Gentlemen, start your engines ...
Cobra: The First 40 Years by Trevor Legate
So racing in the SCCA championship events in the USA from 1957 was a Chevrolet V8-engined AC Ace featuring stylish flared bodywork. AC were required to subtly re-design the Ace when it metamorphosed into the Cobra in 1962, but it was hardly a major problem; they had done something very similar some 5 years earlier. Naturally other SCCA racers would have seen this car in action and taken note.
Cobra: The First 40 Years - Trevor Legate - Google Books