Description
Author: Brian Laban, Hardbound, 208, Pages, ISBN: 9781785000034 - This edition published in 2015
In a new edition of this classic text, Brian Laban brings the story of the AC Cobra up to date. Envisioned by the flamboyant Texan Carroll Shelby, the original production of the Cobra lasted just five years and amounted to barely a thousand cars built within the original framework.
But it was only the beginning of a story that is still very much alive, encompassing 'continuations', spin-offs, and a massive worldwide replica industry.
Shelby and AC Cobra details the man behind the cars, the story of their development, engineering and racing pedigree, and owning and driving these powerful, iconic cars today.
Carroll Shelby, dreamed of a special kind of sports car, a marriage of European style and chassis balance with lusty, affordable American V8 power. Others had dreamed, but the sometime military flier, sometime chicken farmer, sometime racing driver (and 1959 Le Mans winner) took the dream forward. Having retired from racing, he persuaded British sports car specialist AC Cars to build his car, and US industry giant the Ford Motor Co. to fund it. Its name also came to him in a dream - Cobra.
The Cobra had notionally different identities depending on whether you were British or American, a follower of AC or Shelby. But as a true collaboration, and to respect all camps, it is best described as the Shelby AC Cobra (adding, if needs be, 'Powered by Ford').
By any name, it became a seminal sports car of its generation, and an enduring legend, far beyond the strictly limited production numbers in its 'authentic' lifetime.
That lasted just five years and amounted to barely a thousand cars built within the original framework, but it was only the beginning of a story that is still very much alive, encompassing 'continuations', spin-offs, and a massive worldwide replica industry.
The Cobra was conceived as a road car, but given Shelby's (and to a lesser extent AC's) background, it would only ever be a short step to becoming a sports racing car. When it did, it became a world beater - officially so in 1965 when the Daytona coupe beat Ferrari to the World Championship for GT Cars, fulfilling a promise Shelby had made some years before.
In either incarnation, on road or track, the Cobra was a car of superlatives, from unrivalled street performance to near-unbeatable racing pedigree. It could even combine both, and many an everyday-driver Cobra was also a prolific weekend race-winner.
Shelby and AC Cobra is the story of the people, the thinking, the wheeling and dealing and chain of happy coincidences that made the Cobra far more than just another sports car. The story of Shelby, AC, Ford, the 1960s, fierce rivalries and leaps of faith that created an icon.
Noted and most prolific author, Brian Laban has been writing about cars, the motor industry and motor sport for more than forty years, for magazines, newspapers, broadcast, and online content.
He has written around forty books, edited several magazines and worked with many car manufacturers and race teams. He is a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and member (and former chairman) of the Fleet Street Group of Motoring Writers.
