Born in Glasgow and now resident in Canada, Iain Ayre admits to being both opinionated and unfocused. He was warmly encouraged by his school to leave, and then, after several random gap year jobs he decided to take an English and art teaching degree – but as teaching is hard work, he became a model portfolio photographer, cartoonist, advertising copywriter, copy chief and creative director, ending up as a writer at J Walter Thompson in Mayfair. Unwisely, he launched an ad agency, and when that ended in tears, ambled into motoring journalism, freelancing for Triumph World, Classic Cars, MG Enthusiast, Kitcar, Japanese Performance, Redline, Jaguar World and Australian and US titles. He launch-edited Classic Ford, and has written 14 books about cars and one about gourmet dog food.In his spare time, he creates the occasional car: a Mini based three-wheeler, spaceframed XK120 replicas, a propane turbo V8 Cobra, and most recently an Art-Deco-inspired Rolls-Royce boat-tailed two-seat speedster in aluminium.

Select Guide Rating

• 1.Is a Cobra replica right for you? 2.Cost considerations 3.Living with a Cobra replica 4.Relative values 5.Before you view 6.Inspection equipment 7.Fifteen-minute evaluation 8.Key points 9.Serious evaluation 10.Auctions 11.Paperwork 12.What's it worth? 13.Do you want to build or buy? 14.Paint problems 15.Lack-of-use problems 16.The Cobra community 17.Vital statistics Index