COBRA REPLICAS

Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery. Cobra lookalikes have now become a genre rather than a specific car, and the existence of many times more offspring and lookalikes than originals suggests that the originals were eminently worth copying, by and for people who couldn’t afford the real thing.

The car that became the Cobra when it sniffed the automotive angel dust was the AC Ace, an exquisite and delicate gentleman’s sports car in the best of the British sporting tradition, ie. not very fast, and distinctly Italian in design. To be accurate, which is important in the Cobra world, the AC Cobra is an AC Ace with a bigger engine. The Ace was designed by John Tojeiro. He was not exactly Italian, but a Portuguese/British racing chassis and body designer. His designs reveal that he had admired many assorted Italian 1950s racing Barchettas and Etceterinis before creating the design that was bought by AC and emerged as the Ace. Some of the lines of a Ferrari Barchetta by Touring reappear on the Ace, but better resolved and with less clutter.

Tojeiro’s tubular ladder chassis for the Ace was innovative and light, with Fiat-style single transverse springs taking a substantial amount off the overall weight. The chassis was