AC MkIV Cobras

[Venom S]

On Easter Sunday, while at my girlfriend's sister-in-law's house, I casually mentioned to her brother-in-law that I was building a Cobra and showed them the build site. Craig (the brother-in-law) said, "Hey, the guy across the street has a Cobra. He starts it up every Sunday at 4:30 PM and drives it around and then parks it until the next Sunday!"

Well, not wanting to appear weird and just knock on their door, asking to see their Cobra, I waited to see if he does as they said. Well, 4:30 came and went and no "VROOM VROOM". Then Craig noticed the owner walking up the street with his mom and dad. Craig and I went over and he introduced me to him. I told him I was building a Cobra replica and he lit up like a Christmas tree. He asked if I wanted to see his Cobra, and, not wanting to appear overly excited, said "OK".

Well, to my surprise, he has a semi-original Cobra. It is a 1986 AC MkIV made by AC Bristol in England. It has a 302 4-bbl V-8, same aluminum Cobra body, but with some slight changes (the gas tank filler is in the middle like the 289 FIA), no roll bar, and the exhaust exits with two pipes near the left rear.

The car is flawless. Didn't have my camera, so I don't have any pictures. The owner said Ford bought a 51% stake in AC Bristol and made about 150 of these cars sometime in the 1980's. Coincidently, the owner and I work for the same company. He remarked that he saw a poster of an original Cobra in my office, but I wasn't around to talk about it or his Cobra. Small world.

Does anyone have any more information on the AC MkIV Cobras?

Venom_S

[walt347]

Venom S,

I found the following information:

1985 - The updated 5.0 litre AC MKIV is re-introduced into North America, using the original tooling and meeting 50 State EPA and DOT Federal Regulations.

1986 - After some 56 years of ownership, the Hurlock family sell their controlling interest in AC Cars to the joint ownership of Autokraft Limited and the Ford Motor Company.

http://www.accars.co.uk/Content/ACHe...iefHistory.asp

Walter

Looks nice:

[computerworks]

...and some more:

"MkIV.
The AC Cobra MkIV is, in almost every sense, a continuation of the Cobra line that ended in 1968. It must be stressed that these are not "kit cars" or "replicas" of the Cobra. These are true AC's in their own right, being manufactured by AC Cars Ltd. A "replica" could be thought to be an attempt is to duplicate the car as it existed but not by the original manufacturer. In the case of the AC Cobra MkIV, while the model has had a few changes to bring it to more modern standards, it retains all the fun, excitement and style of the original Cobra, and is made by the same company that provided the chassis and body of the original Cobras. The MkIV's were available with both automatic and standard gearbox, and engines available were the Ford 302, 351 and 427. Fuel delivery was available as either Holley or Electronic Fuel Injection. It's interesting to note that while the run of the original Cobra was 6 years (1962 to 1968), the AC MkIV's life span was 14 years, from 1982 to 1994. The serial number range for the AC MkIV spans from AK 1000 to AKL 15xx, the implication being that there were approximately 500 to 600 manufactured. The current registry of AC MkIV owners lists 197 cars whose whereabouts are known."

[Mark IV]

...the "AC Mk IV" has been previously available here in the USA as a fully certified automobile. BTW, the company is not "AC Bristol", Bristol is an independant company that built an engine that AC used in some cars, the engine is based on a pre-war (WW II) BMW design, ACs own "light 6" engine is also pre war....WW 1!!!!!

The ACs powered by the Bristol engines are refered to as "AC Bristols" but really carry the Ace or Aceca name.

Autokraft built the MK IV cars under license to AC using the originall AC jigs and fixtures. In the mis 80s Brian Angliss, principal in Autokraft bought AC Cars from the Hurlock family and then sold a portion to the Ford Motor Company during Ford's "drunken sailor" auto company buying binge period. Ford built a large new facility for AC/Autokraft (they remained individual companies with different boards and objectives) and designed as new Ace model. Ford grew tired of the investment and time required to develope a new small volume car and decided to retain Aston Martin whilst closing AC. Angliss fought Ford and won! FoMoCo sold their share to Angliss and he went it alone until such time as the money ran out due to his spending more time collecting motorcycles and WWII airplanes than running the business.

While this was going on they were building the AC Mk IV an updated version of the Mk III (427) chassis/body and found a ready market. These cars are finished to a very high standard and are far above the older AC p[roducts in quaility and fit/finish.

The US certified cars were all delivered with 5.0 Mustang engines with the T5 manual. Some were sold as rollers and have other powertrains.

I imported and sold these cars as a franchised "Autokraft" dealer. The cars are not 427 fast but are pretty quick and with some bolt on stuff....watch out! As far as I know, I personally sold more AC Mk IVs than anyone other than the factory.

If anyone is interested I can post some original documents including factory invoices, MSOs and other stuff.

Rick

[KeithBrown]

Mark IV,

What ever happened to Mr. Angliss?

Regards,

Keith

[Mark IV]

is "retired" to his house on the Isle of Guernsey. He had three homes, one in Esher, one on the South Coast and one on Guernsey. The Guernsey location has tax advantages so that is where he is. As I understand he is living as a "pensioner" although I will bet his pension is supplimented by some funds he squirreled away while running AC/Autokraft.

Brian has been a house guest in my home a couple times but I have not talked to him in some years.

Rick

[pderouss]

Here is a picture taken of my MkIV about 2 hours ago. It was built for me by AC in 2001. Engine is a supercharged 302 so not as much power as a 427 but also a lot less weight on the front axle.

Not sure what happened to Angliss - I last saw him in th early 90's. What was left of the company was bought by Alan Lubinsky and in turn by Jim Price ( Superformance etc.).

[KeithBrown]

mark IV,

Thanks for the update!

pderouss,

What a beauty - the car, I mean!

Regards,

Keith