7 minute read
Cobra Bites Back
CLEAR THE CAR FEATURE
Words: James Disdale Photographs: AC Cars
FAST LANE
It’s always been said that the UK and the USA share a ‘special relationship’ - a set of values and a common language that draws them together politically and culturally despite being separated by 3,000 miles of treacherous North Atlantic Ocean.
When it comes to cars, nowhere has this been demonstrated more effectively than in the Shelby Cobra. Blending British sportscar know-how with raw American power, this muscle-bound two-seat roadster went on to become one of the greatest racing machines of the Sixties. The brainchild of US motor racing legend and 1959 Le Mans winner Carroll Shelby, the Cobra was backed by Ford to take on arch-rival General Motors on the track. Former Texan chicken farmer Shelby had the neat idea of taking the light and delicate AC Ace, built in the firm’s factory in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and shoehorning in a heavyweight slice of Detroit iron in the form of the Blue Oval’s 4.7-litre V8. Simple.
It proved an instant hit when launched in 1962, overcoming an early reputation for wayward handling to rack up numerous wins, including the 1965 World
The Cobra lives on, with supercharged 6.2-litre, 580hp Chevrolet V8 under the bonnet
Sportscar Championship, beating Ferrari in the process. Yet eventually its star was starting to wane, with more sophisticated challengers putting it in the shade, and in 1967 it was consigned to the history books. Well almost.
While Carroll Shelby held the rights to the cars bearing his name, the Cobra never really went away. Various company owners kept the car going, its success fluctuating over the years as fashions and finances waxed and waned. Yet AC’s future, and that of the Cobra, was finally secured in the late Nineties by South African entrepreneur Alan Lubinsky, who continued to produce the car in small numbers, carefully evolving it to meet regulations and customer demands.
Now, nearly six decades after the original made its debut, the Cobra has undergone its latest rejuvenation and it’s arguably better than ever. It’s certainly more powerful. The new MkIV Superblower packs an incredible 580bhp, although purists (and Shelby himself) might be shocked to discover that the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 doesn’t come from Ford, but is in fact the venerable LSA from former arch-rival Chevrolet.
That’s not all that’s changed. Gone is the all-aluminium exterior, replaced by a composite body that, like the rest of the car, is built in AC’s factory in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Not only is the £129,500 car lighter and less costly (an original would now cost you millions), it’s beautifully finished and covered in paint that’s deep and lustrous. Inside, the hand-stitched leather, beautiful three-spoke steering wheel and numerous Smiths instruments create a real sense of occasion.
Under the new bodywork is the familiar ladder frame chassis, off which hangs far more sophisticated suspension, with an independent multi-link arrangement at each corner. Power steering is standard, as is a bang-up-to-date Tremac six-speed manual gearbox.
Twist the tiny key in the ignition and the Cobra erupts into life with all the drama you’d expect, the side exit exhausts bellowing and crackling before settling down to a burbling idle. Move away and any worries about the car’s fearsome reputation soon evaporate.
The assisted steering is light and accurate, the clutch easy to use, the gearshift is precise and far easier to use than that awkward canted lever would have you believe, plus it rides the bumps smoothly.
Push a bit harder and you’ll discover surprising grip and traction, the rear-wheel drive AC feeling agile and easy to place through a series of corners. It’s not quite as capable as modern roadster rivals, feeling a little soft when really pressing on, but use the traditional fast-in and slow-out approach and you can cover ground at an alarming rate.
Speaking of which, if the handling is a little old fashioned, the performance is anything but. The way the Cobra accelerates is intoxicating, responding instantly to the throttle as it rips down the road, that hollering NASCAR soundtrack trailing in its wake. AC reckons 0-60mph takes around four seconds, based on our experience it’s probably faster - fast enough to make sure the grin on your face will be difficult to shift.
Of course, in this day and age all that fossil-fuel burning fun is becoming a little less acceptable, which is why AC offers an electric version. Yes, really. Available in either classic narrow-bodied MkI guise or Cobra-matching MkIV, it can be specified with two battery options of 230kW or 460kW and depending on version has a range of 190 miles and can crack 0-60mph in an, ahem, electrifying 3.8 seconds.
So sixty years after making its debut the Cobra is still going strong and, more importantly, this Anglo-American (via South Africa) icon is continuing to forge a special relationship between car and driver.
Below: Now celebriating its 120th anniversary, AC Cars first built performance models in the 1920s. Below right: No speed limits? No problem! the Cobra made headlines in the Swinging ‘60s just the same.
DDM
THAT INFAMOUS TEST DRIVE
As the driver joined the M1 heading south he watched his speed increase steadily to 80mph. There was no need to rush. It was a Saturday morning and the motorway was relatively quiet. In the distance were a group of three cars and a small truck. His speed had now increased to a shade under 90mph when he noticed one of the vehicles was a police car. As he approached he pulled into the outside lane and slowly increased his speed to 100mph. Passing the group, he saw the road ahead was relatively empty so he pressed the accelerator to the floor and the car rocketed up to just over 120mph, a speed he felt was probably ‘fast enough’ for this public highway. The police car was now just a mere spec in the rear-view mirror. Why no flashing lights and sirens? The simple answer is it was the early 60s and there was no speed limit! The car was the latest model of the famous AC Cobra produced at the company’s Surrey production facility in Thames Ditton, near Kingston upon Thames. The Cobra not only earned its racing pedigree taking part in such events as Le Mans, in a team managed by Stirling Moss, but it was rumoured to have been clocked doing 183mph testing in the middle of the night also on the M1. In 1965 the 70mph limit was introduced! Described as probably one of the most desirable sports cars of its time it also earned a top award for having a truly remarkable TED. This was a term given to the car by a leading national newspaper motoring correspondent who went onto explain, “TED means Time Exposed to Danger – simply put – when overtaking another vehicle you can complete the manoeuvre in super quick time.” But it is not just super fast sports cars for which AC is remembered. At a time when diversification was needed to help the company survive they built golf trolleys and also won a contract to manufacture the electric trains which used to carry passengers along the Southend Pier. But their engineering expertise did not end there, At the opposite end of the automotive spectrum, AC also built a 500cc invalid car, a popular site on UK roads until 2003. In a move to produce a true GT car, Derek Hurlock who managed the company for more than 50 years, wanted to produce one of the fastest cars on the road and this he achieved with the AC Frua, or AC428 as it became better known. With a recommended retail price of just under £6,000, less than 100 cars were produced. A language teacher and house master at Eton College picked the AC428 for his book, Clear the Fast Lane, a 1971 publication mixing terrorism, Middle East politics and a race against time from London to Saloniki. In the 1980s the Thames Ditton factory closed and, with a change of ownership, a new home was found for AC in Glasgow. There followed a chequered period in the company’s history with various efforts being made to keep the brand alive with new owners and joint ventures. In 2010, AC announced a joint venture with the US-based Iconic which resulted in the design of the ultimate “Cobra”: the “Iconic AC Roadster”. At the Geneva Motor Show in 2012, AC Cars showed three different models: the AC MK VI, AC MK II Classic, and AC 378 GT Zagato. In 2020, AC Cars announced that they will be building a zeroemission version of the Cobra called the Series 1 Electric. How we all wish we could turn the clocks back to 1964 when we pull onto a motorway!
