AC Cobra History

The AC Cobra was born when Carroll Shelby, searching for a chassis for his American V8, proposed to AC's Charles Hurlock in 1961 that he fit a Ford small-block into the Ace. AC shipped rolling chassis and bodies from Thames Ditton to Shelby American in Los Angeles, which installed the engines and sold the cars. The first car, chassis CSX2000, was completed at Thames Ditton in January 1962 — within eight hours Shelby's team had dropped a Ford 260-cubic-inch (4.3-litre) V8 into it. The first 75 Mark I cars used the 260; subsequent production switched to the larger 289-cubic-inch (4.7-litre) Windsor V8.

The Mark II (from late 1963) refined the formula with rack-and-pinion steering while keeping the transverse-leaf suspension of the Ace-derived chassis; approximately 528 Mk IIs were built. For 1965 AC and Shelby introduced the dramatically different Mark III 427: a wider body, a coil-spring suspension, and Ford's fearsome 7.0-litre (427 cubic inch) 'side-oiler' FE big-block V8 producing around 425 bhp, alongside some 428-engined cars. Approximately 306 Mk III Cobras were built.

The Cobra won the FIA GT Manufacturers' Championship for the United States in 1965 and set the template for raw performance roadsters for generations. Total first-generation production (all marks, 1962–1968) is generally accepted at approximately 998 cars — nearly all hand-built. AC continued building Cobra-type cars for Europe under the '289 Sports' name into the late 1960s, and under a succession of owners has produced Cobra continuations ever since, making it one of the most enduringly produced and most replicated shapes in automotive history.