I lived across the street from ERA Replicas in New Britain, CT back when they first opened up the shop. After school I would hang out watching the mechanics build these awesome cars. Many people who owned an original CSX Cobra would have an exact replica built by ERA, so that they could drive them and keep their original cars clean and ready for display at all of the car shows and Shelby Club meets around the world. Thanks for posting this video.
As a former race driver, mostly in northern California, I could watch these types of videos all day long. The Shelby cars really had a positive impact on road racing all around the world.
My dad was involved in amateur sports car racing in the 50s (he had a Triumph TR-2), and you had to get three other drivers to sign your racing card to sponsor you, and one of them that he got was Carroll Shelby. But this was before he got famous or made the Cobra or anything, he was just a driver.
While I was a dealer for Shelby American I had many meetings with Carroll himself and have a picture of the 2of us when he came to Phoenix, AZ. I had a meeting with Bob at his driving school in Phoenix to iron out a deal for our customers that would allow them to go through his driving program with their CSX Cobras. It was during that meeting Bob told me during his time driving for Shelby he had never raced the 427 S/C Cobra, not even driven one. I told him I could have my 427 S/C there in 2 days. Over the objections of his personal assistant he told her to Clear the schedule cause he was gonna drive one. He was like a kid in a candy store when I handed him the keys. So now Bob can say he drove the rare 427 S/C
Having watched Carol Shelby autographing an owner's Cobra on the glove box and seeing how enamoured the owner was with it as it was being so marked and watching the satisfaction and interest that Shelby seemed to have with each of these autographs and then to see the smiles on the faces of everyone around, no matter where it was, just an inkling of how special the car is to its owners and how satisfying this car has become, first to Shelby, and now to all surviving members of his family and team, is to know what American legends are made of. You may ask for an explanation of this phenomenon and some people will try to provided it. Having a little American and a little motor oil in your veins, helps in the understanding of the greatest American sports and race car of all time, built by an automotive legend that overcame all obstacles with what he called, "...a little luck..."
There's no replacement for displacement. BTW: Your very good documentary has one glaring omission, Peter Brock who designed the body of the Daytona coupe.
Carroll talking about going to Chevy reminded me of the joke I heard at Santa Barabara Raceway way back when. It wasn't really a joke so much though as a humorous comment on the times. "Happiness is a Corvette owner watching the only cobra at the race blow his engine in Saturday practice."
Chris Baker....except of course the Ford 427 Side Oiler not only produced motor torque than any Garbage Motors product of the day, by far, it was also exceedingly more durable than any motor a Junkvette was runnin.... #ChevyOwnersSuckDick
BEFORE CSX-2000 Shel put a Ford 221 V-8 with THREE SPEED out of a TRUCK/VAN into an AC Acea that was found used... TESTED the result around an oil field... THEN he went to FoMoCo Shel LOVED to vary the story, time after time..
375GTB There was a journalist (I don't remember who) that claimed he told Shelby about Bristol not making their engine for AC and Ford announcing their 260 v8 engine. Perhaps Shelby then tried to see if it would work before approaching Ford.
(There is so much incorrect information in most of the comments below- it needs to be set straight ) Every single one of the original 1960's Cobra Roadsters were hand built by AC Cars Ltd in the UK with the ones exported to the USA (CSX)cars, having their Ford engines fitted by Shelby American. The European cars had their engines fitted by AC with Ford engines imported from the USA. The original car was the AC Ace. The original AC Ace had an engine built by AC themselves. This engine was later replaced by a BMW designed engine produced under licence by Bristol and cars with these engines are known as AC Ace Bristol's. The third and last version of the AC Ace was powered by a Ford V6 , 2.6 engine and had a redesigned front end which was later used on all the AC 289'S/cobra's afterwards. Less than 40 of these were made by AC. Many AC Ace's were exported to the USA and around the world. The Cobra- The name Cobra was Shelby's idea as was the idea of putting a V8 Ford engine into the AC Ace chassis/body.( This came about after the Ace's Bristol engine was discontinued and Shelby hearing this visited AC cars and suggested using a Ford V8 engine) The first Cobra's Mk1 had the 260 Ford V8 and the second version the mk2 had the 289 Ford v8 The last version of the car had a completely reworked stronger chassis designed by Ford and had the 427 Ford V8 installed ( these redesigned cars were also built in the UK by AC Cars Ltd with the CSX cars being exported to Shelby who fitted the Ford engines.) The European market cars produced were never officially called Cobra's as that name was copyright of Shelby/Ford - they were known as AC 289's in Europe although essentially they were the same car under a different name. The only difference externally of Cobra's/AC 289,s with the exception of badges from the last version of the AC Ace was an extended wheel arch.The mk1 and mk2 cars had narrow 'slab side' wheel arches and the later cars had two styles of wheel arches which were much wider than those on the earlier models. So the AC Ace and the AC 289/Cobra is a British built car with most models having an American engine installed. The last versions with the 427 engine are the closest they come to being an 'American car' because they were completely redesigned by Americans but- they were still built by AC Cars Ltd in the UK and a version was also sold into the European market under a different name. If you still believe the AC 289/Cobra's are American then what would you call the WW2 fighter aircraft the Mustang, built by North American? An American aircraft or British aircraft? (It is an American aircraft naturally) In the same way as the AC Ace lead to the Cobra - the Mustang started life as an American built aircraft with an American built (Allison ) engine. After the RAF tried it and as an experiment added the British built Rolls Royce engine to the aircraft it was found to have much better performance. So the Mustang was built thereafter with a British engine. But the Mustang is an American aircraft as we all know and call it such. So why do people still call the AC 289/Cobra an American car just because it had an American engine added into a British built chassis/body? The CSX prefix - is just the USA- Carroll Shelby export version of the car. All the other AC 289's had other various prefix used when sold in the UK or elsewhere in Europe and other countries outside of the USA.
Truly! Same as about the GT-40 programs convolutions Detroit, FAV Slough and Shelby American, from 1965 on.. The British versions of history The American versions... A old story.... FORZA FERRARI! I was THERE, 1964 - 1973... The Golden Years as Tony a2z and Sam called them... Tony alway wanted me to write that history.... I leave it to Mr. Posey... I last all my research material in 1976.... Sam is a better writer TOO! J.C. Tech Editor, Florida Racing News Miami, 1972-1973 Killed off by the '73 Arab oil embargo Despite help from Mr. 500 STP... Even Tony had to SELL cars! Mario worried about SPONSORS! Races were canceled.... It was HELL! Our $1000 Formula C school car idea was shelved... We were STARVING, in paradise We packed it in.... BUT!!
And I just watched the hour long interview with Shelby and heard him tell how the entire chassis had to be reworked and when it was all said and done there wasn’t as much as a single nut or bolt left original so yes, it was completely AMERICAN.😎
For the 1967 Ford GT Mk.IVs Alloy honeycomb Monocoque Chassis from Ford KarKraft Everything Made in USA.... Ford GT-40 Mk.I and Mk.II have the SAME heavy steel honeycomb monocoque chassis Every one of the 112 were fabricated at FAV, Slough, Kent... Read Books! Shel always told the same story in as many different ways..
AC Cars built whatever SA came up with. Mods were done in house by Phil Remington and his crew of fabricators The AC Cobra 427 WAS totally American engineered, frame and suspension wise. Drive train... The 289 used the original AC Bristol Chassis with transverse leaf springs, small dia. frame tubes.. Less than optimal IRS design, camber wise.. SA went to big fat Goodyear Stock Car tires in 1964 Starting a trend But the AC chassis was not so happy... Tube flexure! Hopping at times... Seen at Daytona and Sebring that year By ME! Ferrari GTO's on skinny R5 Dunlops DRIFTED smoothly Quickly! Cobras HOPPED The infield 180 behind the pits told the tale J.C.
cavscout62 - Shelby is being economical with the truth there. The original agreement with AC cars was that they would retain the AC badging - they didn’t - look at CSX2000 in the photos I just after it arrived- it still had it’s AC badge which Shelby promptly removed. In reply to your statement - the only parts changed by Shelby were on the race cars after some parts were not strong enough such as the wheel hubs under the stresses of racing. The road cars were all the same as originally built minus their engines and delivered to Shelby. So when Shelby talks about changing the cars he is talking about the handful of the race team cars that Shelby American used for racing which is natural if you want to race a road car. Incidentally after the first 75 cars where built AC themselves developed the rack and pinion steering used on subsequent cars CS2030 was the prototype for this and was taken out of the export chassis and retained by AC cars hence the missing X for export as it was never exported. It was the Earl’s Court motor show stand car being fitted with right hand drive , was the factory demonstrator and was Derek Hurllock’s personal car for a while . So no , you are incorrect - It is certainly a British car and had engines from various sources over it’s production as well as names. Would you call the small run of AC Ace cars fitted with the 2.6 Ford V6 engine American also ? Just because AC imported Ford engines to use in their Ace ? That was done a year before Shelby even visited the AC factory.
Heady times the 1960s, when it was clear that everything would continue to just get better and better! Well since those times I have not seen such improvement - perhaps just the opposite! Back then I almost bought a 1963 289 Cobra, used, for 1300 British pounds! It had 30 000 miles on it, was white, red interior and wire wheels. But the monthly payment on that was too much, in addition to the high mandatory insurance premiums! I finally got a Cobra many years later when I built a replica with a Ford V8 302 motor - reasonably fast, amazing fun, totally reliable. One guy I gave a ride to asked "Is this legal?", referring to the way it accelerated and cornered! In the video here, interesting to see at 24:42 a blue Cobra going around a turn in a race - but on only 3 wheels!
A good informative documentary, surprising on the lack of "likes" but it is quite hard to find and does not come up in searches which doesn't help. Had to laugh though at the reference to AC's being built in Thames Dutton and not Thames Ditton, just a few miles away from me, otherwise excellent.
Watching this in 2021 and it is still thrilling to watch. There are very few people who have such a love for their craft. His legend will live forever.
@@skidmarkscar9082 Yes, RIP to the Aussie Peter Brock. The American Peter Brock was designing the newest Corvette model, the Stingray, when Shelby got him to join his crew. I have his autograph on the Lime Rock Historic Festival poster, along with John Morton's. Morton worked for Shelby American in his early years.
Pretty incredible fact and group of motivated people got that first car running in 8 hours....hah hah....reminds me when I got my first 72 Barracuda battled my friends around town just for fun and noticed it needed a boost,so I worked all day Saturday and finished putting just the headers on 2:45 in the morning cleaning my hands I just had to hear it...not realizing it was gonna sound like the space shuttle lifting off,I sat down in the drivers seat touched the key and it fired right up sounding like a gang of Harleys with no mufflers I quickly shut it down....a couple minutes later my mom is opening the front door u should go to bed it late yeah yeah sound like a great idea,nice she didn't save anything about the shuttle lifting off!!! Hah hah those headers really help boost that small block not knowing any thing about exhaust systems I got two sonic turbo mufflers and two pieces of straight 2.5 inch heavy exhaust and built some pipes an exhaust no knowing or able to bend I quickly learn how important having a straight clear path for your exhaust was because I got the max out of those headers and those cheap mufflers,like 50hp just bolting stuff on....I was pretty happy may be in the next life I learn about tail pipes,huh what did u say....the cops alway love that exhaust they used to tell me all the time...but that's all most times they were to busy writing....the car was bright yellow a color I will not drive ever for as long as I live....I was a nieve kid I was happy I found the car I wanted didn t care about the color.....THANKS
How in the world can you do a documentary about the Cobra and not mention Pete Brock. He was the designer of the Daytona Coupe and I didn't hear his name mentioned once.
@Fred Miller - Unbelievable, if you listen to Bob Varsha you'd think Carroll designed the car and it was 100% Peter Brock's design - he initially drew it out on the shop floor! A major error in this otherwise very good documentary. I met Peter Brock at The Lime Rock Park Historic Festival in 2016 and had him sign a die-cast model of #15 - a very cool guy particularly for his age!
Ford made SA stop racing the Cobras after 1965 And the GT Championship win... To get the GT-40 program Phil and his team were OUT! Sad... The follow on '66 427 Daytona coupe was stillborn... What IF? Forza Ferrari ! J.C.
@@375GTB Well, Ford didn't actually make SA stop racing the Cobras, they simply stopped supporting his racing program. Shelby could only handle so much and Ford's emphasis was entirely on the GT40 and they handed control of that program over to Shel when John Wyer couldn't develop it quickly enough. Shelby also had his hands full with the GT350.
It seems that Shelby really cared for the people who worked for him. I dont know if they got well paid but it seems they loved working for him. That matters more then money to people who really knew what mattered. Success and reputation.
@taketimeout2 - That's the one thing Shelby really disliked about Enzo - the way he treated his drivers! The Old Man tried to hire Shelby 3 separate times and Carroll refused him 3 times!
@@Loulovesspeed After all, if your workers love your idea and passion more so than the pay that comes with it, they will follow you (figuratively) to the ends of the earth through thick and thin just to make it happen... I think that's how that goes
AC made the early Cobras in England including doing the engine development. Only later did AC ship cars and Shelby fit the engines. That said, it was great timing and business ingenuity more than engineering.
Not to take anything away from Shelby being successful with his vision, but, in this documentary, not mentioning Peter Brock's contribution in designing the Shelby Daytona is, in my opinion, inexcusable.
i just seen an interveiew with shelby right before this 1 where he said he dont know where he got the name cobra from he said people say it came in a dream but it didnt he just came up with it nothing speacial. in this he said himself the name came to him in a dream . lol must be from old age
Corvettes, E-Types and 356 Porsches were c.$6000 in 1964 Many USAF Captains were owners, IF they got their flight pay... Several NASA astronauts owned one of them Seen rat racing through the citrus groves, late nights The Daytona Beach GM dealer gave at cost deals to them... Any car in the GM lineup... And sponsored an Indy CarTeam back by several of the guys. Gus Grissom drove like he flew Ball to the wall! Gordo DROVE a 914 in the Daytona 24.... Just before his flight... NASA was not amused... The Golden Years... J.C.
@@375GTB Most of the astronauts that had Corvette's had them given to them by a Houston Chevy dealer for promotional reasons, those astronauts didn't make that much money and couldn't have afforded to buy one after taking care of their families.
The AC Cobra (like the AC Ace & Acecca) was a beautiful British sportscar that was basically ‘hotrodded’ by Shelby. I understand Americans want to claim the car as theirs, but aesthetically, visually & predominantly it was an English car. If petrol was cheap in Europe, like it was in the US, a larger displacement engine would have been in it from its inception. I like Shelby & respect his driving achievements, but it’s not like he designed the car or anything as significant.
@drew - No, Shelby American didn't design the Cobra, they simply made multiple significant changes and modifications to a British car, which ultimately made it a huge winner and an icon in the world of road racing! That's all. The Cobra also kept AC Cars in business a bit longer than would have been the case. After losing their engine supplier, they were reduced to making invalid carriages to stay in business. The car was clearly a joint effort in its construction, but that would never have happened without Shelby's idea of the Cobra. I hope I didn't claim too much credit for America. Lol
Corvettes C-1 and C-2 used a shortened heavy Chevy passenger car cassis...withsolid axle No where near as light as the AC tube frame, with IRS Light years newer engineering... MORONS!
They were a lot more reliable than ANY Italian car. The 427 Cobra was definitely as fast as any Ferrari until you got to its aero limit. I wish they would have been able to campaign the Daytona Coupe to see how well it really competed with the slick Ferraris.
@@chrisdaigle5410 They did at Le Mans, it won in it's class, not only that Max Balchowsky and his homemade race car Old Yeller 2 sent every Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Alfa Romero, Maserati and every other high end European sports car thrown at it packing back across the Atlantic with their tails between their legs, Max didn't just drive that car himself Carroll Shelby also drove it along with the biggest names in American road racing including Dan Gurney who said at the time that it was the finest racing car he'd driven, Max and his wife Ina hand built that car in their garage by laying out chalk lines on the floor and fabricating the frame off of it. Also Max set up cars for the movies including the two Mustang's and three Charger's used in the movie Bullitt along with too many others to list.
@Eddie Otero - Sorry Bud, but I am old enough to know that the original saying was "There is no substitute for cubic inches." The other version was nothing more than a cutesy revision by youngsters, many years later!
Now I see how Henry Ford got inspired Shelby beat Ferrari on US soil first knowing Carrol wanted to go to Europe to prove his car he knew he didn't have to ask Carrol to go beat Ferrari....hah hah hah nice...
Talking about the value of these at the 35min mark.. I freakin WISH I coulda gotten to one of those.. now an original gets up to $3.5M+.. damnit.. stupid!
I first heard it as "There is no substitute for cubic inches." about half a century ago (and much closer to when the Cobra was developed), long before I encountered the "no replacement for displacement" version.
@@sailincat2822 - You must be an old fart like me because the original statement was "No substitute for cubic inches", and that was early to mid 60s. Years later you began to hear the "No replacement for displacement."
"....The American adage, "There's no substitute for cubic inches!" lol what he means is, "there's no replacement for displacement". If that was a joke, it was funny, but it sounds like the narrator had no idea WTF it was referring to.
I first heard it as "there is no substitute for cubic inches" about half a century ago (and much closer to when the Cobra was developed), decades before I first heard the "no replacement for displacement" version.
Sorry Chevy guys, and I was one, But Chevy could have never pulled it off. Just too corporate. Ford has a family human attitude the the corporate General Motors will never have. Ford too put more work into their engines. It is all about profit at General Motors. No silly people like Carol Shelby could be accepted into their fold. And that is what happened... GM is just too arrogant...
A car built for the common man paid for at a reasonable price, that is the idea set in mind by one Henry Ford... has been so ever since in some shape or form.
@J C - I couldn't agree more with you! You are right about the difference between Ford's family human attitude vs Generic Motors arrogance. Henry Ford's name is part of the company and on the corporate headquarters. There is no Mr. General Motors!
@Adrian Doyle - Oh, I don't know but I have to say the Daytona Coupe was very much a USA success. I know it used the AC chassis but even that was heavily modified for the Daytona and actually not even used for the 427 - totally new chassis as the brute torque of the 427 tore the AC chassis all to hell (Shelby referred to this first attempt at the 427 car as "The Turd.")
People who were not around in the era Tend to mix up AC Cobra History With GT-40 History Only in 1965 did SA run Cobras and Ford GT-40 Mk.I's Finally gaining the GT World Championship for 1965 But losing the class at LeMans to the new 275GTB-C 3rd OA... To gain the Ford Mk.II GT-40 program SA would give up racing their Cobras In all forms.. Leaving a 427 Daytona Coupe still borne... FoMoCo demanded this. AND SA would partner with the Holman-Moody Ford stock car team.. For their vast racing experience with the iron 427 and banned 429 sohc alloy engine Gaining AJ in the process.. History.... J.C.
The only reason Chevy is even competing is politics and bribes I wish it wasn't that way but they had to change the rules in Nascar for them to survive Chevy can build a good small block . but the big blocks are grenades just watch old Talladega races and see for yourself AJ Foyt is a old Chevy racer from my home town but those 454s were no match for the Ford429and Mopar hemi,s
@umvhu - Correction - The AC body was designed and built by AC Cars. The Cobra concept was Carroll Shelby's and he and his crew determined what alterations and improvements were to be made to the AC Ace in order to make it the world champion it became! AC Cars was making just "invalid carriages" as you Brits call them as the provider of their engines pulled out of the mix. Shelby's concept of the Cobra kept AC alive for longer than they would have on their own. We build Hondas, Toyotas, Mercedes and other cars here in the U.S., but we are not arrogant enough to try and claim that they are American cars! Get the point?
Never a mention of me who built all the 427s, I guess its because I was paid $4.50 a hr. No film on the building of the 427s, I did it over in the corner by myself, 1st 6 alone then hired 4 guys & built all 375. I did a good job, was never changed. I tested all the cars myself. Shelby was a nice guy but greedy.
The AC Cobra was the ACE at the time it was an all-English car. It was a mild success in lower sports-car racing classes. Its 90-brake horsepower Bristol six was not up to the car's potential. When Shelby saw the car's all-independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, disc brakes, and tiny aluminum body, he realized he might have a winner with some real horsepower.... hence his idea of creating a hybrid with the British Ace chassis and the all AMERICAN Ford Windsor V-8 with Ford Toploader 4-speed transmission. Later, this was upgraded to the massively powerful 427 FE V-8. Both Ford powerplants were far more powerful and DEPENDABLE then the original British powertrain. So these cars, rather than enjoying lukewarm success as all-British machines, became world-beaters as British-AMERICAN hybrids.
Your memory is good for some, not all of it. The first motor was a 4-cylinder in the Ace, Then the Bristol (which was mainly just the hatchback body), then the war-reparations BMW motor then the Zephyr saloon car motor was kitted into the AC body but then called the AC Zephyr. The first AC Cobras were put together with (I believe) 261ci plants, then the 289 came available and that was the main engine for the car until the very last few were completely rebuilt (different chassis and all different mechanicals for the 427 Cobra). The 65 FIA MFG Title was credited to the Cobra, but was based on the Daytona-bodied coupe variant. The best history for this is Victory By Design's "Ford Muscle" episode, which talks about the Cobra's evolution, the first usage of John Holman of Holman & Moody in the Carrera Panamericana with a Lincoln and the GT350/500 and GT40 programs as well as the Daytona bodied Cobra.
I admit my ignorance regarding the use of a 4-cylinder, as well as the BMW six in the Ace. I'd heard of the Zephyr-powered version, but I didn't know they were the same car. You're correct about the 260 ci. Windsor Ford being the initial v-8 powerplant in the Ace (now Cobra) roadsters. They did fairly well in competition, but only placed on the podium when in the hands of Dave McDonald. They weren't used for long. The competition version of the 260 was both considerably less rugged and significantly less powerful than the new High Performance ("Hi-Po") version of the just-introduced 289 v-8. The FIA GT title was awarded to the Cobra, but I believe it was termed the "Cobra Daytona" coupe, although the car's correct name was the "Shelby Daytona" coupe. These used the transverse leaf spring and kingpin suspension of the small-block roadsters, and were the very highest evolution of the Ace chassis. The 427 Cobras received a completely new, coil-sprung chassis based on dual 4-inch tubes for the car's spine. It shared few parts with the leaf-spring chassis. The body was also reworked so much that new forms had to be made to create the car's aluminum panels. It did share quite a few parts with the original body. The Pete Brock-designed coupe bodies were all handmade, as there were only six of them. None were completely identical.
Very good, you did your research! A few final points: the four cylinder was either AC's own or another separate design, the second motor was the 2-liter BMW war-reparations motor (the Bristol motor), then Ken Rudd developed the Zephyr modification as "Ruddspeed" conversions. Yes, the 289 Shelby Cobras were the ones everyone thinks about when they refer to those cars known as the 2xx models. The roadsters (not sure if the coupe played into 1964) alone almost brought Ferrari to his knees; the only way he still won the mfg. title that year was in the field of dirty tricks, making sure Monza that year was cancelled. 1965 the writing was already on the wall; with the intro of Brock's absolutely stunning coupe body. Immediately the car (like you said, not very modified besides the shell) was 20mph quicker in a straight line and reportedly did 192(!!) mph on the Mulsanne Straight that year which is part of why Shelby finished 4th overall (winning GT) that year at Le Mans with a Daytona Coupe. The Cobra Roadsters I believe had a homologation issue at some point, but I think it only affected the 427 Roadsters because what happened was Ferrari tried to pass the 335LM off as an evolution of the GTO and short wheelbase models (obvious BS show). Somehow the 427 Roadsters got thrown out (rather cheap semantic argument, as Ferrari was passing off a mid-engine as evolution of a FRD car (GTO) which was a real crime in my opinion because those things were (and are) beastly and hard to follow in the hands of a great driver with a right godfoot. Almost all this information comes from Victory by Design Ford Muscle; a great series for fans of performance and racing covering many of the most influential marques of the 20th century.
Well, thank you! I'm plainly not as knowledgeable as you on these cars, and it's kind of you to give props here. You'll have to overlook my ignorance on the more elusive details about them. I'm actually a Chrysler guy. As a youngster, I owned, drove, built, and (to limited success....) bracket-raced Chrysler cars. I can quote you chapter and verse on "Mopars" from the 1950's to the early 1970's. However, ANYONE who claims to be a fan of either British OR American roadracing in the 1960's has to take off his hat to the incredible Cobras; in every version, as well as the mighty Ford GT. I'm a huge fan of all these cars, with the beautiful Coupe being my favorite car, certainly my favorite racer, ever built. While Shelby certainly deserves credit for the concept, he'd never have gotten anything done without Ken Miles driving and contributing his input during their development. His death while trying to develop the "bread van" J-car was one of the most tragic and unnecessary losses in international racing. We Americans also tend to conveniently forget that "our" GT-40 Fords were actually built by Lola; and some of the transaxles in them were built by Hewland (also Colotti and ZF). If memory serves, didn't John Wyer run one of the GT-40 teams? So Ford's and Shelby's success in roadracing- and taking Enzo Ferrari to the woodshed- was actually the result of another alliance between the US and England.
SHELBY HAD A TALENT - FOR RUINING A BEAUTIFUL AUTOMOBILE - THE AC WAS JUST THAT UNTIL SHELBY COMPLETELY SCREWED UP THE DESIGN AND THEN DUMPED IN A FRONT HEAVY ENGINE A SHAME!!
@Ron Wilsontringue - Let's be honest man, the AC Ace was an unloved, tired, so so sport car that lost it's engine manufacturer. AC was then relegated to making invalid carriages! Shelby's idea of the Cobra probably saved AC for that much longer! The racing success of the 289 in America and elsewhere, proved without a doubt, that Shelby's concept of a light little British sport car with a REAL engine and other modifications was the answer. Any design changes in the body work were of little consequence. Most would strongly disagree with you saying he screwed up the design. I'm 72 and have seen many, many Cobras in my time and I never, ever heard ANYONE criticize its looks! I suspect that you are just venting jealousy that AC made a nice little car, but Shelby American turned it into a definite icon of motor racing. Suggestion: get over it! No shame in this car's existence.
What???? Peter Brock deigned an entirely different body - not an Ace body - for the Daytona Coupe, and that was the fastest Cobra made! The late Bob Bondurant touched 197 mph down the Mulsanne Straight in his #5 Cobra Daytona Coupe.
