AC Cobra

When AC began exporting their cars to America, it came to Carroll Shelby's attention that the AC Ace's chassis could take far more power than it already had from standard specification, so in 1961 he replaced its 2.6 litre engine with a Ford 260 4.2 litre V8. The recipe for a car like this sounds terrible, but such was the quality of the Ace's chassis that it actually worked rather well.

As a result, AC adopted this design, strengthening the chassis and transmission further before widening the bodywork by two inches to allow for larger tyres. This car went into production as the AC Cobra - what was once a fairly sedate, stylish convertible was now a 150mph car, capable of the Ace's original top speed of 100mph in just 13 seconds - around the same time it took for the Ace to reach 60mph.

The Bristol unit that the Ford engine replaced happened to be going out of production anyway, so this new development suited AC very well. As if this massive new engine wasn't enough, it was replaced after a relatively short period with the 4.7 litre Ford 289, now producing 271bhp.

Shelby then attempted to add a 6.4 litre Ford FE engine to the MKII chassis but when Ken Miles drove the car, he claimed that it was virtually undriveable, nicknaming it 'The Turd'.
















Still, Shelby would not settle for this, so he inserted a 7 litre Ford 427 engine into a chassis that had been redesigned by Ford to accommodate this colossal engine, using larger chassis tubes with wishbone/coil suspension and wheels and tyres that were even wider than before - the MKIII was born. The car had come a long way since the original 85bhp Ace - the Cobra produced 425bhp, on what was essentially the same platform.

Although all the Cobras were very successful racing cars, the 289 MKII was the car that won AC the International GT championship in 1965. The Ford-redesigned chassis cars were never sold in Europe, however AC did swap the 289's chassis for the Ford one, creating what many people argue to be the best of the Cobras.

Specifications

Engine: 8-cyl, 4.2 litre / 8-cyl, 4.7 litre / 8-cyl, 7.0 litre
Horsepower: 260bhp / 271bhp / 425bhp
Transmission: 4 speed manual
Chassis: Twin tube frame with independent suspension all round, later redesigned and strengthened
Brakes: Disc brakes
Top Speed: 150mph / 138mph / 185mph
0-60mph: 5.5 seconds / 5.6 seconds / 4.2 seconds