[Power Surge]

Originally posted by Trevor Legate


Real1 etc

This is such an old 'discussion' that it gets a bit boring after a while - I can well understand that for car nuts within the USA the contribution of AC is VERY easily overlooked/ignored since the Shelby saga has entered motoring folklore and some little bitty English car company has no place in that tale of victory.
BUT - you have to understand that my introduction to Cobra was when my friend and I piled into his Minivan and went on pilgrimage to a little village called Thames Ditton where we stood slack-jawed in front of a large glass window behind which was a guardsman blue AC289 Cobra mit de optional hardtop and wire wheels - the best thing I have ever seen on wheels. And, sorry to say, it had AC badges and no mention of Shelby anywhere. So in this country, it was an AC Cobra. In the US it was a Shelby. You say tom-ato, I say tomarto, but whichever way you slice it, it's still a Cobra, no matter what the badge. Thus the Americans cannot understand the AC thing, just as in the UK the Shelby name has only a fraction of the kudos it has in your neck of the woods. (You could write a book about it...oh sorry.) As I said before, CS knows and is happy to accept the 'joint project' concept. Other people do not.

Since then, much of the hype and hot air that has expanded the Legend has its roots in seeing the value of the cars increase (I see that an ex-team car has just sold for a sum in excess of $2.1 million - coincidence?). In the same way, the Shelby legend has been promoted for financial reasons. The winning of the GT category of the FIA Championship was ignored in 1965. (They were the ONLY works team) CS was banned from all races after Sebring and Daytona (apart from Le Mans) so was not there to see his car win the championship at Rouen. Does anyone want to know why? 'Course not. But as is commonly accepted by those in the know (huh SAAC?), the best Cobra was the AC289 MkIII. But that fails to fit the legend of the manic 427, so we'll overlook that. To coin a phrase, there are lies, damn lies and statistics, and the ShelbyACCobra story is awash with all of those.

Trevor, I agree that AC definitely played a major role in the Cobra. Us Americans place Shelby's part of the deal much greater than AC's. But people in Europe shouldn't act the opposite. Just because AC built all the cars over there with no help from Shelby in the US, doesn't change the fact that Shelby made the car. AC didn't come up with the idea, Shelby did. AC didn't stuff the first 260 in an Ace, Shelby did. AC didn't do anything other than supply the "Aces" that Shelby turned into Cobras. From there, AC started building their own Cobras, but the car was still the car that Shelby, not AC, came up with. Dare I say it, but an "AC" Cobra is almost a replica of the car first built here in the US. The AC Cobra is a Shelby Cobra with AC badges.

Man, that should piss a few people off .