[Mark IV]

the Ace you picture was not sold in the USA. These did not go intoproduction ("production" to AC is less than 25 per year) until the early '90s. I have driven several in the UK including the version powered by the Lotus Type 918 twin-turbo V8. The last iteration of the car had the chassis and body built in South Africa by Hi-Tech Auto (Superformance) and shipped to the UK for finishing. Alloy body and stainless steel monocoque chassis that was designed by Ford when they controlled AC. It was a great car, a real GT "gentlemans express" but could not be built at a profit due to the management at AC and the fact that Ford intended to supply much production tooling that evaporated when Ford pulled out. When Autokraft (Brian Angliss) controlled AC the Ace was shown at the Detrot Auto show in 1995 but never US certified.

The cars AC built after the Cobra were the "AC 289" or alco called the AC Mk III, a "427 Cobra" body/chassis with and wire wheels on a narrow-hip style body. The "AC 428" was a stretched 427 chassi with a body by Frua in Italy and a 428 PI engine with eithwer 4 speed or a C6. Niether were produced in any real qauntity.

The AC Mk IV was NOT built by AC but rather under license by Autokraft. These are the cars that have the Mustang 5.0 V8.

There was also three stretched cuope version of the Ace using the old Aceca name. I drove a 4.6 Ford 4 cam powered version and it was great. Shame that the Lubinsky era ownership turned AC into a joke.

Rick