It's REAL, but what is it?

STL Mark

STL Mark

Member #001
Honorary Member
Location (City)
Pacific, MO
First Name
Mark
Last Name
Earls
A 427 1968 AC Cobra - Light Blue

It's not a Shelby. But it is a Cobra. It's an AC. But it's made in 1968. It has a Ford big block. But it was assembled in England. It's left hand (US) drive. It's an enigma wrapped in a mystery. I saw this car today at Fastlane. It was built in 1968 using all of the chassis and body parts that remained at AC Cars. This car is actually chassis #1 (MX#1). It is fully documented including letters from the US buyer dated 1968 inquiring as to the progress of his build. Furthermore, it is represented as the only remaining AC Cobra 427 - chassis #1. It's been "lightly restored" and appears as new. It claims all original running gear. It is aluminum, and stunning. Is it valuable? You tell me. It has taken first place awards at Shelby events, but it appears in no registries. What do you guys make of this?

For Sale at Fastlane Classic Cars in St. Charles, MO - and listed on EBAY

!!f8efpQEGE~$%28KGrHqIH-DIEvBI,7te!BL2PM!c7u!~~_4.jpg


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-Original-427-Only-Known-Surviving-Genuine-AC-MX1-Cobra-All-Aluminum-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem1c12210b71QQitemZ120563239793QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks
 
I am not sure the St Charles crowd is the audience to best sell this car. I would think a Barret Jackson or the like would be better.
 
I'm on Club Cobra with the same thread. They're giving this car a pretty cold shoulder. BUT - EBAY is on fire since I started posting with 4 bids now over 125K ! Still, half the asking price though.:eek:
 
Mark, I posted some info I found. I also e-mailed a couple of groups in England about this. So far, I can find nothing on chassis number MX1.
 
Here's what one guy posted:

"MX 1 was functionally the AC Cars "show chassis" for the lobby of the AC Cars factory in Thames Ditton. It was only constructed as a bare chassis, not as a Cobra. The fact that it was built to Cobra specifications long after the Thames Ditton factory closed does not make it an "original AC Cobra" in any fashion."

Those guys are weird. They won't give that car any credit at all - just another replica.

Not sure but it seems to be more than a replica, or continuation car and more along the lines of a completion car with an AC pedigree instead of a Shelby pedigree - although left hand drive.

It's funky for sure.

For example - if there were cleaning out the basement at Chevy in 1974 and found the parts bin containing all of the parts for the last 1953 Corvette (a car that never made it all the way down the line) and then assembled it using those parts and some repop parts as needed - would it not be at real 53 Vette?
 
Continuation at best is what I would call the Cobra. The Corvette example....if they were ALL original parts, a real one. The problem with this car is the fact the chassis was not meant to be a Cobra (see my latest post there) and it wasn't assembled by AC. What kind of get's me is the fact that the chassis number isn't listed in the AC registry books (that I can find). I say the car is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Me, I think somewhere between 100k & 200k due to the chassis, body and engine type.
 
I tend to agree with Tim on this one. Unique for sure, but no paper work to back it up, you are just buying an older continuation car.
 
Pedigree

There are a couple of us Hurricane owners that have spent extensive time researching the pedigree of our car. One thing has stood very clear as we met, viewed and discussed the original cars.

"if your car isn't one of the identified 993 frames - you are nobody" They come off as very arrogant, very elitist. I apologize that I stereotype them, we have met a couple real nice guys who have bent over backwards to help. But for the most part, owners of original cars look down their noses at us in the replica world.

Angliss has a very poor reputation with them since, in their estimation, led the charge in replicas. He had the original tooling and tried to capitalize on it. Angliss compounded his problems as he took money from various persons and often didn't supply what had been promised. If you research the AC/Shelby/Cobra archives, you'll find he isn't held in very high regard.

The car probably has some value in that it is so notorious. But how much is that worth? A wealthy investor could buy the thing, having "one off" car in a very prestigious group, but then they wouldn't recognize his car as legitimate.

I don't doubt Dave will find a home for it. He seems to find contacts no one else can. But I am guessing the price will be considerably less than what the owner originally asked

My 2c

Paul
 
An aluminum body replica with a standard bore 427 side oiler sells for? 150K maybe.
I believe the person who buys this car is going to have to go over 200k just from the documentation available. It just becomes a question for the purist, and trust fund babies, to decide what it really is. Having the shell built by the original AC goes long ways for some though.
Tacky place for the MSD box!
Orlando
 
Last edited:
OK - so nothing more than a replica?
No accounting for pedigree at all? Tough crowd.
That's pretty much what CC is saying too.
I guess they're right.

Whoa. I hope Fastlane knows what they're in for.
They're asking 225K at the store. It's at 150K on EBAY.

What I don't get though - is that when a guy buys a CSX4000/6000 car in 2010 with a chassis made in Poland or South Africa he can say it's REAL because it was touched by somebody in Las Vegas. But this car was made by folks at AC (in some incantation) in the 80s and it's spat upon. Tough crowd. I guess we know now how they really think in regards to our glass cars made in Missouri.
 
What's original on it? Chassis, maybe. The aluminum body, where did it come from? The engine, is it a '68 stamped block? Is the car assembled using 60's technology or are there modern upgrades?

I would never park my replica next to a real one, it might spit on me :D Kind of like you SPF guys :rolleyes: :D
 
Purple Venom said:
What's original on it? Chassis, maybe. The aluminum body, where did it come from? The engine, is it a '68 stamped block? Is the car assembled using 60's technology or are there modern upgrades?
Click to expand...

Now that's the first answer that makes any sense to me.

OK - so it's nothing more than a replica. Then, so are new CSX cars - replicas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top