Quote:
Originally Posted by HealeyRick
Technically true, there wasn't a "Cobra" until CS got involved, but Trevor Legate's "Cobra: The First 40 Years" states: "As early as 1957, a development Ace was fitted with a Chevy V8 unit but the weight penalty resulted in a number of problems such as understeer and the collapse of the front suspension" @ 29. Mr. Legate goes on in his chapter entitled "Missing Links" to describe BEX 327, an Ace that was shipped to the US in 1957 without a motor and was fitted stateside with a Corvette V8 as well as some very Cobra-like body mods. @ 32-35. Here's a link to the relevant portions of the book that include a number of pictures of BEX 327: Cobra: The First 40 Years - Trevor Legate - Google Books
Clearly, the idea of big American V8 in a little British car wasn't unique to Shelby nor to AC. The trick was getting everything mixed together with the right ingredients at the right time and this is what made the Cobra what it is. The Ace was one of the best handling British sports cars at the time (certainly better than the Austin-Healey that Shelby had first proposed to use) and the introduction of Ford's thin-wall V8 that was narrower and lighter than the Chevrolet made it a more attractive candidate for swapping into the Ace.
Give Shelby credit, though. He got Ford to give him the motors and got AC to give him the chassis. He came up with a great name and really had an instinct how to publicize the car. |
A little off topic but possibly of interest, George Harm original owner of the Dick Smith SC put a chevy in a 500 TR Ferrari in the late 50's. I made the mistake of racing him in my warmed over 57 Corvette and got my a$$ handed to me. Lots of people were stuffing small block chevy's into anything that was available in those days.