2004 Cobra - Good Deal?

[Fox 5.0]

Hello, my uncle is selling his 2004 Cobra convertible. He’s offered to give me a little bit of a family discount at $25k.

The car is a black on black convertible with ~65k miles. It comes with a second set of wheels/tires. They are OEM style but deep dish and I believe 18’s. It has an upper pulley, mufflers, and under drive pulleys. He just replaced the convertible top and carpet. Clutch was replaced mid 2022. Also the irs has all delrin bushings in it. No other mods I’m aware of.

I’ve seen cobras going from this price on up and I believe they will become a collectors car one day. I’ve told him I want to buy it just need to convince the wife first as $25k is still a good chunk of change.

I’m no noob to mustangs this would be my 4th (95GT, 90GT and 98 cobra) but I just want to get some experts opinions on if this is a fair deal or not.

Pic attached.

 

[P49Y-CY]

the only thing that'd concern me is why he would replace the top and carpet.

 

[Murderedsvt]

I would make sure theres no water damage post more pics

 

[robvas]

Sounds like an OK deal, keep in mind with it being a vert it's never going to be worth what the coupes are.

 

[LS WUT]

I mean, if it’s immaculate interior, engine bay, and he’s got some records to back up his ownership. Maybe, however seems high for a vert with 65k miles. As stated above verts will never bring money coupes do. I guess if he’s asking you for $25k, what does he think it’s actually worth.

 

[03cobra#694]

When you say "underdrive" pulleys, are you talking about the crank pulley?

 

[LS WUT]

are you referring to these?

 

[PC03GT]

He's your uncle tell him 22,5

 

[Fox 5.0]

To everyone, thank you for the great replies.

I'll ask why he replaced the top and carpet. He lives in Southern Oregon on a hillside, so definitely no 'flooding'. Maybe the old top leaked a little... i'll find out.

I trust that the car has been taken care of mechanically. In his message to me about the car he said 'he's seen them listed for over $30k', which with my research is can be true. I'm in San Diego, CA and the SoCal ones definitely go for a premium over out of state... the few that are listed in my area are like $33-40k +. With that said, I kind of want a convertible to cruise sunny SoCal. Also, as much as i'd like to be wrenching on a car like I did with my Fox Body (put like $15k into that one).. I have a family now and time is limited so the idea of some good power and good drivability without having to do a ton of work sounds nice.

As far as the underdrive pulley, i'm assuming its the crank pulley. Coming from 5.0's I know this was a common 'mod', although i never did it. Not sure if this is common on the 4.6's. Again, i'll ask. As far as the upper pulley... this is typically the supercharger pulley to make it spin faster, correct? He says the car should have around 500hp.

Anything else I should be asking about. He has a restored 65 mustang, is restoring a 70's ranchero, he had a white coupe 2003 cobra previously he also offered to sell me like 10 years ago but i didn't have the money at the time.

Oh, and back to the subject of convincing my wife... barring any weird situation, the Terminator cobras probably won't lose value right? They seem to be trending upward in price. Would you all agree with that statement?

 

[Lambeau]

Will it pass CA smog?

 

[Fox 5.0]

I actually just asked him that a couple minutes ago as I also just thought of that potentially being an issue. I may need to swap the upper pulley back to a stock one.

I'll do my research on that process but i'm assuming its just a pulley swap and longer belt?

Also just popped into my head... I need to confirm if it has any sort of aftermarket tune.

 

[Fox 5.0]

I've been through the process of buying an out of state car. Last year we bought my grandpas Lexus from Iowa. Had to take it to the DMV for visual inspection and then SMOG it... but obviously that was a completely stock car. This one could be a little more tricky.

 

[03cobra#694]

See if you can find out if the blower is ported. It's needed to make 500HP on the factory blower, and that's sometimes why they run a lower pulley.

 

[1Kona_Venom]

I would buy it, unless your Uncle has a history of shadyness? People from Oregon are weird af, no offense.

As far as value, I think we are at the plateau but even that's debatable with who you ask and what day of the week it is. You want to retain value? Do not daily drive it.

But hey, you would have a car for the Fabulous Fords show every year.

 

[Fox 5.0]

Blower is not ported. He probably is referring to power at the crank.

He is definitely not shady, lol. I 100% trust he's being honest with what he tells me and wouldn't sell me something iffy. Reason for selling is he's retiring in March and has like 5 vehicles already.

Oh and this would not be a daily driver. Like a drive to work on Fridays type vehicle.

Second Oh, found out there is no aftermarket tune. So hopefully passing CA smog would be A. let it ride and hope it passes inspection and exhaust particulate thresholds or B. Put the stock blower pulley on it. He's also going to send me more photos.

 

[LS WUT]

As with anything in life. It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. As stated above some people think they’ve got gems, and will try and get top dollar. Anyone in the selling market knows very well to list high, and let the low balls come in until someone gets near your golden number. Secondly as for it retaining its value, that’s another thing. It’s tough to say. I’ve seen higher Mile cobras that looked amazing that fetched a little bit more because of the confidence it was well maintained and I’ll say this. I tend to trust cars with a little more miles on it versus a really really low mile car. My 19k mile coupe always gives me little headaches. It’s not driven to much, so making sure fluids are circulated, bushings are being used so they don’t go to poo, etc. nevertheless if you want a cool car to make cool blower noises, and cruse with a top down. Can never go wrong with a cobra. Every state has its prices for sure. Stuff in Florida isn’t as high as up north and such. Either way, Goodluck with your decision buddy.

 

[1FastFord]

no tune with a pulley, I might be a little worried there

 

[03cobra#694]

Does this have an aftermarket smaller upper pulley? I ask, because you say it's not tuned.

 

[HudsonFalcon]

It’s a fair price but not much of a “family discount.”

 

[LS WUT]

Agreed with everyone above.. send us an engine bay photo, and a close up of the pulley. The photo I posted above is a photo with aftermarket idlers, but a stock upper pulley.