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