Shelby little involvement in creating the Cobra

[REAL 1]

Originally Posted by LMH

Wrong. Engine alternatives for AC had not "dried up" and AC was not a faltering company. The final RS2.6 cars were finished while AC geared up for production of the Cobra. And the 2.6 is an inline 6, not a V8.


Wrong. The first engine fitted to the chassis and modified into the Cobra was a 221CID V8. Shelby didn't show up with the engine either. Rather Ford had just literally just come out with the lightweight V8 and Shelby's idea was to put it into the Ace car that became the Cobra. Ford was already there before Shelby.


Somewhat correct. Cobra's were a car constantly in change through out the leaf spring production. In fact, the cars most like each other are the last of the series. SA and AC and Ford all had a hand in the changes made during production.


Pretty much true. Keep in mind though that AC cars were raced long before any Cobra part was even an idea. Even during the Cobra production, AC developed and raced the A98 coupe w/o any involvement from SA at all. They didn't even know about it at the time.
Larry

1. I didn't say AC was faltering. Read more carefully. I said the sales of the Rudd Speed began to falter.

2. You really think i literally meant he showed up with the 260 at their door? yes the first motor was the 220 but it was never a Cobra production motor and was replaced immediately with the 260. Yes he got two motors from Iacoca at Ford then went to AC but I didn't think I needed to recite the basics here. Guess I was wrong.

3. Again read more carefully. Yes, AC had a role in development along the way. Their role was mostly engineering for manufacture the modifications and improvements SA wanted based on race testing. Determining the changes needed was by SA. Yes AC raced a 289 Cobra in competition but it was a Cobra with all the developmental changes and improvements resulting from SA testing. As to the AC Coupe, I'm pretty sure they would not have been racing a AC Coupe but for Shelby.

Yes the Ace was raced successfully in club racing. It was a very different animal than a Cobra was it not?