New Continuation Cobras

[shep]

I just read the article in the October ACtion on Steve Gray's new batch of continuation Cobras, to be manufactured by his company AC Heritage at Brooklands. Priced at £500,000 each, I wondered what people thought about the exercise, which apparently has Alan Lubinsky's support?

[Robin A Woolmer]

What is very strange is that the specification suggests a live rear axle & implied with transverse springs, so I do not know how the springs are to be held up!
   Anyway surly the chassis /suspension should be transverse springs with wishbone independent suspension all round as per the original Ace which obviously has a separate diff assembly.
   In terms of making replicas this is a very high cost & effectively premium for an AC badge when replicas of the same Original specification can be purchased from Hawk Cars for considerably less!
   The other issue is they are all left hand drive cars also if to be purchased in UK how will they pass IVA without considerable modification?

[Bill P]

How will they pass emissions tests with a "new" 260 engine? How can they be original spec if they wish to pass the IVA test where switches etc will have to be rocker switches to comply with latest requirements?

[rstainer]

November's Cobra Corner poses the questions:

• Built to the exact specification of the very first 1962 Cobra....Will Legacy Edition cobras meet road use standards?  
• AC Cars will build nine....Build in what sense?
• They will be handbuilt at AC Heritage.... But who is the Manufacturer?
• AC Cobra...260... Sure?
• Cobra.... Sure?
• MkI.... Sure?
• AC was established in 1901.... Sure?
• AC....retains the distinction of being the oldest British car maker still in operation... Still in operation?
• The original factory blue.... Where does this novel proposition come from?
• Live rear axle.... Another novel proposition?

   CC also suggests, where known, the answers.
   
   RS

[jrlucke]

Is the Hawk comparable to the new Steve Gray cars? I thought the Hawk was fiberglass and the AC Heritage cars aluminum.
   
   When the CSX7000 series was announced the fiberglass cars were to be $96,000 and the aluminum cars $160,000 less running gear and so a complete aluminum car would have been around $200,000 US.
   
   Being built by AC Heritage with AC licensing would add value but maybe not $300,000, but again with a volume of 9 they will be exclusive.

[SBB]

I thought the "Cobra" name was owned by Ford - or Shelby? Even when AC produced the cars for the home market in the mid 1960s they had to call them the AC 289 or 427. I understood AC never marketed a car in the UK called a Cobra. Is that correct? Some time ago I saw the names which had been registered in the UK by Lubenski and I don't recall the Cobra name being amongst them. Perhaps I am wrong. It would be good if any one can clarify his.

[rstainer]

Simon,
   
   The ACOC library has, I believe, all relevant copies of Cobra tredemark applications and grants. If you want access  please email John Spencer. Alternatively, email me for the ACtion article's text.
   
   RS

[jbottini]

A. L. Support?.....beware!,,

[Spantik]

Simon, if I remember well, Ford had to give up its rights on the Cobra brand in Europe, not confirmed, but heard in several conversations with AC Automotive GmbH.

[rstainer]

Emmanuel,
   
   This is not as I understand it. Acedes Holdings llc, St.Kitts-Nevis c/o PO Box 103, Sliema Post Office, Malta filed for the trademark AC Cobra on 24th April 2007. This filing was abandoned on 31st January 2008 and is recorded as Dead.
   
   Next month's ACtion sets out the questions and provides answers where known.
   
   RS

[Spantik]

Thanks Robin, actually Acedes reiterated the demand in 2015.

[rstainer]

Unsuccessfully, it would appear.
   
   Not only does http://www.ac-automotive.com/en.html not have the C word after AC; it doesn't have the C word at all. Customers, who can choose between Mk VI GTs, Mk VI GT BIG BLOCKs, Mk VI GTSs and Mk VI GTSRs, get an 'AC', not an 'AC C****'.
   
   RS

[peterpjb]

quote:Originally posted by jrlucke
   
Is the Hawk comparable to the new Steve Gray cars? I thought the Hawk was fiberglass and the AC Heritage cars aluminum.
   
   When the CSX7000 series was announced the fiberglass cars were to be $96,000 and the aluminum cars $160,000 less running gear and so a complete aluminum car would have been around $200,000 US.
   
   Being built by AC Heritage with AC licensing would add value but maybe not $300,000, but again with a volume of 9 they will be exclusive.
   

   
   why should being build by AC Heritage add value compared to a CSX 7000 with aluminium body? the earlier CSX 7000 were build by SAI under Carroll Shelby himself with MSO's signed by him, what do AC Heritage have in common with the original company beside the name affix "AC"?

[nikbj68]

AC Legacy Edition on display at the MACAU MOTORSHOW.

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by rstainer
   
Unsuccessfully, it would appear.
   Not only does http://www.ac-automotive.com/en.html not have the C word after AC; it doesn't have the C word at all. Customers, who can choose between Mk VI GTs, Mk VI GT BIG BLOCKs, Mk VI GTSs and Mk VI GTSRs, get an 'AC', not an 'AC C****'. RS

   Well, according to "THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF AC CARS": "AC, AC Cobra, Ace, AC Bristol are Registered Trademarks of Acedes Holdings, LLC | Copyright © 2016 " [;)]