[Trevor Legate]

Hi Whatsa

I shall endeavor to relay the full saga of the lady and her Awfully Big Le Mans Adventure - in a few weeks!

The 'jammed door' story is perfectly true - I got the info from the guy who was in the passenger seat!

Hi Excaliber

IF the Ford V8 had found its way into the AC Ace, it would not have ended up as the 'Cobra' without any doubt and certainly would never had seen the 7-litre!! To develop a car like the Cobra takes money. AC were a very successful engineering company that barely broke even with their cars and would not have been able to access the American dollars that Mr. Shelby dug up, by one means or another. (But within only 6 years years it had all gone very sour...."the more things change, the more they remain the same")

Also, flick through all the back issues of C&D and Road & Trash from 1956 to 1963 and see how 'unknown' and 'unsuccessful' the Ace was in the USA. Loads of articles about the cars and lots of coverage of their SCCA success. Hardly "unknown" in my opinion.