The AC Cobra is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars with a Ford V8 engine. Between 1962 and 1967, it was occasionally made in the United Kingdom and afterwards the United States. The Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra were the names under which the AC Cobra was marketed in the US.
In 1963, the AC Cobra 289 made its debut. The AC Cobra 289 has a 4727 cm3 (288.5 cu in) naturally aspirated V8 cylinder engine. It has a maximum output of 423.0 Nm (311 lb.ft) of torque at 4800 rpm and 275 PS (271 bhp - 202 kW) of power at 5750 rpm.
A Ford 289 cubic inch (4.7 L) Windsor V8 engine powers the vehicle. The vehicle could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in little under six seconds and could reach a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h). Carroll Shelby created the design, and AC Cars constructed the vehicle.In its early years, the Cobra was intended to compete with other sports cars like the Jaguar E-Type.
Ford supplied the original Cobras with a 260 cubic inch (4.3 L) V8 engine. A Ford 289 cubic inch (4.7 L) V8 engine powered later models. In the 1980’s, Carroll Shelby authorized the reproduction of his legendary Cobra and allowed them to stamp CSX chassis numbers on them. These were built by several manufacturers and in several series, and are typically considered the most valuable of all the Cobras not produced in 1960s.
the first Cobra’s were produced in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. As Shelby was not prepared in California when the ships arrived on the East Coast with the AC bodies, Ford had them dropped in Pittsburgh at a dealer who installed the Ford prepared engines. I believe later they went to New York to the auto show for display so they were not yet Shelbys they were Ford cobra’s.