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[saltytri]

Trevor, save the airfare.

I was in Malta about ten days ago. Armed with the address given on Luby’s web site, I resolutely set out for the Hal Far Industrial Estate to find the hallowed AC factory from which I would certainly be able to purchase a real, first-quality AC Cobra to replace my embarrassingly inadequate fake.

It turns out that the building number that appears on the web site falls between the numbers of two adjacent buildings that house going concerns. It is possible that I was looking in the wrong place but I don’t think so, as there were other buildings up and down the street that were numbered in appropriate sequence. I also searched nearby for any building with the correct number and/or signage that would indicate that it was or had been in use by AC Cars Limited. No luck.

Anticipating language difficulties, I went armed with a printout of the company name (“AC Cars Limited”) and address. The locals speak Maltese, naturally, but most all speak English to some degree, varying from just a bit to admirable fluency – I wanted to have something in writing to bridge any language gap. Almost everyone in the neighborhood to whom I inquired and showed this information drew a complete blank. The sole exception was a body shop worker who said, in broken English, “Shelby Cobra – out of business.” This was without my having mentioned the words “Shelby” or “Cobra.” I can’t say whether he was able to make the leap from “AC Cars Limited” to “Shelby Cobra” because he was a car guy (the Maltese are absolutely nuts about anything that rolls on four wheels but that is a story for another time), because he had once seen an AC shop in the area, or because he reads the Maltese press and knew of the poor outcome of Luby’s flirtation with Malta. In any event, he was unable to point me toward any site or former site of an AC factory, shop, or office.

I can’t say for sure that there was never a productive AC facility in Hal Far but, if there was, it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression on the neighbors.

I’ll be rattling around France for a while and my internet connection is dicey so I won’t try to post my photos of the area. If there’s interest, I’ll be glad to do so when I get home.

Au revoir!