Shelby little involvement in creating the Cobra

[Trevor Legate]

If I were a betting man (and I'm not) I'd put a few shekels on the fact that AC would have produced its own V8-powered Ace. It would have been Ken Rudd who would have pulled the effective but heavy Ford straight six, that he installed in the first place, and replaced it with the new lightweight Ford lump as and when he could have got his hands on one. It would probably have been called the Ace V8. It would not have had an illustrious racing history and its handling might have been suspect since Phil Remington would not have got his hands on it, nor would Ken Miles have driven the living daylights out of it. Would it have raced at Le Mans etc? Yes, since those "winos under the bridge" (lovely analogy, pure class) had previously run a number of Aces at Le Mans, one of which was a very elegant special-bodied car that makes a Daytona look lumpy (ducks for cover :-)

And what ever was 'wrong' with the Ace - check out its racing history with SCCA!! Don't sound like no dog to me.....

AC would not be a forgotten marque today, cos us members of the AC Owners Club would keep the flag flying and the cars running.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

If I were a betting man (and I'm not) I'd put a few shekels on the fact that AC would have produced its own V8-powered Ace. It would have been Ken Rudd who would have pulled the effective but heavy Ford straight six, that he installed in the first place, and replaced it with the new lightweight Ford lump as and when he could have got his hands on one. It would probably have been called the Ace V8.

Would Rudd have gone for the Ford V8 or a domestic UK motor. I believe The 6 was sourced from the Mk2 Zephyr. It was soon after the Ford small block apeared that Rover produced it's aluminium Buick derived V8. I think the P5 apeared in about 66 with the 3.5

I reckon it would have been a better motor for a sporting car power plant at the time considering it's light weight.

The Rover 3.5 motor has evolved into several successful racing engines. I think the Repco Brabham V8 is based on that bottom end.

Cheers