AC Ace

AC Ace wis a caur made bi AC Cars o Thames Ditton, Ingland.

Heestory

AC came back tae the mercat efter the Seicont Warld War wi the staid Twa-litre range o caurs in 1947, but it wis wi the Ace sports caur o 1953 that the company really made its reputation in the post war years. Castin aroond for a replacement for the ageing Twa litre, AC teuk up a design bi John Tojeiro that uised a licht ladder teep tubular frame, aw independent transverse leaf spring suspension, an an open twa seater alloy body that wis made uisin Inglis wheelin machines, possibly inspired bi the Ferrari Barchetta o the day.

Early caurs uised AC's elderly twa litre, overhead cam, 100 bhp (70 kW), straucht sax ingine (first seen suin efter the end o the First Warld War) which gae a tap speed o 102 mph (164 km/h) an 0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 13 seconds. It wis hardly a sporting ingine, houiver, an it wis felt that something mair modren an pouerful wis required tae put the modren chassis tae guid uise. Sicweys, frae 1956, thare wis the option o Bristol Car's superb twa litre 120 bhp (89 kW) straucht sax ingine wi 3 downdraught carburettors an slick fower speed gearbox. Top speed leapt tae 116 mph (186 km/h) wi 0-60 (96 km/h) in the nine seicont bracket, an response wis much sweeter an modren. This wis replaced in 1962 wi the 2.6 liter Ken Rudd 'Ruddspeed' ingine, adapted frae that uised in the Ford Zephyr. It uised 3 Weber or SU carburettors an aither a 'Mays' or iron cast heid. This set up boosted the caur's performance further, but it wis na lang afore Carroll Shelby pulled AC's attention tae the Cobra, sae anerlie aboot 40 wur ever made.

In the final years o productions some Ace models wur fitted wi the MKII Ford Zephyr 2.6 litre straucht-6 ingine. Thir Ford engined models haed a smawer grille which wis carried ower tae the Cobra.

Overdrive wis available frae 1956 an front disc brakes wur an option frae 1957, awtho thay wur later standardized. Wi the ingine well back in the chassis, the Ace handled well an wis successfu in competeetion.

Joining the Ace in 1954 wis the Aceca haurd tap coupé, which haed an early form o hatchback rear door but uised the same basic timmer framed alloy body.

Road test

The Breetish Motor magazine testit an AC engined Ace in 1954 recording a tap speed o 103 mph (166 km/h) an acceleration frae 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 11.4 seconds an a fuel consumption o 25.2 mile per imperial gallon (11.2 L/100 km; 21.0 mpg-US).

The test caur cost £1439 includin taxes.

Motor Sport

The caur raced at Le Mans in 1957 an 1958. Few caurs wi this provenance hae survived an ar extremely valuable. Thay can range frae $100,000 or mair for an unrestored caur, even ane in pieces, tae in excess o $400,000 for a restored AC Ace.

AC Cobra

When Bristol ceased building thair 6-cylinder ingine in 1961, AC's awner, Charles Hurlock, wis approached bi Carroll Shelby tae uise a Ford V8 in the Ace chassis, producin the AC Cobra in 1962. Production o the Ace ended the same year. The AC Cobra came in smaw block an later big block configurations. It wis Ford's big block 427 "side-oiler" that led tae the caur winnin Le Mans in Juin 1964. At the time, the AC Cobra 427 wis the fastest "production" caur in the warld.

AC Brooklands Ace (1994 - 2000)

The Ace name wis reintroduced in 1994 wi a radically new design. The new Ace offered an option o a 305 hp (227 kW) Ford V8 "Quad Cam" or a Lotus 350 hp (261 kW) ingine. The caur haes features sic as air conditioning, full hide interior an GPS navigation.

Replicas

As wi the Cobra, some AC Ace replicas hae been made but ar much rarer.