If you see an AC Aceca coming down on the road, you’re likely to say, “Wow, I didn’t realize they made a Shelby Cobra coupe!” Well, they didn’t.
The Shelby Cobra has a long pre-history. And it started with AC Cars, its venerable British auto company parent.
The 1956 AC Aceca for sale on eBay is a very rare hardtop coupe with a four-speed manual transmission. The Buy-It-Now price is $150,000. The chassis number is AEX 556, with engine CL2250.
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So Many AC Variants
The plot for the Aceca gets thick very fast. Blame any confusion on British automakers. In those days, they hand-built cars in small numbers, with a bewildering number of variations.
Here’s what you need to know:
- The Aceca was based on the open-top AC Ace roadster
- The AC Ace's legendary design is what spawned the Shelby Cobra
- The Aceca (pronounced a-see-ka) is the rare hard top version
The styling looks timeless to us now, but it goes way back. John Tojeiro—the revolutionary race car designer and engineer—built a handsome light car with a tubular frame for racing. The bodywork was more or less copied from the flamboyant Ferrari 166 Barchetta, which debuted in 1948. But AC wanted a modern, postwar design. So the firm licensed Tojeiro’s design for the Ace. It was on the market by 1953. The Aceca hardtop coupe used traditional construction methods, with hand-formed panels over an ash wood frame. We just mentioned Ferrari, but the rear-end also looks like the contemporary Aston Martin 2/4. The AC Aceca had a higher top speed than the Ace despite being heavier—thanks to improved aerodynamics.
The AC Aceca looks good from every angle, like a smaller Aston Martin 2/4.
The closed Aceca, intended as a GT for European cross-border travel, was offered from 1956 to 1963. A total of 151 early cars, including the one for sale on eBay, used AC’s 90-horsepower overhead-cam two-liter straight-six.
Another 169 are known as Aceca-Bristols because they had a highly regarded Bristol “D-Type” six-cylinder engine offering 125 horsepower. And we’re still not done with all the variations because another eight had 2.5-liter Ford Zephyr power.
Are they Aceca-Fords? No, they’re the Aceca 2.6, and with tuning, they could achieve 170 horsepower and 130 miles per hour.
Enter Carroll Shelby
The Shelby part of this story didn’t start until 1961, when Carroll Shelby heard that AC was discontinuing the Ace. He realized that the Ford 260 V-8 (later, the 289 and the fire-breathing 427) would fit under its hood. Shelby built the first Cobra after AC sent him a car.
The AC cars might not be Cobras, but they’re quite fun to drive. Many enthusiasts say the AC models handle better than the highly valued 450-horsepower 427 Cobra. The latter is a handful.
Excellent Care for This AC Aceca
Traditional British black leather contrasts with bright red carpets.
The car for sale on eBay is silver, with a striking interior that combines black leather with red carpeting. The numbers match.
The 1956 AC Aceca is in Philadelphia now. But the car spent most of its life in Northern California. It got love from a succession of owners:
- The third owner bought it around 1990 after a period of sitting. It soon got back on the road.
- It then moved to New York State, where it received a sympathetic restoration, including a bare-metal repaint in the current silver.
- The longtime fourth owner pulled the engine and had it rebuilt by AC specialist Rod Briggs in England. The leather was renewed in 2017.
- In 2018, the AC went to the current owner, also in New York. It has been “maintained and stored in a proper manner” since then. There are no pressing needs.
The Aceca was in one-family ownership from 1991 to 2018.
The eBay AC Aceca comes with factory tools, a jack, and records.This is the only AC Aceca on eBay, but there is a plentiful supply of parts. It’s in pristine condition now. But at some point, it will need replacement bits. Many parts will probably fit from the more plentiful Ace, and those are also available.
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This article is meant to provide general guidance only. Automotive maintenance, repair, upgrade, and installation may depend on vehicle-specifics such as make and model. Always consult your owner's manual, repair guide for specific information for your particular vehicle and consider a licensed auto-care professional's help as well, particularly for advance repairs.