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The Documentation Project |
The Shelby Cobra has captured the hearts and minds of auto enthusiasts for more than four decades...at so many different levels.
The timeless and unmistakable shape...the legend of brutal, raw performance without excuse...the entrprenural team of engineers, racers and hot-rodders who took a simple concept all the way to the World Manufacturers Championship in a mere three years.
Within the ranks of today's Cobra afficianados, many of us are fascinated by the history of the cars, the people, the events that surrounded this moment in time. Many of us discuss these things at local or regional get-togethers, national conventions...or simply, every day on the Internet in one of the many discussion forums dedicated to the Cobra.
A very specialized area of interest is the technical details on the cars themselves. There is a constant quest for information pertaining to originality. How were things done? What parts were used? In the forty-plus years that have passed since the cars were produced, much of this information has been lost or forgotten. Owners of original Cobras need this data for repair and restoration; many enthusiasts and replica builders have a great interest in what was "correct" on these original cars.
A lot of this data has been recovered by examining vintage photos and exploring original, "unmolested" specimens at car shows and events, as well as Internet communication with other owners and enthusiasts.
The Documentation Project was conceived as a way of gathering as much of this data as possible and creating a platform for preserving and presenting it to the community. A formidable task, to say the least. We can only know if it will work if we give it a try.
We struggled quite a bit in designing the platform for the Documentation Project. The data had to be logically organized, searchable and easily modified and augmented. The plan for many contributors to work on the Project through the Internet dictated a simple, non-technical interface. We decided to use this type of software, known as a Wiki. The Wiki platform is used throughout the world for online documentation and encyclopedia applications.
Our application will collect text, pictures, drawings and reference data on the different models of the Shelby Cobra.
Our contributors have been selected by invitation for their knowledge and expertise in various areas. This is a long-term project that could not succeed without their input. Credit is due to their hard work and efforts in contributing the information that will build the Project into a valuable resource.
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Last modified: 04.02.07 by webmaster
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