Ken Clarke writes from Jakarta, Indonesia

This is a local built (Jakarta, Indonesia) sort of a Cobra replica. It was built in the late 80's on a Australian 1972 Holden Torana LJ chassis. I bought it last November 2001 and it had a Holden Red 138 ci. in-line six with a one barrel Stromberg carb and dual side pipes but only one side hooked up. It had a 4 spd trans but I have a locked left knee from a motorcycle accident so no more manual trans for me. I had a rebuilt Blue Holden 202 put in with new crank bearings, +.20 pistons, an Aussie RedLine manifold with a Holley 350 cfm two barrel, and a local made split exhaust manifold which feeds 2" pipes and dual local made FlowMaster copies out the rear with what were supposed to DTM style stainless tips. Fabrication guy felt he could improve the design so may end up slicing the upswept part off and leave baloney style ends on instead. The whole car is/was  falling apart from neglect (fifth owner) and am slowly trying to make it right and make it safe. Need to re-do the brakes, replace the shocks, change the tires, re-do the interior (blue/black) and get it painted. While the paint passes the 50 foot test, its a mess up close, pits, craters, blisters, cracks and places where over zealous buffers have wreaked havoc. I also have a Holden TriMatic transmission in it now so I can drive it. It sorta lumps, thumps and wiggles down the road but its fun and some day it might be a real car again. I really avoid telling anyone its a Cobra as it isn't a real close copy so the best is its a one off Holden. We just refer to it as a Holden Tasmanian.  Not sure if I will ever bring it back when we move back to the States but its fun to cruise in here and best of all, its got that sweet in-line song all of its own.

Ken Clarke    2601