With the British Government - among others - just about to launch a state-funded electric car initiative, you have to stand open-mouthed at the ‘optimism’ of another AC Cobra recreation seeing the light of day.

But that’s exactly what will happen at the Top Marques show in Monaco this weekend. AC’s Chairman Alan Lubinsky has entered into ‘a long-term strategic alliance’ with Gullwing GmbH in Heyda, Germany, to produce a Mk VI version of the company’s well-known Cobra roadster.

Bizarrely, the new car will be Chevrolet-powered (by a big-block, 437bhp 6.2-litre V8) rather than Ford, despite - presumably(?) - the availability of the blue oval’s superb Roush-tuned V8s. The 332mm front/298mm rear 4-pot caliper brakes will be from Porsche.

The aluminium and composite body is handmade (‘to last for ever’, according to the press release) and clothes a conventional jig-welded, round-tube spaceframe chassis.



The car’s most unusual feature is the removable roof with gullwing doors. There’s not much you can say about that - except to concede that no, no-one has accomplished that before.

I wonder why.

Well, there you go. There’s no price mentioned so far, and the European distribution network is yet to be announced, but, given a Classic Driver office guesstimate of what... 100,000 euros, shall we say?... I can only comment that you could buy a superb, pre-owned Bentley, Ferrari or Aston Martin for that. Or an AC Mk VI.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Gullwing GmbH