I'm not finding a lot of Dave writtings about the car but here is some more from this thread:
I bought any 05 GT new. 4.6l, 5spd. It's a great car but I'd have to supercharge it to get to the power levels of the later 5.0 cars. It's a little lighter than the later cars, mostly due to feature bloat, and has factory 3 55 rear gears. Later cars were 3.31 standard with 3.55 optional. I've autocrossed it, done a track day, and daily driven it. With basic shocks, springs, and sways it's done great at all of it.
It's not slow, it will hit 60 in 5 sec flat and almost 13 flat in the 1/4 but that's still nothing compared to the later cars. The sweet spot would be an 09 with the same body and a five liter, but you can't go wrong with a 4.6 if it's in your price range. Biggest issue on the used cars is the notorious spark plug breakage issue. Just make sure it's been upgraded to better plugs and maybe do a compression check to make sure it wasnt damaged by a plug disintegration in the past. Everything else is just standard old car issues.
If you've got other questions I'm happy to answer. Love miy s197.
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I bought a GT 5speed new in 05 and have 122k on it today. No major mechanical problems, just wear items. It's down on power compared to the later cars but it's also a couple hundred pounds lighter. I've sharpened the tune and the suspension slightly but not all that much. It's still a hoot to drive and makes me smile every time.
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I've got 125k on mine with no issues. Runs as good as the day I bought it.
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My S197 is almost a build twin to this one. I can tell you it does almost anything - autocross, track days, cross country road trips, or 9 to 5 slog - very well. Mine also has 100k more miles and has never given me trouble. The only thing I hate about this is how little he's asking!
This thread hints at some improvements he made:
The older Cobras (with the exception of the terminators) weren't any faster than the S197s and were much less...nice?. I bought an '05 GT new and I still DD it. It's a good car stock and with a few light mods it's a truly great do-all daily driver. I really can't praise it highly enough. There are cars that might be better at any one thing than it is, but for the money few if any do it all as well.
I'd find the best cared for, most stock one you can and get it. Be aware, though, in dead-stock trim, particularly with all season tires, they plow like a mule when you hit a corner hot. Sway bars and good shocks give you a car that is very neutral and can be pushed to over or under steer by choice of line and speed. To really feel like they should, you want sway bars, better shocks, and a tune that removes the Ford-spec throttle lag. Those 3 things sharpen the car perfectly. A coworker bought a later , 400+ horse GT new and swore mine was faster just because it felt right, even though I was down 100+HP on him.
