It is clear the final solution here is for everyone with a pre-68 car sold in the US to throw away those ridiculous little snake emblems and attach a proper AC badge.
The Euro-version will already have them. When someone then asks if it is "REAL" you can then say "Yes, it is an AC Cobra." As it should be. If you want to call it a Shelby AC Cobra, get ol' Shel to sign the glovebox.
Is a continuation car a REAL Shelby Cobra? You bet...no question.
Is a continuation car a REAL AC Cobra (the one worth all the money). No way.
And what people are REALLY asking when they ask if its real is..."Is this the one worth all the money?" What you call your car and how you answer questions about its pedigree, in the end, all comes down to money. The price of admission to the lucky club that can answer the generic "Is it REAL" question in a truthful manner, is pretty steep. I really don't care what SAAC says and what they include or don't include in a registry. The determining factor regarding "Is it REAL" can be found on the auction block, where money changes hands. That is the "Is it REAL" judge and jury.
Didn't AC engineer and make lovely cars? And weren't those 1960's vintage Ford engines spectacular? And those Shelby Amercian employees that so professionally bolted in those Ford engines and then took a brass hammer and threw the pin drives on....hmmm. And then there was the Racing Team with some spectacular drivers. And that's where the buck stops. As for CS, my opinion is he has found his niche signing glove boxes