AC Zephyr at Pebble Beach

[bitzman]

At the 2008 Pebble Beach concours, amongst the fully restored (and some say over-restored) multi-million dollar cars
there was a somewhat tatty AC Zephyr roadster in British Racing Green with red leather This is the first one I have ever seen and it is remarkable how much it looks like the 260 Cobra, albeit with no fender flaring.
The dashboard layout is similar to the Cobra but the shift lever with its strange S-shape looks like something from a tractor. The car had no side vents. This was apparently the third generation starting with the '53 A.C. Ace. When they went to the lower profile Ford Zephyr engine they were able to lower the hoodline to the shape used in the Cobra.I think there were just 26 or so made. I am grateful to Pebble Beach for establishing a class for unrestored cars or I might have had to wait decades more for someone to restore one. I predict that A.C.Zephyr prices will go up now that Pebble Beach displayed one, and there is still such a vast differance between their value and that of the A.C. Cobras.

[DeLa1Rob]

A.C. cars in general should be appreciating in value. They are the roots of the Cobra and a good value for those who can't afford the Shelby product.

robin

[56ace]

The RS 2.6 Aces (the designation for the Ken Rudd tuned Zephyr powered cars) are already pretty pricey since there were only 37 convertible versions made and 8 Aceca coupes. The 2.6 engine could be had in 5 different states of tune with the Stage 5 version putting out 170hp. Not in Cobra territory, but still a pretty good performer for a 2.6 liter engine.
Jay

[steele138]

How about a picture or two?
Always fun to look at how the cars changed,or stayed the same
steele

[56ace]

Heres a link to a couple of pictures.

http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/47/gallery.ehtml

They are a bit grainy, but you can see the similarities and the lack of fender flares. I'll see if I can find some other pics....
Jay

[steele138]

Jay
Thanks for sharing
Scott

[56ace]

Here is a link to some better pictures and in their ad they do call it an Ace Zephyr (instead of a 2.6 Ace) which I have never seen done until now.

http://www.jbradburn.co.uk/zephyrrs5036/index.php

Jay

[Magstar]

The Pebble Beach car is no# 5028 ,still owned by the original owner with one repaint about 30 years ago. There were 37 cars built including the proto-type ,as I understand one was distroyed and the serial # was put on a different car. A friend of mine owns # RS5025 which was the FIA homalagation car ,1 of 13 with stage 5 tuning and 1 of 18 with overdrive trans, the only one built with a header instead of a cast manifold. Very cool cars!!!!

[bitzman]

The late Ak Miller, one of the pioneers of hot rodding (before he went to WWII and the Battle of the Bulge) told me once that he put a Ford engine into an AC well before Shelby. Now I have seen pictures of a devin bodied car with a Ford in it that looked like a sports car but it wasn't an A.C. Has anyone else ever seen a picture of that Miller-built A.C. Ford, and what engine could have it been if it was pre 260-289?

[56ace]

Here is a link to a thread on club cobra that talked about Ak's car awhile back.

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/show...ghlight=miller

In short, Ak bought one of the Sebring cars ('58 maybe?), heavily modified it for racing at Bonneville, then said he was going to strip it down, put a Devin body on it, and then run it at Pike's Peak. Since he ran a Devin at Pike's Peak for a few years, it was probably what was left of the Ace.

Jay