[Trevor Legate]

For anyone wanting to own a 427 or 289 ali-bodied car as close to the real deal as possible then an AC Heritage car is the one to buy. As good as it gets, or better than it got!

However - I arrive to take part in the shoot for the Octane feature driving that actual Kirkham above. Also present were a Superformance MkIII and a Gardner Douglas, the 'replica' (not a copy of a Cobra other than borrowing the body shape to some degree) that uses the same Corvette engine as the 'Mk6'. The presence of the replicas was of great interest to the true enthusiasts who were there. The GD gives about 30mpg on a run and is a great car for long cruises. £42,000. The guys from Octane were impressed, naturally, so look for a feature about these three cars in the future!

The Kirkham and I arrived at the Brooklands museum soaking wet having survived a massive cloudburst on the motorway (interstate) One of the more scary moments as everyone slowed to 40mph or less and I couldn't see the car in front or behind or beside me! But we both survived. However the drive back to base in Kent was one of the best drives of my life - country roads, sky blue, clouds white 'n fluffy.....just brilliant. If I came across traffic I just went down another road. Why would anyone not buy one of those??? Too much fun to be legal.

I believe mention has been made re the Iconic (Ironic?) badge-engineered automobile. For numerous reasons I'm keeping out of the discussion for now but I can say that there are folk who want the club to disassociate itself from badge-engineering as almost anything (!) can be an AC in the future which will not reflect well on the marque now that replicas carry the logo. (Not necessarily my opinion, only repeating what I've been told. Keep Calm and Carry On)