There was the ad in this morning's classifieds section plain as day. Under the "Sports Cars for sale" section, the caption read "Wife forces sale". This was going
to be a painful ordeal to be sure. From the beginning then...

Long before there was a Dr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, there was little Chuckie Smith, the family car nut. At the ripe old age of 15, Chuckie would read every car magazine he could find that was covering the racing activity of this new car being built in California. The company was Shelby American and the car was the legendary Cobra. An english bodied car with an American V8 powerplant. This car was making an impression on the Sports Car racing scene like none of it's predecessors. Even the dominant true American Sports Car or the era, the Chevrolet Corvette; couldn't keep pace with the high powered snake in their track time appearances. The Cobra was eating up its competition and Chuckie couldn't consume enough information about this car.

The typical family conversation at dinner would always end up with; "Hey Dad ... how many races do you think the Cobra will win this year ? asked Chuckie. His father would always chuckle and come back with; "You sure do love that car, don't you son ?" Of course Dad, ever the one to find an opportunity to motivate young Charles to keep up with his studies, had a long standing promise with his son. If he was to keep up his schoolwork, and keep that a priority over documenting the race history of the Cobra, well he would have quite a surprise coming to him on his 16th birthday.

Well if you're thinking that Dad was going to shell out some big green to buy a nice little Cobra for his son, no not in his lifetime. He loved his son but this was a very expensive car and just not practical for a 16 year old to be using as his daily car. When Chuckie arrived at his 16th birthday, Dad unveiled his surprise, a trip for two to California, with tickets to the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix. When Chuckie heard this he just about flipped. After a hug to the old man that left Dad trying to catch his breath, he ran upstairs and got on the phone with all his high school friends, to tell them about his upcoming summer vacation. This surprise trip would also give Chuckie a chance to exercise that new fangled 35mm camera he received on his 15th birthday !

As school let out that summer, it wasn't long before Father and Son jetted off from their east coast home to the sunny shores of Los Angeles. Once arriving and getting settled, they drove out to the Riverside course to watch the qualifying. First thing they came across was the Cobra pits. Chuckie shook hands with Ken Miles, Dave MacDonald, Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant and of course 'Ol Shel. Carroll took quite a liking to this talkative young man. In fact, during the conversation he mentioned to his father quotes such as; "Hell this kid knows more about our cars than I do" and another notable; "Boy if our Cobras ran as fast as your mouth son, we'd win every race". Well given the Cobras winning record, you can see that Chuck always had a lot to say when it came to his favorite car.

As raceday arrived, Chuck was thrilled with the outcome of the race with the Cobras dominating. Also this was 1965 and little did Chuck know that the Shelby American team would end up FIA World Champions that year, the first (and only) American sports car manufacturer to hold that prestigious title. This was without a doubt one of those life experiences that made a permanent mark in Chuckie's brain.

Believe it or not, Dad was able to get Chuckie back on the airplane for the trip home once the racing was over. If Chuckie had his way, he would have hid in one of the vehicles of the Cobra Caravan and stowed away back to the Shelby American facility at the Los Angeles airport. I mean, they had to go there anyway to get their flight.

As history recalls, Chuck spent the rest of the summer talking about that race weekend. He was 16 now and some of his friends were driving their own cars now. It was 1965 and all the young boys were talking about the new Ford Mustang that they had seen at last summer's Worlds Fair in New York. A couple of his friends had gotten Mustang's as their birthday presents (those with the top grades anyways) and many would ask Chuck (the Ford nut) if he was going to be getting one. "Not I", Chuck would reply; "I'm saving my money for a Cobra".

As the years passed, Chuck saw the Daytona Coupe retire in favor of the new Ford GT and then in 1967, Chuck was devastated when the Cobra went out of production for good. "Well, I can always get a used one" he would tell his friends. But alas, there was a war on and Chuck would be leaving high school. Being a tremendous student, Chuck had several universities trying to snag the 1967 Eastern High School class Valedictorian. Chuck was always one for wanting to know how machines worked so he figured a career in medicine would give him the chance to work on the most facinating machine of them all, the human body. In 1968, Chuck entered the freshman class at the University of Michigan. His first four years of pre-med studies went by very quickly. During the summers he would often attend racing events at the Michigan International Speedway as well as a small little track north of Detroit known as Waterford Hills. Chuck was driving an MG Midget during his college years. He was often tempted to let it stretch it legs at a Waterford Hills event, but he never felt like he should race his only mode of transportation.

Four years after his freshman year, Chuck Smith, University of Michigan graduate entered the 4 year medical school program at his Alma Mater. And yes, he entered as an honor student. The going was tough in the Medical school program, Chuck never saw a race course again. If he wasn't in school, he was studying or doing research. In the 70s, racing on TV was rather rare, and the thought of sitting down with a copy of that new AutoWeek magazine that had taken over from Sports Car Graphic, well it just remained a thought. The only reading he would be doing was of the medical kind.

As another four years came to a close, Charles Smith graduated as Dr. Charles Smith from the University of Michigan Medical School. He would end up doing his internship / residency program in the Medical Center in downtown Detroit. Moving to the big city away from the small Ann Arbor community was a nervous prospect for Chuck and his fiance Julia. Chuck had long since sold the MG to pay for books and tuition. They weren't sure if eveything would be in walking distance like university life. But as they came upon the hospital campus that fall of 1977, they were able to find housing right near the hospital. Chuck and Julia married the following summer and Chuck found the most perfect spot for their honeymoon.

Chuck and his bride boarded a flight out to sunny Los Angeles, a place he had visited with his late Father as a boy. Chuck had told his wife many times about the summer of 1965 when he and his father went to the L.A. Times Grand Prix. Make a long story short, Julia knew that this honeymoon was going to involve some sort of racing event. The first place they visited was the old Riverside course, Chuck could hardly believe how much the place had changed. He had even brought his old photo album to help try and find some of the places he and his father watched the races from. The air of nostalgia of Riverside often caused Chuck to well up with tears, as he thought about his departed father and the joy he shared with him at this facility. Julia could just keep an arm around him in comfort. She had left Chuck alone for awhile so he could get a closer look at the SCCA club racers that were running this weekend. He often thought growing up that being able to race a car would be a wonderful thing, little did he know the surprise his new bride was going to bestow upon him. Julia and Chuck met up with each other at days end and returned to the hotel. Chuck had been going on and on about the cars he had seen, the drivers he had spoken with. Some of the racers were fellow members of the medical profession and he was also able to get some insider information on the California Medical scene.

Later that evening, enjoying drinks after dinner, Julia dropped an envelope in Chuck's lap. He opened the envelope to find a brochure and some documents with his name on them. "Oh My God" Charles screamed out as he jumped out of his seat. His petite wife, who was now getting the stuffing squeezed out of her with one of Chuck's famous bear hugs, had a big smile on her face as she was now gasping for air, much like Charles' father did back in the summer of '65. Young Dr. Smith eventually got his carrying on down to a low roar, but his wife had given him a present he had wanted most of his adult life. He was going to Bob Bondurant's new driving school at Sears Point. Charles was on an emotional rollercoaster, mostly wondering if Bondurant would remember him (?). Julia quipped; "That Bondurant guy, he's kind of famous or something right ?" Well, Chuck got his queue as he told his wife of Bonduran't ENTIRE racing career. She couldn't believe how FAST her husband was talking. To this day, she firmly believes this was the exact night that their first son Steven was conceived !

The next day, Dr. and Mrs. Smith drove up to Sears Point to get young Dr. Smith enrolled in his class. The next two days were the ultimate for Charles, driving both open wheel cars as well as sedans. No, he didn't get to meet up with Bob Bondurant again, but he sure did marvel over that picture of the 1965 Cobra team hanging in the lobby. Chuck was so proud when he picked up his certificate at the completion of the course, you'd think he was graduating from Medical School all over again.

Once returning home from their whirlwind honeymoon, a few week later they did learn that their first born son would be arriving in about nine months from now. Their household income picked up quite a bit after Charles having a year and a half into his residency program at the Medical Center. He was one of the top interns of his team of peers, his one big decision being what field of medicine would he specialize in. That decision would come later, right now he and his wife had to make room for another member of their new family. Luckily they were able to aquire a larger apartment, this one a little closer to the hospital campus. The Smith family was coming along nicely in life. Mind you, with all the pressures mounting on young Dr. Smith, he always found time to pull out his photo albums of both the summer of '65 and the more recent honeymoon pictures at the driving school. He knew someday things would settle down and he could realize his dream of getting behind the wheel of something other than a family car.

Let's advance our story ten years now. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are living in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, raising their two sons Steven and Sean. Steven, almost eleven years old now is appearing to be a chip off the old block, with a passion for the automobile he shares with his father. Sean, some five years Steven's junior is more interested in his bicycle and roller skates. Little did the family know that Dad was going to have a life changing experience today.

It's a Tuesday afternoon in the spring of 1987. Dr. Smith left the Medical Center downtown several years prior and Charles is now on the staff of William Beaumont hospital in another suburban Detroit town of Royal Oak, just next door to his home town of Birmingham. So why should today be any different than any other day. Well so far it was a pretty routine day. Dr. Smith is chief resident of the Emergency staff and was waiting at a stop light on the mile road. That's when IT happened. IT ? Yes. It drove by first as a blur and then as a roar of thunder, sidepipes blaring like two cannons. "Oh My God !" said Dr. Smith, "I don't believe what I'm seeing". as you might have guessed by now, as Charles sat at the light waiting to cross Woodward Avenue, a Cobra roared by headed southbound. As the light turned green, Charles pointed the family sedan in a southerly direction down Woodward Avenue, hot on the tail of a car he hadn't seen in person since 1965. After about a ten minute ride, at a quick pace as you would imagine, the Cobra turned off of Woodward and the owner headed towards his home. Charles, right on his bumperette, followed close behind.

The Cobra owner pulled his dark blue and white striped vehicle into his garage, not at all surprised to see a strange black car in his driveway. Charles shut off the engine of his sedan and got up out of the car. He sheepishly waved hello to the owner and the owner replied with a big grin. "I take it you followed me home then ?" said the Cobra owner. "Yes" replied Charles, "I haven't been this close to a Cobra since I was 16 years old back in 1965". And wouldn't you just know it, Charles started talking fast again ! "Well friend" said the Cobra owner, "I hate to disappoint you but it's not a real one". "What do you mean" replied Charles. "Oh this is one of the replica kits that they make nowadays. My son and I built this car from the ground up". Charles is dumbfounded. "You mean to tell me this car is new ?" By this point in the conversation, Charles is in the garage, talking like Speedy Gonzales and with his head under the hood of the Cobra. "Yes we finished the car last year, like you Sir I enjoyed these cars for long time but I could never afford to own a real one". "Well I'll be dipped" replied Charles. "I hope you have nothing planned friend, I've got to pick your brain for awhile". The owner of the Cobra invited him in the house so he could tell his wife that he and the good Doctor were about to spend a couple of hours together. Well his wife reminded him about Cub Scouts and then all plans were off at that point. Charles understood, saying he had been in that position many times before with his two boys. Charles gave his card to the gentleman and pleaded with him to come out to his home for a visit. He shook his hand and said "My pleasure".

When Charles got home that night he was a nervous wreck. He was talking fast, couldn't sit still, he didn't know what to do with himself. His wife calmly walked up to him, kissed him on the cheek and said "You picked up the mail didn't you Dear ?" "Well sure I did honey, why ?" said Charles. "Well your acting like you always do when you've been in your racing photo collection, I figured it was because of the brochure on the counter" said Julia. (Charles and Julia have an anniversary coming up, this is good) So dumbfounded, Charles looks on the kitchen counter where the mail is piled up and spots a blue 81/2 by 11 envelope, picture of a Red Cobra right on the front. "Hey what's this all about ?" Charles asks. "Well dear, I knew you liked these cars, and Mary's husband Ken was asking me about your photo collection at the last Parent / Teacher conference ...." (Charles looks like he's going to explode right about now) " and he told me there are companies that make these cars you like so much" says Julia. "So what did you do exactly dear ?" asks Charles. "Oh I wanted to surprise you on our anniversary, I ordered a brochure and video tape that talks about these little Cobras from the company Ken was raving about, Happy Anniversary Dear !". Charles was spinning at this point, laughing out loud. After squishing Julia with a bear hug, he almost set the wood floors on fire running to the VCR. Charles put the tape in and he and Julia watched the half hour presentation. Charles said wow about fifteen times during the show and Julia did all she could to keep from laughing, enjoying every minute of this. When it was over she started dinner and Charles rewound the tape to watch it again, and again. He had it cued up once more but Julia pulled him away for dinner.

Later that evening, Charles sat down with son Steven and watched the tape while Julia was playing a math game with Sean in the den. After watching the tape, the two were convinced that they could build one of these. The next day Charles started talking intently with his wife about the little Cobra. "Charles" Julia asks; "When on earth would you have time to build one of these cars with Steven, I was hoping you would order one built from the factory". Charles took a long long long look at his wife and said; "Do you know how much I love you right now ?" And with that, the deal was struck. The Smith family has a Cobra on order.

As the months passed, there were countless delays with the construction of the car. Charles would talk with new found friend Ken almost daily, also lamenting to him the frustration of waiting for his car to be built. Then, one day at his office at the hospital he gets a phone call. "Hello Dr. Smith, this is Dave Miller. Do you remember you saw me in my Cobra a couple of months ago and followed he home ?" said the Cobra owner from Royal Oak. "Do I remember you, how the heck are you ?" replied Charles. "Oh pretty good sir, I'm sorry it took so long to call you back, but I wondered if you still wanted to get together and go for a ride in the Cobra ?" Charles' blood begins to boil and finds it hard to speak for a brief second, then replies "Well I think I'm free this weekend, would you like to come out to our house ?" Dave says great and shows up at the Smith home with his wife in the passenger side. Charles runs outside to greet them. He says, "Hi guys, ah ha, no need to ring the door bell I could hear those pipes all the way down the block". Charles has his motor running towards top end as Julia comes out to meet Dave and his wife Karen. The women decide they'll go inside while the boys (literally) take a trip over to the Old Waterford Hills course to catch the Vintage races. Charles is just beside himself at this point, he's riding in a Cobra for the first time in his life, he's on his way to his old college hangout of Waterford Hills, he's going to see the old race cars from his youth race at the old course ... and talking so fast he can't catch a breath. The two of them have a wonderful afternoon. Then IT happens.

Well, when IT happend the first time it changed his whole life. Now IT happened again and quite literally out of the blue. You see as the two boys walked towards the Cobra, Charles noticed that Dave was walking towards the passenger side, so Charles is getting a little weak in the knees about now. "So Chuck" says Dave, "I remember you told me about your driving course at the old Bondurant school at Sears Point ... you remember everything you learned back in the 70s ?" "Yeah I guess so" replies Charles in that sheepish voice again. "Ok buddy, here's the keys, drive her home" and Dave tosses the keys to Chuck.

Unfortunatly, Chuck didn't catch the keys as he was lying down on the ground right next to the Cobra at this point. "Chuck, are you OK ?" asks Dave. "Oh I'm just wonderful" said Chuck, "I've just wanted to do this my whole life ... when you asked me to drive I got a little faint just then". So Dave helped him get behind the wheel, cautioning Chuck that if he felt weird he didn't have to drive. Well, once Charles turned the key and the big 427 came to life, Chuck felt like a new man. As is always the case with Cobras, the exhaust has that sound that draws a crowd. Chuck and Dave talked with a couple of the onlookers before Chuck actually put it in gear.

Chuck had such a grin on his face driving that car, it was like nothing he ever felt before. Chuck and Dave even stopped at some empty parking lots on the way home to do a little more Spirited driving. He had the time of his life.

They arrived home just as dusk was approaching. Julia and Karen were there to greet them as the Cobra pulled up the drive. Julia's eyes were wide open when she saw her husband behind the wheel. "Well, look at you Mr. Cobra driver ! Did you have fun dear ?" said Julia. Chuck just smiled, gave her a little wink. It's all he could do he couldn't take his hands off the wheel. They eventually got Charles out of the car and went inside to get ready for dinner. As the evening drew to a close, Dave asked Chuck to let him know when his Cobra arrived "So we can do some racing" said Dave. "Over my dead body" replied his wife Karen. They all had a good laugh and Charles and Julia bid goodbye to the Cobra owners as they pulled off into the night. Dr. and Mrs. Smith enjoyed the rest of their evening together alone, as the boys were sleeping at Grandma's tonight. Julia just doesn't know what her husband is going to do with himself until that car get delivered.

In the summer of 1988, Dr. Smith gets a call from the factory. "The car left the factory yesterday afternoon sir. You should receive it sometime next week" the dealer said to him over the phone. "That's great news, I can hardly wait" says Charles. A week goes by and the car is delivered to the Smith home while Charles is at the hospital. Juila asks them to put it in the garage so she can surprise her husband. When Charles got home that evening, he was very tired after an extremely trying day at the hospital. He was so tired he parked the car in the driveway, he didn't even look in the garage. Julia could see Charles was in a somber mood so she instructed the boys to keep quiet about the car. Shortly after dinner Charles fell asleep on the couch, something he never does. Julia sat up with him to see if she could wake him but she ended up covering him with a blanket for the evening.

The next morning Charles woke up about an hour late and rushed himself to get ready for work. He skipped breakfast and didn't even bother to wake up his wife, was just going to off to work. Instinctively he went into the garage, totally forgetting he left his car in the driveway. So, he enters the garage, turns on the light and then sees the car. "Oh My God !" he screams, "When did this get here ?" Chuck starts running around the car and is extremely excited at this point. After about 15 minutes he walks back into the house and calls the hospital. He promptly informs them that the hospital should not expect him in for the rest of the week and to reschedule all appointments and meetings.

He goes upstairs and changes into his casual clothes. Then he goes to wake up Julia. "Aren't you going to the hosptial today dear ?" asks his wife. "Of course not honey" replies the good doctor. "Oh, so you've seen the car then" says Julia. "I was going to surprise you last night but you were so tired". "No problem dear, you did the right thing" says Charles. "Well ok then, have fun with your little car. How come it's so loud anyway ?" she asks. "Oh you'll know why when we go for a ride !" he replies.

Charles spent the whole day driving the car, looking at the car, taking Steven for a ride when he came home from school, he had a ball ! The day after that, he went to the hospital to show the car off to his friends. He gave rides to anyone who asked for one. It was like this the remainder of the week. He even surprised Dave in Royal Oak by pulling up in his driveway. Chuck promptly asked if Dave wanted to follow him home this time. Then came Sunday, the day his bubble would be burst forever.

Charles had asked Julia to spend the day with him enjoying the car. "Ok honey, where shall we go ?" They started out on a leisurely drive on Big Beaver road towards the beach at Lake St. Clair. They stopped at the beach and walked along the boardwalk. When they came back to the car they found many admirers waiting. Chuck started the car up for them and answered any questions. Julia just looked on in amazement of all that was going on. They then left the beach and drove along Lakeshore drive along the Lake St. Clair through the Pointes en route to downtown. They did a quick tour of Belle Isle, then headed for the freeway back to Birmingham. "Now I'll show you why this car is so loud honey" said Charles. "Alright dear" replied Julia. He pulls the Cobra onto the Lodge Freeway and promptly gets the car up to 100mph. He keeps the car clipping along at this rate of speed practically all the way home. Julia is sitting calmly in the passenger seat, hanging on for dear life in her mind.

Charles gets them home in one piece and parks the car in the garage. Julia gets out of the car very slowly, taking care not to burn her leg on the sidepipes. She looks at Charles and says "You have a nice little car here dear. Let's have a nice chat before dinner Ok ?" Charles replies "Sure thing honey, just let me clean her up before I come in".

Later that night, Julia gets her wits about her and has that conversation with her husband. "Charles" she says "You promise me you'll put that car for sale tomorrow OK ?" "Sell the car" says Charles, "Why would I want to sell the car ?" he asks. "Because dear, I WANT you to sell the car. It's not a car, it's a rocketship for heaven's sake. One day you're going to take that thing out and make me a widow. No, you sell that car tomorrow dear." demands Julia. Charles doesn't know what to say or do at this point. This is probably the first time in his life he's talking about the Cobra and his speech is not going a 100 mph. Nor is he happy or excited. He is sitting next to his wife and listening to her tell him she is afraid for his life. After all these years, he realizes that his wife has never been in a Cobra or had any idea how fast they were. All she knew is that the car was a very important dream of his and she wanted to part in standing in his way attempting to aquire his dream car. But now that she has first hand experience with the car she referred to as a rocket ship, Charles is once again faced with another of lifes' tough decisions.

Well, nothing was decided that evening, but Charles never drove the car again after that night. Charles and Julia had many more conversations about the car, most with Julia ending up in tears. Before the summer came to a close, Charles did end up selling the car. He got up one Sunday morning and looked into the Classifieds section of the newspaper.

There was the ad in the classifieds section plain as day. Under the "Sports Cars for sale" section, the caption read "Wife forces sale". Charles got several calls on the car and sold it within a week and for a fair price. The buyer asked Charles, "Why are you letting your wife force you into selling this car sir ?" Charles reply was simply this. "Son, some times dream cars should just remain in your dreams".

As the buyer pulled the Cobra out of the driveway, this would be the last time he would hear the roar of those exhaust pipes ever again. When the noise had gone he turned to see his wife looking at him through the window. He paused for a brief moment, then he smiled at Julia and gave her a wink of his eye. Later that night around the dinner table, young Steven asks his father; "Dad, do you think I'll ever get a Cobra of my very own ?" Charles looked at his wife, then back at his son. "Gotta follow your dreams son, anyway you can" said Charles.

From the beginning then...