Forget the Cobra - the AC Ace is back
Bemoaning the lack of British-built, circa 300hp rear-drive roadsters? AC Cars has stepped up...
With its recreation of the Cobra apparently well in hand (the firm is offering both coupe and roadster versions of its V8-powered GT, with the first customer deliveries due early next year), AC Cars is turning its attention to the second most famous model in the brand’s back catalogue - the Ace. Its recently launched Heritage Division has been tasked with producing a limited run of what the manufacturer is calling the AC Ace Classic. Each new roadster will get an official chassis number which its maker reckons will denote it ‘a true AC and a descendent of [the] historic model’.
In fact, the newcomer will cover off two variants of the Ace, with one getting the ‘open grille design’ of the later, pre-Cobra cars, while the other - dubbed the AC Ace Bristol Classic - will use the earlier ‘smiling face’ that adorned the 1953 launch version. The name obviously harks back to the period when the Ace was made available with a Bristol-built 2.0-litre engine, although the modern incarnation will have more in common with the Ford-powered cars that appeared in 1961 as AC has lined up the ubiquitous 2.3-litre Ecoboost unit to feature in the Classic, suggesting it will come with more than 300hp and a six-speed manual.
Despite the cosmetic differences at the front, both derivatives will get the same reworked shell that ‘combines both old and new elements’ built atop a new tubular frame chassis and fetching 15-inch wire wheels. Thanks to UK-made carbon fibre bodywork, AC reckons the new Ace will only weigh around 1,100kg, which accounts for the guesstimated 4.6-second 0-62mph time. All vehicles, the maker says, will ‘arrive with a hand-finished interior’.
What precisely it means by ‘limited run’ isn’t, for now, detailed - but AC would certainly like anyone interested to know that reservations are already open ahead of production kicking off next year. Prices start from £175,000 (including VAT), which represents a significant saving over the Cobra, which was up to £325k in coupe format last time we checked. Of course, that car comes with a choice of lusty V8 engines and a suitably stupendous amount of horsepower. The Ace is obviously intended to be a bit more subtle, and - dare we say it - accessible, too. Let’s not forget either that any original, in-period example is not going to come cheap: here’s a non-official (but lovingly assembled from original parts) example in the classifieds that will set you back £125k. We know which one we fancy driving...
On ph today you can buy a nice replica ace with a triumph straight six for £44k, or a real ace for £125k
Why would you pay £175k for a new replica with a Ford focus engine?
Don't like the headlights either.
Interesting to reflect on the subsequent trajectory of those two car makers.
I think some other manufacturer passed on the opportunity to take the Beetle plans / kit.
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