What is a Replica?

1964 newsprint promotion by Shelby American for the CSX2000 "B' series AC Cobra street roadster

In general, a replica is a reproduction of a vintage or esoteric vehicle at a price point well under what the original might be worth. Replicas can be either professionally assembled or sold in kit form for home builders. Often a replica of a vintage car will substitute current technology for old components, especially where safety or sourcing issues arise.

Many kit cars are based on donor vehicles so that a relatively inexpensive chassis and power plant can support a new replica body, often made of fiberglass. Factory Five, for example, exclusively used a Ford Mustang donor prior to the introduction of the Complete Kit in 2007.

Inexpensive replica kits may offer not much more than an unpainted fiberglass body that fits over an existing chassis. In the past few years, non-donor kit car builds have risen in popularity as aftermarket components and crate engines have become more widely available.

While replicas may be based on a specific model and year of a single manufacturer, like a 1948 Jaguar XK 120 3.4, in the case of the Factory Five Roadster, the legacy is more complicated. Based on builder characterizations from the FFCars Forum, the FFR 3.1 Roadster is usually considered to be based on the 1965 Mark III AC Cobra body whether or not a 1965-style 427 V8 engine is installed.

The build covered on this site can accurately be called a 1965 non-donor kit car AC Cobra Mark III replica.