By Jim Kreuz with Dick Cohen, 189 pages, McFarland, January 2026, $45
Cobra Man is less a conventional automotive history than a 50-year stream of stories from a man who lived them. Written by Jim Kreuz, as told by its subject, Richard “Dick” Cohen, the book captures Cohen’s voice with refreshing immediacy. Cohen earned a Ph.D., building his automotive life alongside a career in higher education. That dual identity gives the story added texture and makes all the more compelling.
The Cohen family garage was anything but static. Corvettes, Shelby Mustangs, Cobras and Panteras passed through Dick’s hands, often because something unexpected caught his eye at just the right — or wrong — moment. His collecting instinct feels organic, driven as much by curiosity and enthusiasm as by strategy. Anything, it seems, could capture his attention, and the book benefits from that wide lens.
Structurally, the narrative can feel scattershot. It does not always move chronologically, and stories occasionally double back. Yet that looseness ultimately works. Kreuz adopts an almost balladeer-like presence, briefly setting the scene before allowing Cohen’s voice to take over. The rhythm becomes part of the appeal, as we wonder what the next automotive adventure will be, how it will unfold, and which interesting, sometimes notable characters might enter the frame.
This book reads like a love letter to a surely never-to-be-repeated era, when significant cars were simply used cars, relationships and handshakes mattered, and larger-than-life personalities populated paddocks and showrooms alike. With more than 180 photographs, it serves as both personal archive and enthusiast chronicle, a portrait of sustained passion over five decades, told with candor and authenticity.
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