Nick Kirkham joins host Cliff McFadden on The DownShifting Podcast from inside the fully operational Kirkham Motorsports facility in Provo, Utah.

In this conversation, Nick shares the family story behind Kirkham’s aluminum Cobras, Daytona Coupes, Carroll Shelby, Shelby American continuation cars, and the possibility of a future GT40.

The story begins with Nick’s father, David Kirkham, who was attending medical school while restoring original Cobras to help pay for college. After examining a damaged Cold War-era MiG fighter, David recognized the same basic aluminum-skin-over-steel-frame construction used in a Cobra. He found the factory number on the aircraft, sent a fax to Poland, and received a reply 24 hours later: “No problem.”

David eventually left medical school and traveled to Poland with a toy Cobra and a Polish-English dictionary. Working through a language barrier and using aging Soviet-era machinery, he and a group of gifted Polish craftsmen began building the foundation of Kirkham Motorsports. More than 30 years later, the company has produced over 1,000 Cobras.

Nick explains how he entered the family business sweeping floors, sorting hardware, and learning the work from the ground up. We also discuss the complicated relationship between Kirkham Motorsports and Carroll Shelby, including legal disputes, Shelby’s private ownership of Kirkham cars, and Kirkham rollers being used by Shelby American for continuation and anniversary-series Cobras.

The conversation goes deep into the craftsmanship behind Kirkham’s polished aluminum bodies: hand-formed panels, oxy-acetylene welding, hammer-and-dolly work, filing, sanding, and mirror polishing. Nick also explains how traditional metalwork is combined with CNC machining, CAD, CAM programming, and in-house manufacturing to control quality and reduce overhead.

We also get into Kirkham’s highly exclusive Daytona Coupe program, why a Daytona takes roughly four times as long to build as a Cobra, Nick’s dream of an original-style polished-aluminum Ford GT40 Mk II, and the rare copper and bronze cars created for some of the company’s most exclusive clients.

Recorded inside the working Kirkham Motorsports facility, this episode captures the machinery, craftsmanship, family legacy, and next generation behind one of the most respected names in the Shelby Cobra world.

If you’re into Kirkham Motorsports, Carroll Shelby, Shelby American, aluminum Cobras, Daytona Coupes, GT40s, continuation cars, CNC machining, traditional metal shaping, and the real stories behind the machines, you’re in the right place.

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