The Other Coupes
The Lessons of History

Just as the Cobra was not the only car to share the AC chassis and body, the Daytona Coupe was not the only coupe body to find its way onto an AC chassis. The family portrait would not be complete without a few snapshots of the cousins.

The two-seater AC Aceca, the fastback version of the AC Ace roadster, was powered by the Ace 6-cylinder engine. AC built about 151 of the handsome coupes. AC also produced the AC Greyhound, a four-seater version of the AC Aceca with revised front end styling and the Bristol engine.

AC also built a one-off AC Cobra Coupe to run in the 1964 Le Mans, the race won by Bondurant and Gurney in the Daytona Coupe. The AC Coupe was beautiful, sleek, and fast. On June 10, 1964, in the early morning hours, AC testers attained a speed of 185 mph on Britain’s M1 no-speed-limit super highway. Alas, a reporter was present and the ensuing publicity and subsequent do-gooder uproar in the notorious British tabloid press are frequently blamed for the imposition of national speed limits in Britain.

The AC Coupe was involved in a tragic accident at Le Mans and written off. AC never built another one. The original has since been rebuilt and remains in England.

The fastback coupe AC Aceca

The restored AC Coupe

The Savonuzzi designed, Ghia built body was originally fitted to a Fiat 8V chassis. John Willment found the discarded body in a junkyard and married it to a leftover 427 Cobra competition chassis. A Holman-Moody 427 with twin four barrels was fitted for propulsion. Willment lost interest before the project was completed and sold it. The car has bounced around since then and has never been fully sorted out. It is the only Cobra coupe that has never seen a racetrack. This may be a good thing.

The front is quite handsome. From the rear, it looks to me like the result of an ill advised one-night-stand between a Karmann-Ghia and a Buck Rodger space ship. But hell, I’m just an engineer.

Willment/Ghia 427 Coupe

The big power boys at Shelby American remained committed to the red-blooded American premise that there is no horsepower problem that more horsepower won’t solve. On the same day that the Daytona Coupe first took to the track at Riverside, the first big block roadster also took its first test laps. The huge aluminum 390 FE engine overpowered the flexible 289 chassis - fast as blue lightning in a straight line, but a real handful in the turns.

Nevertheless, the die was cast. The 427 Cobra roadster with a redesigned coil spring chassis would soon replace the 289 Cobra with its antiquated leaf spring chassis.

The Type 65 Super Coupe

The ill-fitting English body was constructed in London and fitted to a coil spring chassis. But by then the Ford-Shelby contracts for the GT-40 had been signed, so the bare body and chassis were shipped back to Los Angeles in mid-1965.

The Type 65 was viewed by Ford as a direct competitor to their baby - the GT-40. Support for the project disappeared. It was shoved off into a corner where it stayed until Shelby American closed its doors in 1970. It changed hands several times until owner Craig Sutherland commissioned Mike Dopudja to complete it in 1979. Finished and painted team colors, the car has competed in a number of vintage events. It was not fully sorted out until a 1992 suspension rebuild. It remains active in vintage events to this day.

The Lessons of History

The Aceca and Greyhound, the slowest of the AC based coupes, were also produced in by far the greatest number because they were street worthy - finished and refined. They were cars that people would buy and drive.

The Daytona Coupe and Willment Coupe were the most successful. The speed was there, true, but you have to finish to win. The cars were designed to be winners by people who knew what they were doing. They were tested and refined to give then the handling, braking, and reliability needed to compliment their speed. They did finish. And they did win.

The Willment/Ghia Coupe and the Type 65 tell us a lot about commitment to completion. Willment lost interest in the Willment/Ghia Coupe. Brock was pulled off the Type 65 after Shelby and Ford lost interest. Without their spiritual fathers to guide and champion their completion, neither were ever fully developed or completed.

The ideal GT coupe is then both beautiful and fast. It has handling and braking to match its straight-line speed. It is solid and reliable. It is refined and comfortable. It is capable of transporting a driver and passenger long distances in comfort and confidence. In the inevitable tradeoffs between purpose and bulk, between simplicity and gadgets, between clean simple design and the styling fad de jour, the true GT remains true to its design goal - lean and uncluttered.

Not just anyone can create and build a great GT car. It takes vision, commitment, continuity, and carry through. You have to design, test, refine, and produce to high standards.