The Cobra that wasn’t a Cobra
It is always nice to learn something new. At first glance, this “Cobra” looks like a Cobra. Ok, at the back it is a bit special, not a 427, but somehow not a 289 either. One of the many conversions or replicas? No, absolutely original, but still not a Cobra, but quite simply an AC.
That’s how it came about: When Carroll Shelby decided to concentrate on the 427 Cobra in 1965, the people at AC in Thames Ditton were not really happy about this decision. Sure, they were making very good money on the Cobra, they were doing all the work for Shelby, but they also felt that the 7-litre was just too rough for Europe. Besides, petrol prices were going up in England at the time, and the government had also increased taxes on cars with a lot of engine capacity. An AC with the smaller 289 Ford engine, they were convinced, would sell better on the old continent.
Thought, done. They took the revised chassis of the 427 (with the coil springs), made the body a little narrower at the hips and installed the 4.7-litre V8. The right-hand drive cars were given the prefix “COB”, the left-hand drive ones “COX”. It was not a wild success: only just 27 (or maybe only 24) of the AC 289 Sports MkIII could be sold until the production of the “Cobra” ended in 1967.
This one is #COX6122, which was delivered to Richard W. Kloos in 1968; surprisingly, Mr. Kloos was based in Blue Island, Illinois, in the USA. In 1990, the car returned to Europe, and was recently sold by Girardo 6 Co. to a new owner.
In the future, we will take a closer look at the vehicles of AC Cars. After all, there are many more great cars than just the “Cobra”. More interesting vehicles can be found in our archives.
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