Letter to the Editor - Sports Car (SCCA mag), January, 1964

[KeithBrown]

The following copy is a Letter to the Editor from Sports Car (SCCA magazine), from January, 1964 that I found at a second hand bookstore.

I provide it without editorial comment, but it just goes to show that these debates have been occuring for almost 40 years.




Plea for A.C.

Editor:

The 1963 racing season saw the introduction of the most successful sports car since the Ace Bristol. The Cobra has completely conquered racing in this country, even to the point of winning over the best of the modified machinery.
With each victory goes a littly publicity and it is at this point that I become warm under the collar. For the car that wins is seldom an A.C. Cobra, powered by Ford; the victor is usually a "Shelby-Ford Cobra," or, God forbid, a "Ford Cobra."
I think we are all aware of Shelby's part in bringing this winning combination together, but I would like to see publicity given to A.C. for their part in creating a winner. The car is a winner for the same reason that the Ace Bristol is a supurb chassis. Ford has provided an exceptional engine; G.M. or Chrysler could have done the same had they chosen to spend the money. Shelby has been responsible for many detail improvements, not the least of which is the return to rack and pinion steering, but the car is still the same basic Ace chassis created by Tojeiro in 1953.
I, for one, would like to see credit given where due.

Randy



I don't know who "Randy" is/was (could have been an AC employee) . I have attached a copy of this in my gallery.

Regards,

Keith

[CSX 4039]

GREAT post. Thanks. Could you email the hi res uncompressed scan of your Cobra ad? I'll send you my address

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by Brett J. Bolte


GREAT post. Thanks. Could you email the hi res uncompressed scan of your Cobra ad? I'll send you my address

Brett,

I would be glad to.

Regards,

Keith

[Excaliber]

That IS interesting! ,,,and the debate rolls on (and on and on).

Poor Randy, he didn't get no respect 40 years ago, and he won't get any from me now either, LOL.

No doubt in my mind:
Shelby made the car a winner. AC AND Ford were "sub contractors" at best.

Like Randy said; it could have been Chevy, Chrysler, Studebaker or even Rambler! It COULD have been: Austin Healey, Triumph or somebody else.

It was Shelby that made the car what it was. As it turns out, AC was an excellent choice! I wonder how the Healeys would have done? The choice of AC was motivated by "economics" more than "excellence" of design (in my opinion). AC had lost their engine supplier at the time they were chosen, they were going DOWN big time and had little choice but to take Shelbys offer.

Shelby had vision. He was DETERMINED to build a "car". He talked to who ever would listen. Oldsmobile was one of his considerations over Ford. In the end, economics played a huge roll in how the "plan came together". The rest is history......

Ernie

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by Excaliber


That IS interesting! ,,,and the debate rolls on (and on and on).

Poor Randy, he didn't get no respect 40 years ago, and he won't get any from me now either, LOL.

No doubt in my mind:
Shelby made the car a winner. AC AND Ford were "sub contractors" at best.

Like Randy said; it could have been Chevy, Chrysler, Studebaker or even Rambler! It COULD have been: Austin Healey, Triumph or somebody else.

It was Shelby that made the car what it was. As it turns out, AC was an excellent choice! I wonder how the Healeys would have done? The choice of AC was motivated by "economics" more than "excellence" of design (in my opinion). AC had lost their engine supplier at the time they were chosen, they were going DOWN big time and had little choice but to take Shelbys offer.

Shelby had vision. He was DETERMINED to build a "car". He talked to who ever would listen. Oldsmobile was one of his considerations over Ford. In the end, economics played a huge roll in how the "plan came together". The rest is history......

Ernie

Ernie,

I agree. You will get no debate from me. It is funny how long these arguments last though.

Regards,

Keith

[BANDIT 1]

I disagree, the AC car was a great car before Shelby got his hands on it. You guys make it sound like Shelby took a Pinto and made it into the GT40. You can't say that there would have never been a v-8 put in the AC if it wasn't for Shelby. While I give Shelby his due credit, he was the "sub-contractor"...

[Excaliber]

Bandit you are correct in stating the AC was in fact a great car to start with! I've often wondered, seriously, had Shelby gone with another manufacturer would we have seen similiar results?

A fellow here in Hawaii puts 350 Chevys in the Austin Healeys. The frame on these cars is to weak for the high horse power 289's of yester year. The "live" axle wouldn't handle the power either. By the time his modifications are done, you basically have a "dragster". It would be a joke on a road course.

The AC was indeed an excellent choice. Beefier frame to start with, stronger rear than the Healey (all though NOT strong enough as they soon found out). But the basic AC package was QUITE robust and the IRS was light years ahead of the "other" cars that COULD have been chosen. Shelby DID have to make modifications shortly after the project started. By the time he was done with those mods (1967) you could hardly recognize the AC from what it "used to be".

Maybe Shelby "got lucky" AC was in a bad economic position? He could have done worse.

Question is: Could he have done BETTER (in 1961-62)? What "other car" might have been chosen close or equal to what the AC offered (which was a lot)?

Ernie

[computerworks]

Originally posted by Excaliber
Maybe Shelby "got lucky" AC was in a bad economic position? He could have done worse.

Question is: Could he have done BETTER (in 1961-62)? What "other car" might have been chosen close or equal to what the AC offered (which was a lot)?

Ernie

Before the AC deal came along, Shelby talked to Jensen, Aston Martin, Maserati and de Tomaso.

Here's an interesting set of quotes from "The Cobra Story" by CS.

"As for the chassis...I had in mind something along the lines of the Austin Healey, but built with tubes. When the AC became available, this of course helped me a whole lot because it meant that we didn't have to sit down and weld our tubes together and build a fiberglass body."

"...I got news that the British Aeroplane Company in England had gone out of the business of building automobile engines. Some AC cars had been put into production with a British Ford Zephyr engine- a small six-cylinder mill that went pretty well- but the drop in sales did not seem to justify continued manufacture of the old and honorable make of AC under those conditions... the light, strong tubular chassis was the ideal medium for an American V-8. I decided I had better get going, but quick, before the AC factory decided to close down altogether.... what I had in mind was a Chevy engine, maybe, or a Buick aluminum engine, or something from Oldsmobile."

[Excaliber]

I sold my Healey a while back, I owned it for many years. I don't know, the car was just the never the same for me after I got the Cobra.

It was great to park them next to each other and contemplate, "What might have been". The Healey "lines" are really nice! It would have been as cool.

Jensen is nice, but the lines are quite right for me. Aston Martin would have worked!! Maserati? Hmmm,,,,can't picture that one really. Same for De Tomaso.

How about some pics of those that might have been?

Like this AH-Mark 1

Ernie

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by Brett J. Bolte


GREAT post. Thanks. Could you email the hi res uncompressed scan of your Cobra ad? I'll send you my address

Brett,

email me your address and I will send it to you. What format do you prefer?

Keith.Brown@hedus.com

Regards,

Keith

[Art Burtt]

Hmmm! Ever seen a Classic Roadsters Sebring?