AC Shelby Cobra: The Anglo-American Heist

Shelby AC Cobra has a glorious history (up until few years back) in the automotive industry and as one of the most sought out classic cars of all-time, this is hands down a collector's dream classic. However, the fairly recent controversy of forged AC Cobras raised a lot of eyebrows lately. Read on for more.

Active between 1962 and 1967 Shelby AC Cobra was a masterpiece from the joint effort of the U.K and the U.S. automotive industry from the 1960s. There were a total of three generations of Shelby Cobra over the course of five years, making these one of the most sought out classic cars of all-time.

MK I

Streamlined, 2-door roadster type body immediately sealed the deal for AC Cobra back in those days and the charm hasn’t faded a bit to these days. AC Shelby Cobra MK I was in production between 1962 and 1963 with a wheelbase of 90 inches and a curb weight of 2019 lbs. Under the hood, the MK I A.K.A CSX2000 packed a potent V8 with either a 4.3 or 4.7L option.

MK II

The MK II or more commonly known as the FIA Roadster was produced between 1963 and 1965. With virtually the same engine under hood (a 4.7L V8), the Roadster received a complete redesign. The car’s front end were revamped to accommodate a rack and pinion steering coupled with a transverse leaf spring suspension.

MK III

MK III was also known as AC Shelby Cobra 427 and was in production between 1965 and 1967. The third and last generation of AC Cobra ditched the boxy design of MK II and tried to adopt the 2-door roadster body again. The standard engine remainder the same 4.7L V8 with an option to upgrade to a 7.0L V8. Several concepts and modern day car followed the same footing of AC Cobras, but this was the official last generation of Shelby AC Cobra.

Interestingly enough Carroll Shelby was exposed of his scam of counterfeiting his own cars as the price of these classics kept skyrocketing. It appeared he found a loophole in the California DMV system and created counterfeit vehicles with chassis from 1991 and 92. Shelby admitted that these chassis were not real AC Cobras and as you’d expect, piles of lawsuits were thrown at him.

As one of the most expensive collection car of modern times that actually had drawn its maker to ‘forge’ it, you’d understand what kind of protection a car of this class may require. In case you happen to have one of the real AC Cobras in your possession, you’d like to make sure it gets the best protection available. Let us present you with CarCover.com – with world’s largest selection of car covers for virtually any make, model and year, CarCover.com is the most favorite car cover destination among car collectors. Check out our collection and score free shipping and more on us.