Automotive Forums .com - the leading automotive community online! Automotive Forums .com - the leading automotive community online!
Automotive Forums .com - the leading automotive community online! 
-
Latest | 0 Rplys
Go Back   Automotive Forums .com Car Chat > Classic Cars
Classic Cars Do you just love the classics?
Reply Show Printable Version Show Printable Version | Email this Page Email this Page | Subscription Subscribe to this Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-06-2002, 06:09 PM   #1
jjguitar
AF Regular
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 52
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Send a message via AIM to jjguitar
AC Cobra vs. Shelby Cobra

What is the difference between an AC Cobra and a Shelby Cobra?
jjguitar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-08-2002, 12:54 AM   #2
TheMan5952
Volvo Guy
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: RAF Lakenheath
Posts: 456
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Send a message via AIM to TheMan5952
I think that the AC Cobra was made first then Shelby made them with bigger more powerful motor.
__________________
-Joe- '02 Volvo S60 T5

Sold!1993 volvo 850
Intake, Exhaust, Springs, Shock, I.C.E.
TheMan5952 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2002, 07:37 AM   #3
Lizard King
AF Enthusiast
 
Lizard King's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: -
Posts: 910
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
The Cobra was Shelby's creation and was badged as a Shelby in North America. In Britain they built some as AC. They were the same car, although I can't be sure that some small differences in spec resulted.
Lizard King is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-21-2002, 10:46 AM   #4
Hudson
Old Mod
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: None
Posts: 1,525
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Lizard:

I believe you're almost spot on. The AC Cobra and Shelby Cobra were the same (I believe EXACTLY the same) cars. AC Cars marketed the car in England under their badge and Shelby marketed the car in the US under his name.

The car was the AC Ace before Shelby put the bigger engine in it.
Hudson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-16-2013, 03:13 AM   #5
The Maslen Girl
AF Newbie
 
The Maslen Girl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
Posts: 3
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: AC Cobra vs. Shelby Cobra

When the British car company AC started making the Cobra, Carol Shelby had just failed at his one chance to become a race car driver in Fords racing team, He then learned that this company couldn't crack a deal with any big car manufacturers to supply them with engines. Carol went to AC and spoke with them explaining that he will talk to Ford, after careful negotiations it was agreed that Ford would supply engines to AC in return they would let Ford manufacture their own version of the car, because this deal only happened due to Carol Shelby they put him in charge of production of the 'Ford Cobra'. Half way through production he renamed the plant 'Shelby' (Still owned by Ford) and continued production of what now was the 'Shelby Cobra'
The Maslen Girl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2013, 06:44 AM   #6
cumaikeup
Banned
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: tasikmalaya
Posts: 11
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: AC Cobra vs. Shelby Cobra

both are very powerful and privileged
cumaikeup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2014, 03:56 PM   #7
Bobo W
AF Newbie
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: London
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: AC Cobra vs. Shelby Cobra

The short answer is that the AC "Cobras" had a chassis number prefixed with the letters COB and the Shelby Cobras had CSX other than that they were identical.

Picking up on some of the history in the previous posts this is my understanding but I'm sure more knowledgeable people will be able to correct any errors. Sorry it's a bit OTT but there's a lot to tell.

The background to the Cobra comes from a number of sources firstly Carrol Shelby who was a very successful racing driver forced to quit due to bad health (I think) who was looking for a car into which to put the new engines from Ford so as to race against the Corvette, then there was John Tojeiro who was so impressed with the Vignale Touring Ferrari Barchetta 166 that he made his own special drawing inspiration from this design and then there was Derek Hurlock who owned AC who in turn liked Tojeiro's work so much that he bought the design and that became the AC Ace.

The AC Ace was powered by a variety of engines from Bristol to Ford and was a very pretty 2 seater that also achieved a certain amount of success racing in the states which caught Mr.Shelby's eye. He approached Hurlock with the idea of shoe horning the 260 cu inch engine into the car which became the Cobra Mk1 - the basic shape of which was more or less identical to that of the Ace except the rear arches were slightly widened.

The 260 was followed by the 289 with subtle revisions to the iconic shape from Tojeiro. The main change came with the Mk3 with 427 cu inch engine. Remember the Ace had been originally designed for a 2 litre car and it's suspension / chassis was rather rudimentary so struggled to cope with the extra power. So the Mk3 underwent significant redesign by Shelby and Ford in most areas.

As a footnote the original agreement Shelby had with AC was that they would manufacture the body and chassis, some of which would remain in the UK and be completed by AC and some shipped to the states where the engine would be installed and completed by Shelby. Initially the car in the States was referred to as a Ford Cobra but shortly after became the Shelby Cobra with Ford licencing the name to Shelby. However I don't think they licensed it to AC hence strictly speaking there is no such thing as an AC Cobra it was either an AC 260 / 289 / 427 although looking at all the press reports of the time would have you believe that this wasn't the case.
Bobo W is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Mercedes SLR vs Shelby AC Cobra trev0006 Car Videos 0 11-09-2007 01:47 PM
ws6 vs. ss vs. vette vs. cobra vs. gt vs. vr4 unicyclemidget11 Car Comparisons 23 02-15-2005 01:30 AM
T64 cobra vs SC cobra 209 neon Street Racing 6 07-17-2004 12:39 AM
2005 shelby cobra VS dodge viper SRT 10 95_cavy Car Comparisons 3 02-24-2004 04:07 AM
Z3 Vs. Shelby cobra enzo@af Car Comparisons 6 05-08-2001 02:49 AM

Reply

POST REPLY TO THIS THREAD

Go Back   Automotive Forums .com Car Chat > Classic Cars

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:10 PM.

Community Participation Guidelines | How to use your User Control Panel

Powered by: vBulletin | Copyright Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
 
 
no new posts