Carport Find: 2001 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Convertible

Finding modern cars in a forgotten, dusty state is one of the more intriguing discoveries an enthusiast can make. We can understand why an old car might spend years forgotten or otherwise neglected, but a car that’s still easy to maintain and has a deep parts supply makes far less sense. Heck, you can still get a 2001 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra convertible serviced at your local Ford dealership. This one has been parked under a carport “…for years” according to the seller and will supposedly clean up nicely once the next owner takes the time to properly detail it. Find this forgotten Cobra here on craigslist for $10,000.

Wow! That is a serious coating of dust and what looks like mildew. The story in the listing doesn’t seem real, as it sounds like the stuff of car guy folklore. The seller contends the original owner bought it as a present for his son when he turned 16, but due to being too powerful, it was parked and forgotten. That doesn’t make much sense to me, because you would either sell the car or simply enjoy it for yourself. Whatever the truth is, the Cobra apparently sat, not being used, this entire time, until the “…old lady” decided it was time to get rid of this powerful paperweight. Mileage is said to be under 40,000.

The tires are dry-rotted and the gas in the tank is said to be bad, so it will need the usual assortment of fuel draining and a new pump. What’s maddening about this is that sort of refurb work is expected on a car from the 1970s, so finding a car made in 2001 that needs the same level of work is a shock. And I could even begin to rationalize it a little bit if the miles were crazy high and the previous owner just used it up, deciding to park it when the clutch got tired. But this was likely a fine running and driving car when it stopped seeing regular use, so it’s a shame to see it end up like this. It even has the preferred manual gearbox and features a black-on-black color scheme.

The original five-spoke chrome Cobra wheels are still present, and the snake badge remains on the fender. The photos show that the rear bumper cover with the “Cobra” lettering is also still attached, so across the board, this looks and feels like a Cobra in every which way. The asking price isn’t awful, but it may still be slightly high for what amounts to a neglected car. One can hope it can come back to life with just a weekend’s worth of work, but that’s assuming there are no major mechanical faults hiding underneath all that dust and stagnation. What do you think happened here? Does the seller’s story hold water?