[computerworks]

Originally posted by Excaliber
Maybe Shelby "got lucky" AC was in a bad economic position? He could have done worse.

Question is: Could he have done BETTER (in 1961-62)? What "other car" might have been chosen close or equal to what the AC offered (which was a lot)?

Ernie

Before the AC deal came along, Shelby talked to Jensen, Aston Martin, Maserati and de Tomaso.

Here's an interesting set of quotes from "The Cobra Story" by CS.

"As for the chassis...I had in mind something along the lines of the Austin Healey, but built with tubes. When the AC became available, this of course helped me a whole lot because it meant that we didn't have to sit down and weld our tubes together and build a fiberglass body."

"...I got news that the British Aeroplane Company in England had gone out of the business of building automobile engines. Some AC cars had been put into production with a British Ford Zephyr engine- a small six-cylinder mill that went pretty well- but the drop in sales did not seem to justify continued manufacture of the old and honorable make of AC under those conditions... the light, strong tubular chassis was the ideal medium for an American V-8. I decided I had better get going, but quick, before the AC factory decided to close down altogether.... what I had in mind was a Chevy engine, maybe, or a Buick aluminum engine, or something from Oldsmobile."