The Baby Cobra: Just Like A Shelby Cobra, Except Not

Always lusted after a Shelby Cobra but never had enough coin for the real deal? Or maybe you're just looking for a Cobra replica that'll stand out from the hordes of fibreglass-bodied, tube-framed reproductions already out there?

Well folks, thanks to quirky Japanese company Baby Cobra your prayers have finally been answered.

Rather than starting from scratch with a Ford crate engine and yards of steel tubing, Baby Cobra have elected to simply rebody an existing car with their own (remarkably faithful) interpretation of the Cobra's classic curves. So then, what did they use as a base?

A Suzuki Cappuccino.

I'll just let you recover for a bit.

Okay, so a diminutive Japanese roadster - albeit a RWD one - is pretty far removed from the fire-breathing monster that is a V8-powered Cobra, but all of us here in the TMR bunker can't help but love the Baby Cobra 40.27 for some reason.

Maybe it's that ever-so-slightly truncated nose or the 28cm shorter wheelbase that gives the Baby Cobra just the right amount of 'cute', or perhaps we're just freaks who like the sound of a three-cylinder turbocharged Japanese-American-British mashup.

Granted, with just 118kW available from a tuned version of the Cappuccino's inline-three it won't be quite as fast as an actual Cobra, but a kerb weight of 650kg means it won't exactly be slow either.

Baby Cobra also offers a big brake package, coilover suspension, oil cooler kit and four-point harnesses for those who want the performance to match the image, while racing stripes and numbers are available too.

However, at ¥3,750,000 ($60,021 AUD) for a fully-converted car with fibreglass body, the Baby Cobra 40.27 isn't too far off the cost of a full-blooded replica. This will definitely be one for the more... eccentric enthusiast.

Where do I sign?

[Baby Cobra]