AC 428 Coupé

Vehicle Overview

The AC 428 Coupé: In September 1961 the former Texan Ferrari driver Carrol H. Shelby offered the English sports car manufacturer AC Cars ltd. to upgrade the AC Ace, which had been in production since 1954, with a Ford 4,2-litre V8 engine with 260 PS . Shelby and the AC owner quickly came to an agreement. Already on February 01, 1962 Sherly could test a still unpainted prototype on the race track of Silverstone. The delivery of the first AC Shelby Cobra 260 started in the same year. A little later it was replaced by the 289. In October 1964, the new AC Shelby Cobra 427 model with a revised chassis and 7-litre (427ci) V8 engine with 390 PS was presented in Riverside (CA). Already in October 1965 -at the peak of the Cobra production- AC owner Derek Hurlock decided to build a Grand Tourer for the much larger luxury car market. At the 1965 Geneva Motor Show he contacted Pietro Frua. Frua ensured an immediate production of drawings for an open and closed two-seater as well as an open prototype for the London Motor Show of the same year.  It was not until Oktober 1966 that the first production model (CFX 2) was presented at the Paris Show, and the AC 428 Coupé at the Geneva Show in March 1967.