IV history.Īnd now there are half a dozen companies making replica Cobras, but methinks that, like Sothebys says, since the Autokraft ones can be traced back to AC they have some “purebred“ bloodline if you can say that. IV, wrote about it here.Īfter Angliss gave up making anything that looked like a Cobra, the name bounced around to half a dozen companies and I’ll admit I haven’t kept track, I am still trying to sort out the Mk. Robert Krantz, a long time owner of an AC Cobra Mk. Given his legal right to use the AC name and, more importantly, the unbroken lineage of craftsmen, tools, and materials employed in their production, these cars were lauded for their high levels of build quality and their retention of the original’s spirit and are generally considered ‘continuation’ cars. Cobra Autokraft are listed in the Shelby Registry, with a total production run of approximately 450 units.Īnother auction company Sothebys, when selling a 1987 Mk. IV featured independent suspension, a five-speed Borg-Warner gearbox, a Salisbury limited slip differential and power brakes. It differed from the original by its engine, a slightly different bodyline and comfort. In 1982, Autokraft managed to get the license to use the name on its own AC Cobra. Here’s what one auction company selling a 1987 Mk. It looks like a Cobra, sounds like a Cobra, and was built in England using tooling from AC but it is not a Cobra replica. IV is a direct copy of the Cobra is a bit misleading. There is still muddied waters on what to call the more than a dozen alloy bodied 427 roadsters he made that used SN for cars not built in the Sixties but for which numbers were issued back in the ‘60s. Years later, Shelby of course began what he called “continuation cars,” trying to continue the CSX serial numbers but then finally capitulated and began selling replicas. IVs in Ford showrooms and he wasn’t getting a penny from it! Here it was, the original creator and the man who (Shelby thought) had stolen the idea, duking it out in print! Shelby was mighty bent out of shape to see the AC Mk. It is interesting if you are into the Mk.IV to find old CAR magazines from England that contain letters from Shelby and from Angliss, each accusing the other of stealing the Cobra. But alas, they didn’t come up with a car Ford thought worthwhile (even the mid engine ME3000) so he left Ford. The Hurlock family that owned AC decided Cobras were not in their future so sold their whole company in 1986 and Angliss got the trademark rights and then joined Ford to make cars, selling them 52% of his company in 1987. Though AC had sold him the tooling he didn’t get the name AC until 1982 so then it was the Autokraft MkIV. That Lightweight was not imported to the US due to Federal regulations. He also made a lightweight model which as supposed to be a limited edition (though complaints are that he surpassed that limit). He actually surpassed the number of big block Cobras made, making roughly 480 cars. His car had the few other changes Shelby would have had to make to keep the Cobra in production, such as US-spec 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumpers, a federalized motor, and a larger interior with modern switchgear. He created a car called the AC Cobra MKIV with the 427 body style (made of aluminum) but with a more sensible Ford 5.0 liter fuel injected V8 right out of a U.S. He had the actual AC tooling used to make the original Cobras. But even though the big block Cobra was not successful in International racing like the 4.7 liter 289 Cobras, the body style was oh-so-much-more-macho so in 1982 Brian Angliss, out of a firm called Autokraft, which had begun as a Cobra restoration shop, parts supplier and replica manufacturer, began production of a small block Cobra style car at the Brooklands industrial park in Weybridge, UK.
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