Monday 14th November 2016

AC Cobra 378 announced

Older MkIV design returning as 6.2-litre special, priced at less than £100,000

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You wouldn't be alone in being a little confused when it comes to the various AC Cobras available to buy right now. Interest in them has understandably piqued following the incredible £10.2m made by the very first one at RM's Monterey auction, something AC itself is keen to capitalise on.

Well if you can't afford this one...

The Heritage Cobras were confirmed back in September, taking a leaf out of Jaguar's book and surely guaranteed to be in high demand. The latest news from Autocar is the announcement of a Cobra 378, again playing the heritage card by using the MkIV Cobra as a base (AC currently only offers the MkVI cars; Cobra aficionados, we would love to know the differences!).

The new car will be powered by a 6.2-litre V8, the name in relation to its 378 cubic inches. Said to be available in normally aspirated and supercharged forms, we would guess they are the Chevrolet LS3 and LSA units. With power figures in the region of 450hp or 560hp, performance should be reasonably brisk with a kerbweight only just exceeding a tonne.

AC Cars is owned by Alan Lubinsky, who has said the new 378 Cobra is "a quasi-modern car, you can use it every day if you want." There will also be a more habitable model in future. For now Lubinsky has confirmed "significant upgrades", but also added that "the underlying hardware - the chassis and surrounding parts - are essentially as they were before, just with more modern mechanicals."

Production has begun, with UK customers set to receive their cars in February or March. Hopefully the weather is a little more suited to Cobras by the end of March! The new cars are also headed for China and Hong Kong, plus the United States once legislation on low-volume manufacturing rules is finalised. Price? "Something in the vicinity of £85,000 to £90,000". If an F-Type R is too prissy...

[Sources: Autocar, Chevrolet Performance, AC Cars, RM Sotheby's]

[Arbs]

These confuse me, the jaguars were built to standard specification using original materials and techniques. These just appear to be kitcars with a slightly official name? Or am I missing something! Also a Chevy engine in a cobra is a nono. You surely must be able to get a cobra kit car for less than £80k?