The Reborn AC Cobra Is Indeed Coming to America
The reborn and modernized take on the iconic AC Cars Cobra model finally made its North American debut over the weekend, at the increasingly popular ModaMiami auto show. The Sunshine State is the perfect place for such a low-volume, high-impact sports car to make its first appearance, even if the team behind its construction are located in Florida's exact opposite: Sweden.
AC Cars is Britain's oldest active automaker, having first opened its doors back in 1901. The brand, of course, is best known for its sports cars that came half a century later, particularly the Ace — the small, nimble roadster that served as the basis for Carroll Shelby's heart transplant experiment, ultimately creating the Shelby Cobra we know and cherish today. AC sold the V-8-swapped machines overseas in-period as the AC Cobra, which is the car you see re-imagined here today.
The Cobra GT Roadster first arrived on your screens back in 2023, with the coupe variant following suit in 2024. These aren't simple kits based on the old dimensions, however. The wheelbase has been stretched 11 inches for improved stability, with four extra inches of total length overall. Additional track width helps bring added confidence and capability, while also creating a menacing shape. The cars don't quite have the drop-dead proportions of the original, but you won't mistake one for anything else.
A 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 — with or without a supercharger — are your engine options, providing between 454 hp and 663 hp depending on the blower's presence or absence. Ford's six-speed manual and 10-speed automatic gearboxes are on offer to send that power to the rear wheels. And thanks in part to the carbon body that drapes over the new chassis, the AC Cobra GT Roadster and Coupe models are fairly light, sitting around 3200 pounds. Demand for AC Cars' latest projects have required the brand to step outside of their U.K. facility, teaming with T-Engineering for additional production capacity. The outfit is backed by Chinese automaker Dongfeng, but was formed by former Saab engineers in the early 2010s. David Conza, who purchased AC Cars back in 2022, is himself from Sweden.
"AC Cars is well and truly back in America, and we're delighted to be with our existing clients and to meet so many new customers in Miami,' said Conza. 'The GT Roadster is a celebration of heritage and modern engineering and, based on the response so far, we know it's going to receive an unbelievable amount of attention over the coming weeks.'
As awesome as the AC Cars models are, they do come at a cost. The Roadster models are slated to start around $240,000, whereas the Coupe is about $275,000. You're not likely to score a 'real' Cobra for that money, though, which begs the question: which version of a Cobra are you going for with that kind of scratch?
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