Originally posted by monochrome This not a Shelby Cobra. It is a Kirkham Motorsports aluminum-bodied current production vehicle, body hand formed on the original AC Motorcars bucks and delivered as a roller, ready to be engined. This
will happen in 4 years (assuming I don’t lose it all in the market).
Kirkham Motorsports Cobra 289 Street.
Lovely car. I recall when the AC Cobra first came out...back in '62 if my memory is right. I was a very young teenager and read all about it in Road & Track and Sports Car Graphic. Even though ...at that age..in the fall of '62...I yearned for the '63 split window Corvette coupe.
I do sort of recall that the fist AC Cobras had the Ford 260 at first. Then later on, the 427, sometimes the 428 FE, but I preferred the small block Ford V8 version, the 260/289, particularly the 289. When I say I 'preferred' ,,,it was all in my fertile imagination. In 1965 I got my first vehicle...a Jawa 50cc motorbike. Ok for a 16 year old.
As an aside my FIL had a '66 Meteor (full size Mercury clone) 2 door Hardtop with the 428 / 345 hp V8, heavy duty C6 transmission. It was in their family from '66 to '71, when he traded it in on a '71 Mercury Marquis...429 (385 series) V8. He used the '66 to commute from the city to his grain farm and back. Heavy car, but with the 428. it had a lot of mid range grunt..great for high speed passing. He used to run it on purple gas, which was farm vehicle only gas.
I drove it a bit and I recall really liking it. Big, powerful, comfortable.
Anyways back to the AC Cobra. I wasn't aware of the Kirkham Motorsports production. Aluminum body, that is something.
Beautiful choice of automobilia. What engine/ transmission combination are you considering ?
The Ford engine from the 1960's that appealed to me the most, was the solid lifter 289 cube/ 271 hp V8. I think that would make a nice selection for motive power for this car. But that's me.
I used to lust after the Sunbeam Tiger...289 engined version. Dark green.
Les