Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe's Garage
Number (2) is certainly shared by some but not all, I say we will never know. Tojeiro did a special racing version of the Ace for AC in '58 and finished 2nd in its' class at Le Mans. You say "failed British Sports Car history", maybe not so much, there are other examples including beating Shelby at Le Mans in '63 I think. No matter, you have your opinion, I have mine.
FWIW, my original statement -
The truth is, AC Cars Ltd. were the creators of the 289 and 427 bodies, not Shelby".
This started out as a trade dress discussion, the appearance/shape of the cobra. I guess design got thrown in with the links which is ok but not how this mini-battle started.
LMH thinks Alan Turner deserves credit for the cobra, how do you feel about that?
In late 1962 Alan Turner, AC's chief engineer completed a major design change of the car's front end to accommodate rack and pinion steering while still using transverse leaf spring suspension. The new car entered production in early 1963 and was designated Mark II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_Cobra
I see Alan Turner as the front end guy yes, but giving all the cobra credit to him, I wouldn't. More to the original point, I don't see Alan being a big contributor to the cobra shape/appearance except for maybe fender flares (if he actually had a hand in that). But, you can give Alan Turner all the credit you want, it's still AC Cars Ltd. |
I need to clarify a little using correct terminology. First, the "Cobra" is a leaf spring model as originally designated by internal documents from AC Cars. The coil spring model developed later is a "Cobra 427" or "427 Cobra". Two different cars. When I say "Cobra", I'm referring to the leaf spring cars.
Alan Turner redesigned the Ace, changing it a couple times during it's run with the most changes seen for the Ace 2.6. The body was kept pretty much the same for the Cobra except for flares added to the body to accommodate the wider wheels and a few other little changes here and there. Initially, the Cobra was little more than an altered Ace chassis but quickly, it was further altered for the added horsepower of the V8. As changes were made in one car, subsequent cars were changed during production. Those changes were made based on feedback from SAI (insert "Phil Remington" here) and engineered at AC Cars into production. The development of the Cobra was truly a joint effort. Changes were made throughout production with the last run of cars being the most similar to the previous car built.
When it comes to the Cobra 427, I freely admit that I don't know as much about it as I do the leaf spring car. They just don't interest me as much. It was Ken Miles who had the idea of using the Ford big block and Ford engineers did the design work for the chassis but had to stay within spec's set forth by AC Cars engineers for their jigs. As for who exactly designed the body of the Cobra 427, I don't know for sure. It may have been a situation where in basic terms, the leaf spring body was modified to fit the wider chassis but I'm speculating. The rear fenders are basically from the FIA Cobra with changes made to fit the wheels/tires. The doors, hood and trunk are still the same. The grill was opened up for more air flow for the bigger radiator, needed for the larger engine. I have never been able to find out if Turner had a hand in the Cobra 427's look or not. I'm always learning and always studying.
To say that AC wouldn't have built the Cobra because they would have done it before Shelby entered the picture is not an accurate statement. The lightweight Ford V8 was in development during the Ace's production and not available to customers. Can't build what you don't have. For sure though, the car we know as the Cobra and Cobra 427 would not have been as we know it were it not for both SAI and AC Cars involvement.
Larry