Sacre bleu! as they say in France. AC cars has decided that a fitting way to celebrate its 1963 Le Mans entry is to recreate the 289 cubic inch (4.7-litre) Ford V8-powered Cobra with an electric motor.
To be fair, the limited run of 12 AC Cobra Le Mans electrics will offer race car performance, with drive coming from a 625hp, 738lbft motor developed with Falcon Electric.
The cars will feature hand-beaten aluminium bodywork by AC Heritage, based at the famous Brooklands Motor Circuit, and will include removable hardtops which, back in the day, aided aerodynamics on the Mulsanne Straight.
In 1963 AC entered two cars “39 PH” and “645 CGT” into the 24 hour race, with Stirling Moss as team manager. In 2021 AC will recreate six of each, right down to the same livery as the race cars. We’d suggest opting for the No.3 car “39 PH” which finished in seventh place, rather than the No.4 “645 CGT” which failed to reach the chequered flag.
“This the start of not just a new chapter but of a whole new era in AC’s illustrious history. We will be following up the launch of these new models with other additions to our already expanding range”, said AC’s owner Alan Lubinsky.
At £600,000 plus taxes the price is pretty sobering, but after already introducing a four-cylinder turbo and electric drive to regular production models it will be interesting to see if the AC Cobra can indeed be future proofed.
