Both of the photos above are of the same Cobra, shot by the same owner and with the same consumer-variety digital camera. It's Gene Bright's black Superformance Cobra that he sold on CobraCountry. That snapshot on the left Gene took before he read my photography tips. The photo on the right... one of Gene's fine photos that promptly helped to sell his Cobra... he shot after he described his car and his camera to me and then read and carefully heeded my "Cobra Photography Tips for Dipsticks." Gene's results speak for themselves.

If you're searching for the most professional and cost-effective place to sell your serpent, you've come to the right place. On CobraCountry, your Cobra gets aggressively marketed, not merely advertised. And it gets marketed to the world's largest gathering of serious Cobra enthusiasts. About 2,700 visits from them every day. Each and every one of them a Cobra and/or GT40 enthusiast.

On the other hand, if you're searching for the cheapest place to advertise your serpent, you've also come to the right place. Shucks, you can choose from AutoTrader.com, Cars-On-Line.com, CarsForSale.com, CraigsList.com and YouTube.com (those last three are FREE!) and a glut of other similar advertise anything with a steering wheel motorcar websites and auction sites and moto-trader publications. The drop-down list of 40 or 50 categories you must choose from includes everything from "ATV" to "dump truck" to "minivan" to "snowmobile" to "utility truck." Everything but "Cobra." As you might well reckon, those sites' "reach" to serious Cobra and GT40 buyers ranks someplace beneath nix, nil, naught, zilch and diddly-squat. But the advertising rates sure are cheap! Some of these do-it-yerself (DIY) sites display lots of big "SOLD!" placards... but not a hint of just when the car sold. Like me, you've probably recognized cars remaining on some of these sites that've been displayed for at least 3 or 4 years with an ever-mouldering "SOLD!" sign. For all you can determine, the last time a Cobra or a GT40 sold on the site was about the time Col. Custer hollered back to his 7th Cavalry troopers "Boys, we got them redskins surrounded!" But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

By clear contrast, on CobraCountry the "SOLD!" date is right there in-your-face for you to see: as I'm writing this (on Friday, May 6, 2011, there have been 5 Cobras sold since May 1st (indeed, one on May 1st, one on May 2nd, one on May 4th, and two yesterday, May 5th). Update this year-old observation: It's now April 25, 2012. Ten Cobras (that we know of, entirely from the testimonials we've received over these past week) have sold in the past 7 days in April (one on the 18th, one on the 19th, two on the 20th, one on the 22nd, two on the 23rd, one on the 24th and two today, the 25th).

Serious Cobra pilgrims aren't exactly swarming to those DIY meccas. Put into perspective: for every prospective genuine Cobra buyer who chances upon your Cobra on one of these sites, there's perhaps 15 to 150 prospective Cobra buyers who would see it on CobraCountry. Each and every one of Cobracountry's 1,500 or so web pages is dedicated to Cobra, Daytona Coupe and GT40 enthusiasts, including the Cobra-centric event photo-features, commentaries, Prestige Showcase pages and how-to articles... each one contributing to CobraCountry's extraordinary and ongoing record of Cobra-enthusiast daily visitations (up-to-the-the-minute statistics are a mouse-click away for you below).

And unlike CobraCountry's magnet-site wealth of marketing resources, there's nothing on those DIY sites to assist you with your photography efforts, your color-correction/image-correction efforts or your ad copy... nor is anyone there even remotely qualified to do so. You're entirely on your own in effectively introducing and marketing your Cobra or GT40 to that site's viewership. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

Over 30% of folks who sell their Cobra on CobraCountry have already frittered away their money (and their irreplaceable peak seasonal selling time) on various DIY websites and the auction sites and in the moto-trader magazines. Successfully marketing and selling a Cobra or a Daytona Coupe or a GT40 at any time—but especially in today's marketplace—you see, is not an enterprise for you to entrust to those DIY/upload-your-own-scary-snapshots sites and eTireKicker.com auction sites and freebie "List" sites. But shucks, the advertising rates sure are cheap!

  Then there are the numbers...

At the risk of overwhelming you with CobraCountry visitor data, you can also click on the monthly data (Hotlinked/ Underlined Blue Text on the left of the daily report) and you get an exhaustively-detailed report-by-category of CobraCountry's visitors. As only one example, you can scroll to the very bottom and see a graph titled <Top 30 of 146 Total Locations> that will amaze you with data on which countries—and in astonishingly large numbers—folks are visiting CobraCountry from: Canada, the U.K., Australia, France, Switzerland, Germany, even the Czech Republic and Poland... the list goes on. And as you can witness from Cobra seller testimonials (you can't miss 'em: they're in that yellow column alongside the "For Sale" ads, with the latest one at the top), many Cobras and GT40s sold on CobraCountry are snatched up by overseas buyers! There's more: to ensure that your own nation's Shelby enthusiasts don't overlook your own Cobra or Daytona Coupe or GT40, we place an animated flag alongside your ad... a waving maple leaf flag for Canadians, a Union Jack for U.K. sellers, a Tricolore for French sellers, and so on.

Canada	Great Britain	Australia	France	Italia	Switzerland	Deutschland

2. ON COBRACOUNTRY, YOUR SERPENT ISN'T MERELY ADVERTISED... IT'S AGGRESSIVELY MARKETED with expert guidance for you to photograph your Cobra, and with your text expertly copy-edited and "polished up' and your photos professionally color-corrected, contrast enhanced and Internet-optimized. No one else does that for you... or can even claim to possess the medley of specialized skills one must have to render a serious attempt.

BUT MARKETING YOUR COBRA MUST BE A TEAM EFFORT: you follow my results-proven expert tips and capture first-rate photos of your Cobra and write a good description of your car. That's just a first step... but it's a huge first step. We'll take over from there to effectively position your Cobra in front of the world's largest throng of prospective Cobra buyers. Take a look at how each Cobra and GT40 is effectively displayed on CobraCountry compared to anywhere else. And CobraCountry's results speak for themselves.

3. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. Since your prospective buyer is (on average) over 500 miles away, your photographs play an absolutely critical role in drawing buyers' attention to your Cobra or GT40. That's why ordinary snapshots don't sell Cobras (or GT40s or Daytona Coupes or street rods or restored muscle cars). No one is going to motor 500 miles or fly in from Europe or Argentina merely to see if he's interested; you better start pumping up his interest while he's still 500 or 7,000 miles away. You can make that happen only with your photographs. If you seriously wish to sell your Cobra, birdcage-liner snapshots need not apply. Period. On the other hand, those DIY websites and auction sites couldn't care less if you were to represent your Cobra with closeup JPEGs of pigeon poop. In fact, most Cobra owners' JPEG images on those sites more often than not resemble petrified pigeon poop. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

SIZE MATTERS: Those DIY/ "upload yer own pitchers/implode your chances of selling" sites instruct the visitor to click on each postage-stamp–sized thumbnail image to "make it bigger." So here's your "Where's the beef?" moment: it enlarges to a "BIG pitcher" you could slip into your credit card wallet. On some of these sites it's difficult for you to discern any difference in size between the thumbnail and the "BIG pitcher." On CobraCountry your good photos appear at a size large enough to nearly fill a typical 17" color monitor. Each prospective purchaser can see and appreciate the fine image detail of your Roush cast valve covers, your rich German leather upholstery, your reverse-rotation Smiths speedometer, your Moto-Lita steering hardwood-rimmed wheel, your Indigo Blue metallic finish or your polished-aluminum coachwork and/or Carroll Shelby's autograph on your dashboard. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

There's one other li'l item about taking good photographs: read through the seller testimonials. You'll see many folks marveling over the fact that "The buyer purchased my Cobra sight-unseen, based only on my photographs." That's a CobraCountry exclusive benefit that you won't encounter anywhere else on the Internet. Heeding my expert advice on capturing good photographs of your Cobra will return you huge dividends in marketing and selling your drivin' machine. Those DIY/ "uplode yer own pitchers" sites don't provide you with any such marketplace advantages. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

Here's a hotlink to the short introduction to my "Cobra Photography Tips for Dipsticks" user manual. Read it carefully—those tips are very, very specific and thoroughly tested; so follow 'em to the letter and you'll capture MUCH better photos and save yourself a bunch of trial-and-error shooting time in the process; be sure to examine the many comparative photographs. Print it out, 3-hole punch it for a binder and use each one of its checklist pages as you're photographing your Cobra. Better yet, phone me and describe your Cobra (and your digital camera) to me BEFORE you aim your camera at your car. Sharing with me such details as the brand of your Cobra replica [especially Backdraft, Lone Star, Factory Five, B&B and a few others with specific photography considerations] and its coachwork color [especially red, black, yellow, the dark metallics (e.g., Indigo Blue, Malachite Green, Prism Red, et al.)] will REALLY come out much better if you're armed in advance with a few expert pointers. And if you let me know the make/model and features of your digital camera [many of which offer terrific motorcar-photography–specific capabilities you probably don't even know about] enables me to arm you with very specific personal tips on shooting your own Cobra.

In any event (and this should already be self-evident to you): one really good (and really big) well-composed and color/contrast–corrected photograph is far more productive in helping to sell your Cobra than 14 dozen microchip-sized/birdcage-liner snapshots on a typical DIY or auction site. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

FROM A MARKET-EXPOSURE STANDPOINT, posting your Cobra for sale on CobraCountry is like having it posi­tion­ed center-stage on the lead float of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade replete with flashing Klieg lights and ostrich-feathers–plumed Broadway dancing girls high-kicking to the cadence of The Rip Chords' Hey, Little Cobra! throbbing from an ensemble of Klipschorn speakers; posting it on an "anything-with-a-steering-wheel"/ "upload-four-dozen-of-your-own-snapshots" site or in a local or regional "moto-trader" magazine is like parking it in a remote furrow of a Kansas wheat field with a crayon-scrawled cardboard "For Sale" sign taped to your windscreen. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

     //:=)

But don't take my word for any of this Cobra selling advice. Phone any major player you know and trust within the Cobra and Cobra replica industry, and ask them where they recommend you place your Cobra for sale. Now scroll down and get a glimpse of just why my photography tips (and our expert photo optimizing) contribute so effectively to CobraCountry's extraordinary Cobra, Daytona Coupe and GT40 sales success...

Below you'll encounter side-by-side pairs of Cobra images, each of a Cobra sold on CobraCountry: on the left, a gawdawful snapshot (which is quite typical of the images we receive from Cobra owners who haven't yet read my Cobra photography tips) juxtaposed alongside a good photo on the right that helped sell that serpent on CobraCountry. Same owner/ photographer, same consumer-priced digital camera, same Cobra. But in each case, the one on the left the owner shot before he read my Cobra Photography Tips; the one on the right that he captured after reading/heeding my tips played a big role in helping him to sell his Cobra. Good motorcar photography is at least 75% photographer, only about 25% camera. And just so you know, high megapixel count has nothing to do with good photography. Nothing.

As you compare the side-by-side images below, you'll also be witnessing one of the many reasons why CobraCountry sets the industry standard for Cobra sales success.

above: That's Rick Hinkelman's red Contemporary Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. Rick shot both photos of his Cobra using the same digital camera. Rick reshot his car after reading and carefully heeding my photography tips.

above: That's Steve Kortick's blue Superformance Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. Ditto on all the previous before/after comments: same owner/photographer, same nice Nikon D5000 camera, same car. The snapshot on the left would've scattered Steve's prospective buyers like a proverbial covey of quail; the "after" photo on the right (along with the rest of Steve's fine photos) played a big role in catching the eye of his buyer.

above: That's Domenic Saia's Unique Motorcars silver Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. On the left is what I refer to as "The gasping guppy view" of a 427 Cobra; on the right is what I call "The rapidly-approaching hammerhead shark view" of a 427 Cobra. Same camera, same Cobra... etc. etc.

above: A perfect example of how to do frontal shots WRONG vs. how to do them RIGHT. Again, same owner, same CSX Cobra, same camera. You'll find all the expert pointers in my Cobra Photography tips.

Below are 8 superb 3/4-frontal shots of Cobras that have sold on CobraCountry: a silver/black stripes ERA 427SC, a black/silver stripes Backdraft Cobra, a Blue Superformance, a blue Shelby CSX Cobra, a burgundy Backdraft Cobra, Mike Giannetto's black Backdraft Cobra, and ending with two more Shelby CSX Cobras (Kevin Rogers' black CSX beauty, and Sal Mennella's white CSX). Every one of these owners read and closely heeded my tips on how to photograph your car, and captured their images with a consumer-level digital camera. If you haven't read and carefully followed my tips, you're virtually bound to capture nothing other than cheezy snapshots that will scare your buyers away.

above: That's Bruce Miller's Factory Five Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. His nice Nikon D60 camera paid for itself with this one photo shoot. Bruce followed my photography tips to the letter... with the results you see above, and with the sale of his Cobra from his Prestige Showcase ad. Note especially how well that white pavement and white background worked out for Bruce's full-car shot. —Bruce's sale of his Factory Five Racing Cobra marks the second time that same Flame Red beauty has sold on CobraCountry!—

above: Since we're talking about red Factory Five roadsters and Nikon D60 cameras (see Bruce Miller's red FFR Cobra preceding), here's John Persons' (Rosamond, California) red road racer that he sold on CobraCountry in 2010. John broke out his nice Nikon D60 camera and carefully followed my photography tips. John's red beauty went to a lucky new owner in Virginia. —Great photos like John's sell Cobras. Snapshots are for lining your birdcage.—

What if you follow my expert tips to the letter, but the lighting isn't perfect or your camera just didn't get it right—which happens to one degree or another with every single photograph shot with a consumer camera: every digital photo (at the very least) must be expertly color-corrected and contrast-refined in order for your serpent to looks its best. Here are just a few examples of how how we carefully deploy Adobe Photoshop to technically correct what your camera failed to capture properly. Trust me: don't try this at home:

above: That's Bob Nicklay's Superformance Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. His nice Nikon camera managed to get the exposure wrong and thus bleach out his rich Royal Blue paint job. That's where we stepped in with Photoshop and carefully rescued his rich blue paint and boosted the overall contrast until we got it just as it appears in the flesh. The verdant hillsides in the distant background was an added bonus.

above: That's Paul Middione's Shelby CSX Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. For some reason his little Canon digicam let him down in the color-capture department. Some serious and time-consuming color-correction work with Adobe Photoshop... as you can see above... rescued Paul's fine camera work.

above: Lone Star's blue LS427 Cobra THAT BRIAN ALEXANDER SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. The flash on his little Nikon digicam failed to work, resulting in dull paint and a dark grille area. Some color-correction and selective contrast-enhancing work with Adobe Photoshop... as you can see above... rescued Brian's good camera work. His LS427 Cobra went to Spain, sight-unseen by the buyer except for Brian's good photographs.

above: Henry Himmler's Superformance Cobra THAT HE SOLD ON COBRACOUNTRY. The color-capture and contrast on Henry's Sony DSC H50 digicam came up just a bit short. Just as with Brian Alexander's photos (preceding), some careful color-correction and contrast-restoring rescued Henry's good camera work. His titanium beauty went to a Cobra enthusiast in Los Angeles.

GRAND FINALE
1. On the left, you can see what you get with your camera still set on "Automatic Flash."
2. On the right,  you can see what you get with your camera reset to  "Forced/Fill flash."

above: Mark Kassab's Unique Motorcars Cobra: no flash/flash test. You're witnessing graphic evidence as to why I advise you to reset your camera to "forced flash" (aka "fill flash" aka "flash on") so that your camera provides that burst of rich illumination WITH EVERY SHOT YOU TAKE.

Your camera's factory-default "automatic flash" represents perhaps the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on consumers: it never works outdoors in the sun... where you need that supplemental horizontal illumination the most! Reset it to forced/fill flash (it's that jagged arrow/ lightning-bolt icon, typically someplace on the back of your digicam)—then test it out in the bright outdoors to make certain that your flash goes off every time you depress the shutter button. This tip works just as effectively for your outdoor "people pictures" as it does for your motorcar photos.

Your reward for capturing extraordinary images of your Cobra or GT40 with your digital camera? For starters, a commanding marketplace edge. "Show me some corroborating evidence!", you say? Simple—just take a road trip down that "What Sellers Say" column of seller testimonials on CobraCountry's "Cobras For Sale" page.

As I'm wrapping up this narrative on how to effectively market a Cobra, it's Friday, May 6th. We're now several weeks into this year's "peak roadster season.' And—as occurs every year—there are countless Cobra owners out there seeking to sell their serpent... but who spring for the cheap and the free instead of the professional and the productive. And once again peak season passes them by, all the while Cobras—year 'round—are selling steadily on CobraCountry. But the advertising rates sure are cheap!

www.CobraCountry.com
Curt@CobraCountry.com
661-251-0806 (office line, Pacific Time)

* One other li'l thing, CobraCountry pilgrim. That "11,400 Reasons..." title of this narrative isn't based upon some random, rustled-up number. Nay, it's based upon a real-life serpentine episode...