Just mention the stock car racer’s name “Carroll Shelby” and the word “Cobra” to any car enthusiast and you’ll get a smile. It’s like anyone who knows anything about cars and automobiles knows that “Shelby equals Cobra.” However, Carroll Shelby has two other claims to racing fame: the “Tiger” and the Shelby GT350, as well as the classic Shelby GT500 muscle car models. Shelbies are arguably “the Muscle Cars” of the 1960s.
The story really began with AC Car Company’s AC Ace and Aceca models. These were beautifully proportioned little sports cars, the Ace being an open model and the Aceca the closed coupe version. At first, they were powered by the company’s 1926 designed overhead camshaft six-cylinder engine. It was not long before the demands of racing meant that the AC engine was replaced as an optional extra by the 105-horsepower inline six-cylinder unit. The AC was produced in small numbers at the famous Thames Ditton factories, and at no time did anyone have any idea that this nice little car would become a fire-breathing Muscle Car for the American market, and also go on to form the basis for a world championship GT automatic machine.
At the time, AC was quietly building the Ace and Aceca models, a Texan race car driver named Carroll Shelby was knocking on the doors of the then “Big Three” of Detroit, trying to get them to listen to his ideas on how to make a super fast American . a car that could serve its owner as a streetcar from Monday to Friday, and then with very little work allow him to go jogging at the weekend. Carroll’s ideas were based on a European or Japanese-built chassis equipped with an American small-block V-8 engine and transmission.
It seemed like the mighty General Motors was only interested in their own Corvette, which was consuming all their development time and money, so they weren’t interested in listening to Shelby. Chrysler was not interested in “sports” cars at the time. In fact, they were having enough trouble selling their own cars and other products at the time to worry about any new automotive products or any new car models or automotive line specifications. Ford seemed vaguely stimulated, but needed to be “sold” on the idea. Shelby had heard of Ford’s new V-8 engine, the 221C! small-block engine, and he saw in it the way to really get the ear and attention of the Ford Motor Company. Shelby pulled off the deal with what could be called “one of the oldest tricks in the book.” He told AC that he might interest Ford in using his chassis and told Ford that he might interest AC in using his V-8 engine. The most important thing is that he told both stories at the same time. Both Ford and AC liked the sound of this idea.
AC then delivered an AC Ace without an engine to Shelby’s shop. In just eight hours, Shelby and his excellent team installed the Ford V-8 on it. It worked, but it was more than obvious to sports car fans that there was a lot of work to be done before it was a finished product ready to be shown both at major car shows and at race tracks. . Utilizing the experience and input of an experienced British race/test driver based in California, the efforts and experience were put into the project to the point where a polished product was achieved.
Finally the question is asked: where does the name “Cobra” come from? Legend has it that Shelby Carroll kept a notebook ready by her bed. Legend has it that one morning Mr. Carroll woke up after a very deep and productive sleep with this mythical name on his lips ready to be written on that very notepad. It is not clearly known if this origin of the classic American muscle car dream name is true or if the automotive product name came about as a result of years of experience in the automotive and auto racing community and marketing “brainstorms”. What is more than certain, however, is that the Muscle Car trade name “Cobra” fits the image, speed and power of the car, implying graceful acceleration, deadly acceleration, speed and a sleeker appearance. how outstanding.