Did the Cobra exist before Carroll Shelby visited AC?

[Steve Cassani]

Another take on the 'before-after' issue...

AC manufactured and sold cars in Europe concurrent with shipping bodies and frames to Shelby's shop in California. The sales directly from AC involved complete cars: 260's, 289's and, later, 427's and 302's in what we recognize to be a 427 chassis and body style. Direct sales by AC continued, under a variety of ownerships, well after Shelby's 'fire sale' in 1968. If I recall correctly, AC supplied Cobras with their own ('AC') emblem on the hood; only the cars delivered to customers through Shelby dealerships in the States carried the snake image.

Shelby stopped the final manufacture and sales of Cobras due in part to the effect of an increasingly stringent regulatory setting that affected all motor vehicles manufactured and sold in the US and all imports. The possibility of evading the applicable regulations through private manufacture was available to Shelby when he went out of business in the late sixties. I suspect this option did not appleal to him at the time, likley for reasons involving his contracts with Ford and his dealers. Certainly, 'Ol Shel has since seen the light and now we have the opportunity to purchase cars manufactured from parts that were in inventory in the late sixties, so long as we, the purchasers, are responsible for completing assembly.

I believe a case can be made for saying Shelby and AC worked in harmony but AC, since Ford was willing to supply engines in support to overseas sales, enjoyed a measure on independence that was not possible for Shelby. The regulatory climate was different in Europe and AC had the advantage of continuing production, under its own name, long after Shelby American had gone out of business.