AC enters the fray

[acaskie]

While I'm sure the value of an Ace Bristol has benefitted measurably from the Cobra connection---and, by the way, Evan, $80,000 is not an extreme price for a fine example---they were beautiful, hand-built, aluminum-bodied, successful race cars. Look at the prices of any of the hand-built, aluminum racers of that era, as opposed to mass-produced, steel-bodied island iron, and you will see some strong prices.

By the same token, however, much of the allure of the Cobra derives not simply from it's race history, but because of the beautiful AC body lines. I didn't know beans about Cobra race records when I saw my first red, chrome wire-wheeled slabside parked on the street out in front of Cherner Ford's showroom in Arlington, Virginia in 1964. But I knew I had to have that car. Up to that point, I was just the proud owner of a hot-rodded '55 Ford Custom. Detroit iron was all anyone had. But that first glimpse of the Cobra was a revelation. Somewhere in my brain it all clicked--this is what a car was really supposed to look like. (I probably would have had the same sensation if I had come across a real live 250 Testa Rossa , but I didn't; so I emprinted on the Cobra. Thank goodness--those TR replicas with genuine Ferrari V-12s cost a lot more than any 4000 series)

Query to self: If a TR repro is made with all original Ferrari parts except for a newer aluminum body, is it a REAL Ferrari? What if Enzo's grandson had visited the garage where it was being put together and said, " Thatsa nice. Ima like it." Would that be enough of a connection to make it REAL?

Sorry, disgressing.

Anyway, AC owes a lot to Shelby, but Shelby's success surely owes a lot to AC as well. Most objective folks--and I mean by that people who don't think that Shelby fills out a foursome with God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost-- would not have too much trouble seeing that.