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Description
AC is Britain's oldest car maker, being founded in 1901 as the Auto Carriers company. Based in West Norwood, London, AC lived a very quiet existence, making some less well known cars such as the 1924 Royal Roadster and the 1935 16/70 Sports Coupe. Although good cars in their own right, their promotion and ownership was something of a mystery.

However, the car that truly took these cars out of the dark and into the world of classics was the 1962 AC Cobra, a rocketship roadster that took the world of sports cars by storm by mixing classic British design with American automotive flair. In order to replace the pre-war Bristol Engine that had been used in the AC ACE, the company turned to using the engine from a Ford Zephyr. At first it seemed like the car would have been a bit of a damp squib, but in 1961 American Automotive designer Carroll Shelby asked the company to build him a special Cobra that would be able to accept a V8 engine. The result was the fitting of the small-block, high performance Ford Windsor 4.2L V8 engine that was newly developed for the upcoming Mustang range. This combination resulted in possibly one of the greatest sports cars ever, which boasted a top speed of well over 180mph in 1962. In fact, one of these cars has often been credited with the introduction of the 70mph motorway speed limit on UK Motorways when one was driven at 186mph (the same speed as a Class 373 Eurostar High Speed Train) up the M1 in 1964.

Although production of these cars officially ended in 1967, these machines make great kit-cars due to their simple design, and every now and again new ones are put together so as to relive the golden days of mad, mad automotive madness!

Description
AC is Britain's oldest car maker, being founded in 1901 as the Auto Carriers company. Based in West Norwood, London, AC lived a very quiet existence, making some less well known cars such as the 1924 Royal Roadster and the 1935 16/70 Sports Coupe. Although good cars in their own right, their promotion and ownership was something of a mystery.

However, the car that truly took these cars out of the dark and into the world of classics was the 1962 AC Cobra, a rocketship roadster that took the world of sports cars by storm by mixing classic British design with American automotive flair. In order to replace the pre-war Bristol Engine that had been used in the AC ACE, the company turned to using the engine from a Ford Zephyr. At first it seemed like the car would have been a bit of a damp squib, but in 1961 American Automotive designer Carroll Shelby asked the company to build him a special Cobra that would be able to accept a V8 engine. The result was the fitting of the small-block, high performance Ford Windsor 4.2L V8 engine that was newly developed for the upcoming Mustang range. This combination resulted in possibly one of the greatest sports cars ever, which boasted a top speed of well over 180mph in 1962. In fact, one of these cars has often been credited with the introduction of the 70mph motorway speed limit on UK Motorways when one was driven at 186mph (the same speed as a Class 373 Eurostar High Speed Train) up the M1 in 1964.

Although production of these cars officially ended in 1967, these machines make great kit-cars due to their simple design, and every now and again new ones are put together so as to relive the golden days of mad, mad automotive madness!