One to Buy: Pacific Green ex-London Motor Show 1966 AC Cobra 289
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Of the myriad Cobra variants, one of our favourites here at Supercar Nostalgia is the comparatively little known AC-badged, 427-chassis’d but 289-engined iteration sold by AC Cars in Great Britain, around Europe and sometimes even further afield.
In total, just 17 right-hand drive examples of this rarely seen model rolled out of AC’s Thames Ditton factory between 1966 and ‘69. They all featured a 289 cubic-inch / 4.7-litre small block High Performance Ford V8 hooked up to a four-speed manual Borg-Warner transmission. Most significantly, all this was dropped into a second gen. Cobra 427-type chassis with its larger diameter tubular frame and coil over suspension.
Aside for AC instead of Shelby badges and different VIN prefixes, these AC Cobra 289s were identical to those sold on the other side of the Atlantic.
Currently on offer at the European Collectibles showroom in Costa Mesa, California, is a right-hand drive Cobra 289 fresh from a recent in-house restoration: chassis COB6113.
Configured in its original, ultra rare and super desirable colour combination of Pacific Green with Black upholstery, COB6113 is understood to have starred on AC’s stand at the London Motor Show in October 1966.
It was then sold to Sheila Forsyth of Camberley, Surrey, who retained it until May 1968 when it was sold via AC dealer Scobies Garage in Bootham, York, to Julian Gardner of London. Gardner kept COB6113 until July 1981, at which point it departed for the United States.
Today, this exceptional five owner matching numbers machine is being offered with a documented 42,000 miles on the odometer.
