AC Cobra 4.7

In 1962 Carroll Shelby suggested to AC that its Ace sports car might benefit from American Ford V8 power. At the time the supply of 2.0-litre Bristol engines was drying up, and the Zephyr 6 motor used in the Ace 2.6 wasn’t really powerful enough, so the idea was tried and became an immediate hit.

Body-chassis were shipped to California for the engines to be installed, and soon all AC production was turned over to Cobras. Such was the demand from the home market that, at intervals, small batches of right-hand-drive models were made; they were snapped up rapidly. A legend was born.

Superficially the Cobra looks little different from the Ace-Bristol we tested in 1958. It has the longer, more elegant snout of the Ace 2.6 and flared arches to accommodate the extra-fat section tyres.

Under the skin there’s been much beefing-up of chassis members, hubs, drive shafts, brakes, bearings and mountings. Substituting a cast-iron V8 for an aluminium six is partly responsible for a 4cwt weight increase.

But with a 4.7-litre Mustang engine tuned to deliver 300bhp gross, the 243bhp/ton laden power-to-weight ratio is the best of any car we’ve yet tested and guaranteed to deliver exciting performance.

Engine

• Layout 8 cyls V , 4727 cc
• Max power 300 bhp at 5750 rpm
• Max torque 285 ft at 4500 rpm
• Specific output 63bhp/l bhp per litre
• Power to weight 286bhp/ton bhp per tonne

From autocar.co.uk