How are ya fellas? About 20 years ago, a friend of mine & I jointly purchaced a '76 L.W.B. "Effy" ute - that's what we call pick-ups in Aussie. Anyway, the guy who sold it to us said it had a 351 Cleveland V8 & we didn't really take that much notice on the day, 'cos we only really were after an old bush-bashing work horse. It was in fare condition & we got it for $3500 Aud - not bad, as good 76 Effys usually went for about $5000. Anyhow - once we got it home & cleaned it up a bit, we saw it had "Cobra" badges on it & we just thought they'd been glued on there by some wishful thinking rev-head. Since neither Beau or I were all that good when it came to the more finer points of auto maintinance & repair - we got a mate - who was a Ford fanatic & a professional mechanic, to have a look at it for us . Well . . . what a revelation! As it turned out, the engine was a phase 3 G.T.H.O. - a Cobra motor, worth about 20K back in 1995 & the engine numbers matched the chassis number - An all original F100 Cobra. What I was wanting to know, was if anyone could give me the history & facts behind these trucks & how many were made & also, how many were converted to right hand drive & shipped from the U.S.A. to Aussieland, 'cos I've never seen or heard of them untill they've just started importing the big '150s & '250s over here in the last few years & I've noticed that these new models have an F250 Cobra among the4 or 5 models they import but I don't think that they're powered by anything as iconic or legendary as the Phase 3 'Hoey', as they're affectionatly referred to over here. So - can anyone out there in Ford Land enlighten me, 'cos I'd really like to know just how rare a bird I have here.
Kindest regards
Peter Joseph
Tasmania Australia

 

First, WELCOME to FTE!

Second, pics or it didn't happen

 

I second that! Welcome!

 

Welcome and X2 on the pix.
As for your questions, you'll get authoritative answers with a Marti report. Not only will this satisfy your curiosity but should you decide to sell it at some point, that report will establish the provenance of your truck very convincingly and possibly justify a higher price than otherwise.

 

We're doing great over here, thanks for asking. You're speaking about something I've never seen or heard about before. Please please please send some pictures!! G'day!