[Trevor Legate]

Greetings WhatsaCobra

Thanks for your thoughts and comments re the Lightweights. I have one correction to make to my posting - the FIRST genuine, proper lightweights were marketed as "AC Cobra Lightweight" - the remainder, the MkIV/Lightweight "production-line" models were "AC Cobra MkIV Lightweights". Getting down to the nitty-gritty here, but its worth establishing.
Always happy to receive a damn good rebuking (hit me, beat me) BUT I have to leap swiftly to my own defence. The matter of Brian building a run of 18 cars was related to me directly by all the owners i mentioned. They were:

Nigel Hulme - AKL1335 - also owner of 39PH and several other Cobras in his time and a close friend of Brian as it was his 427 that was the first complete car Autokraft made. Also a gent of the Jimmy Price school of business and the most honest, trustworthy person I have ever met. Not to mention one of THE authoritys on Cobras!!!!
Charles Agg - AKL1326 - owner of GPG4C the ex-Tommy Sopwith race car, one of the most raced Cobras of all (and, at the time, owner of 3 McLaren M8F's, including one with twin turbos....!)
Richard Duveen - AKL1342 - classic car dealer & owner of the silver car in my book

They were amongst a handful of owners contacted by Angliss and the deal was agreed that the price would be set at £120,000 on the clear understanding that no more than 18 examples would be built. Fact. At least, that was the Fact as related to me by them in 1989/1990. You have to bear in mind that this was at the height of the truly crazy money paid for "classic" cars and I know for certain that one of the above anticipated selling his car on in around 12 months for "at least £250,000" (direct quote) Then the market crashed at about the same time as the cars were delivered and their value fell overnight to circa £80,000. I know one of the cars was sold for something in the region of £55,000 some years later.
Them was the facts as related to me at the time by people I trust, my reporting of them has absolutely no underlying motive.

The first Lightweight was 1313 according to the official AC Chassis registry. I can verify most of these facts as I have a copy of the entire AC Chassis list sitting next to me, from 1962 onwards. Useful for settling friendly discussions.....

Brian then started building AC Cobra MkIV Lightweights, the title of which sort of devalued the 18 (!) 345-bhp cars. They were light, but incorporated aspects of the MkIV. I shall have a telephonic conversation with Rod Leach on this matter next week to gain further clarification. He ought to know.

On the topic of the entries (or non-entries) made in the AC registry regarding chassis numbers for the MkIVs - well, thats another topic altogether and I do not want to go there. The AC Owners Club are trying to sort out the tangled web, and jolly good luck!! I've been threatened with legal action in the past and I want no more of it - bloody dangerous business, writing Cobra books!!!

I agree totally re the SAAC blind-spot when it comes to anything built outside the USA but they slavishly toe the corporate line and air-brush out facts which do not fit the overall Masterplan. To quote exactly from an email I received recently from a noted AMERICAN motoring writer - "shuttered shores and shuttered minds".