and varnishing. He helped his son out whenever he could on weekends and holidays, but soon the project was put to bed for the winter under a heavy canvas cover. Sadly, when it was uncovered the next spring, mother nature had undone all their good work. This happened again and again.<\/p>\n At 19, Cotter was heading off to college and wanted to pay his own way. He got a chance to sell the partially-restored Woody with a finished engine, almost-done wood, and a painted cowl. A man from Puerto Rico gave him $1,250.00 and off the Woody went, and off Tom went to college.<\/p>\n After that, Tom found himself in the glamorous world of furniture sales. From there, he moved on to selling Fords. Tom had just bought a house on Long Island\u2014work was 15 miles away, he had a company car, and was making 32K a year.<\/p>\n At that point, a job opened in automotive public relations in Montvale, NJ. It was a 2 \u00bd hour commute each way for half the money, but Tom wanted to be involved in racing in a big way. He had a long talk with his wife. This was something he really wanted to do, so less money and long commutes be damned, he was going to go for it. He never looked back.<\/p>\n Cotter worked in Jersey for two years and was then offered a job as director of PR at Charlotte Motor Speedway, so in 1985 the family headed south. Tom worked at that job for 4 years and then opened his own agency\u2014Cotter communications.<\/p>\n It was everything racing: NASCAR, Trans Am, drag racing, motorcycle racing. He handled the PR for Mercedes coming back to Indy, also F1. The company branched out into driver representation, merchandising, and other activities, and became known as the Cotter Group.<\/p>\n Tom had been working his ass off now for 10 years and thought it would be fun to get back into racing. While he was attending a NASCAR race at Sears point, he stopped in Joe Huffaker\u2019s shop looking for a race car. He ended up buying a rust-free Morris Minor for $900.00.<\/p>\n His only problem was how to get it home. He knew one of the NASCAR teams had come out with only one car. With a little help from some plywood (so the little car would fit on the big car ramps) and $50.00 for gas, he got the car home.<\/p>\n Once Tom got the car home, he faced another question: now what? Maybe, he thought, it would make a cool race car. A Morris Minor is just an MG Midget or Healey Sprite with a different body, so why not? He painted it BRG with yellow accents like a Jim Clark Lotus<\/a>, added a few other modifications, and went racing.<\/p>\n The Morris became famous up and down the east coast. He also raced a Mini.<\/p>\n Tom restored and raced a Le Mans Sprite prototype built for BMC factory driver Paddy Hopkirk that had raced at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona. Tom only raced it twice as it was built for the diminutive Hopkirk, and Cotter was almost a foot taller (so it was not a good fit).<\/p>\n It was scary for him to drive. So off it went to Scotland, to a nice, short driver\u2014who, months later, called and asked if Tom wanted to co-drive with him in the Lemans Classic. Tom\u2019s response: \u201dYes I do, but no I won\u2019t.\u201d Tom was just too big for the Sprite; he loved the car but didn\u2019t want to die in it.<\/p>\n Cotter was having plenty of fun with these 4 cylinder machines, but he still had that dream that had started when he was a kid. When Cobras were $5,000.00, Tom was 10 and didn\u2019t have $5.00. When they were $20,000.00, he had $500.00. The carrot kept moving further and further away. But it was still a dream he aspired to.<\/p>\n Tom put his head down and grew his agency\u2014traveling all over the world, turning the Cotter Group into the largest motorsports agency in the world, and then other companies came a-knocking.<\/p>\n IMG came along to see if Cotter was ready to sell. They showed him a number and he said no thanks. This happened a few more times, until one group came along and showed Tom a proper number. \u201cI think you just bought yourself an agency,\u201d was Cotter\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n The company that bought The Cotter Group was great\u2014the company that bought them<\/i>, not so great. He stayed on for two and a half years with a management contract and then got out; it was the worst two and a half years of his life. There was only one way to make it better.<\/p>\n He told his wife, \u201cIt\u2019s Cobra time!\u201d<\/p>\n The search was on. One thing Tom knew: when you go in search of a real Cobra, it\u2019s a car you can make a big mistake with.<\/p>\n Tom didn\u2019t want to make a mistake. You could buy a car that had the same chassis number as a car in another country, or it was a shirt button restoration that had little or no original parts. At the time, Cotter didn\u2019t know about the Cobra Register\u2014the bible that lists every serial number and gives a documented history of each car.<\/p>\n He took his time searching, going against his instincts as he usually would rush into things\u2014but not this time. He wanted a proper, real-deal Cobra.<\/p>\n Corresponding with a guy in France, he learned of a car in California. For a 10% commission, the guy would tell Cotter who owned it.<\/p>\n This is how Tom met the well-known collector Jacques Harguindeguy\u2014otherwise known as \u201cFrenchy.\u201d Jacques had restored a 1937 Delahaye<\/a> with Figoni & Falaschi bodywork and had won best in show at Pebble Beach in 2000. He also had a thing for Nash Healeys. Another part of his collection was a red 1965 slab side 289 Cobra<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tom took a trip out to Walnut Creek California in December 2000 with his buddy Ray, who had given him that book cover when he was 10 years old.<\/p>\n Jacques went over the car with Tom and then threw him the keys. \u201cTake it for a test drive,\u201d he said. Tom and Ray were gone all day. They visited Sears Point Raceway, stopped in Napa for lunch, and came back with 200 miles on the clock.<\/p>\n Jacques was beside himself. In his heavily accented English he cried, \u201cWhere you go with my car? You drive it more in one day than I do in two years!\u201d But Cotter\u2019s dream was to drive a Cobra, so he\u2019d said, \u201cscrew it, I\u2019m going to drive this car!\u201d He wanted to go sideways into a Burger King parking lot. That didn\u2019t happen (this time).<\/p>\n The car sold itself, and Tom committed to the car, but didn\u2019t take it right away. He came back in May of 2001 to get it. Frenchy asked him when he was going to have it picked up. The answer, \u201cI\u2019m driving it home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat! You\u2019re crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n But the idea was to use the car\u2014not have it be a trailer queen.<\/p>\n From the book cover, there were other Cobra touchpoints in Tom\u2019s life. The first time he saw a Cobra was at Ramp Ford in Port Jefferson, Long Island. The first time he got to sit in a Cobra was when he was working in an auto parts store making deliveries to a foreign car repair shop. There was a 427 Cobra in for an engine rebuild. Tom asked the owner if he could sit in it. No problem.<\/p>\n Then there was the first time he drove a Cobra. He was racing his Morris Minor in Savannah. A fellow racer named Pat Ryan was racing a Sunoco Camaro<\/a>, and he was using his Cobra to get back and forth from his hotel to the track. Tom had become friends with Pat and asked if he could sit in the car. Pat said, \u201cThe keys are in it, take it for a drive.\u201d These are all the people and events that led up to Tom owning his car.<\/p>\n For years Tom had been trying to buy a Cobra and people would say \u201cThat\u2019s too much; you can\u2019t spend that much.\u201d A year would go by and the asking price was 20 grand more for a car in the same condition. \u201cThat\u2019s way too much,\u201d people would say, \u201cyou can\u2019t spend that on a car!\u201d<\/p>\n Tom would not be swayed. He pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n It\u2019s now spring of 2001. Tom has just handed over a check for more than 100K (but less than 200K), and Frenchy has handed him the keys. He is about to embark on the epic road trip of a lifetime.<\/p>\n Who would be the perfect driving companion? Honey West wasn\u2019t available, but even better\u2014the greatest automotive writer in the world (and all-around great guy) Peter Egan was.<\/p>\n They got in the car and headed east.<\/p>\n Peter remembers they got all the way across the country and never had to put the top up (or even tried). It\u2019s a good thing too. After arriving at Tom\u2019s home the next day, for the hell of it, they tried to put it up and it disintegrated in their hands.<\/p>\n Two good friends on the road in a Cobra\u2014what could be better? Until the car just stopped running in Colorado, that is. It just stopped dead. They realized the fuel pump wasn\u2019t coming on when they turned the key.<\/p>\n Egan, feeling the car was part British, gave the fuel pump a shot with a hammer\u2014nothing. He traced the wire back to an unmarked switch on the dash, the switch that Frenchy had told Tom was for an auxiliary fan and should be left on. In reality, it was for the fuel pump and had been hit while making a turn. With the switch on, they got back on the road.<\/p>\n The only other mechanical problem was an out of balance front wheel that started acting up around 75 miles an hour\u2014but maybe that was a good thing, keeping the driving companions\u2019 licenses intact.<\/p>\n Passing through Craig, Colorado, Tom started musing. \u201cYou know what this car needs for cross-country travel? It has that luggage rack on the back. What it needs is a Samsonite suitcase. You know that brown varnished fabric material? It would be perfect. I wonder if you can buy one of those anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n His driving companion turned to him. \u201cAt the next light, turn right and go back a block. There is a buy-and-sell shop that has two Samsonite suitcases above the counter.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom looked at him. \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n Egan had been through the tiny town a few months previous in his 356 Porsche<\/a>, bringing it back from California. Egan\u2019s driving companion at that time was a collector of frontier firearms, and the owner of the shop was a noted gunsmith. While his friend looked at guns Egan was wandering around the store and saw the suitcases. So he knew just where to go.<\/p>\n Onto the Cobra it went\u2014instantly doubling the cargo space\u2014and it was a good place to put stickers.<\/p>\n The drive was also the first time for Peter in a Cobra. There is a saying that you never want to meet your heroes. This wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n Peter had always loved Cobras, and now that he was driving one, he knew why. It was amazingly un-quirky; nothing was outstandingly strange about it. You got in and drove it and instantly adapted to it.<\/p>\n It had plenty of power and torque without being crazy; it made beautiful sounds; it was relatively comfortable. It was the perfect cross-country conveyance. Shelby had a good idea, putting that engine in an AC.<\/p>\n Peter took that drive and turned it into a story for Road & Track that took millions of readers along for the magical cross-country odyssey.<\/p>\n A few years after the story came out, Cotter was underneath the car at Nashville Motor Speedway at a Shelby American Automobile Club event. He saw a pickup drive up and then a pair of legs.<\/p>\n \u201cIs that the car I read about?\u201d Tom looked out from under his car\u2014shit! It was Caroll Shelby<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I drove it cross country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow that\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about; I didn\u2019t build no damn trailer queen.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom and the Cobra have been to almost every state. Each year, he puts on Cobra tours all over the country. There are only two requirements to participate: you have to own an original Cobra, and you can\u2019t be an asshole. Some applicants, unfortunately, only fit into one category.<\/p>\n Cotter\u2019s car even survived a bear attack in Alaska. When a bag of Fig Newtons was accidentally left behind, a hungry bear helped himself through the top.<\/p>\n Tom just drove the car from his home to Amelia Island for the Concours. Ten hours both ways. The first question he gets: \u201cIs it real?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you drove it here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a car.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 20 years later, people still remember that Road & Track story. Cotter is as enthusiastic about the car now as the day 21 years ago when he bought it. He\u2019s as enthusiastic about it as when it was on his book cover 58 years ago. So do you think Tom has any buyer\u2019s remorse?<\/p>\n Never, never, never. Not a damn bit.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Tom-Cotter-Ford-289-Cobra-1.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\nA Lifetime Love Affair with Cobra Cars<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nTom Takes the Cobra Home<\/h2>\n
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