ICONIC AC Roadster Reboots the Cobra for This Century

The Cobra is, much to Carroll Shelby’s chagrin, the most copied car in the world. The mixture of the famous shape and a steroidal American V8 creating a ridiculous power to weight ratio is a time tested formula that, although no longer much of a match for the world’s best, still provides heaping helpings of ear-to-ear grins (with the occasional side of soiled undergarments). But it’s worth noting that the fundamental shape and structure of the Cobra (and many of its imitators) are based upon the British AC Ace, a car that dates back to 1951.

Fitting, then, that AC Cars has teamed with American firm ICONIC Motors to help them launch their vision of a Cobra for the 21st century. Called the ICONIC AC Roadster, this new breed of beast features a state-of-the art chassis (with a carbon fiber passenger compartment and pushrod front suspension) cloaked in body formed from aircraft-grade aluminum and styled to look like a Cobra with more contemporary styling front and rear, though at least one member of the globe-spanning peanut gallery that is the Internet says the new nose reminds him of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man from Ghostbusters. Moving on…

As mentioned earlier, one of the most appealing aspects of the Cobra is that it mixes a crazy-powerful engine with a light chassis to create rocketsled performance. The AC Roadster is no different, because it boasts a NASCAR-derived, aluminum 6.8L pushrod V8 putting down over 800hp and 680 lb.-ft of torque. Couple that with a target curb weight of 2,200 lb. and you have a power-to-weight ratio of around 724hp per ton. Yeah, we nearly fainted the first time we saw that figure, too.

So what will one of these neo-snakes cost? At last report the target price was $600,000, but last report was two years ago, before AC came on board. Regardless of what the final cost to acquire one of these things will be, it will be money well spent if you have a thing for loud, scary-fast roadsters. And honestly, how many of us don’t?

Source: ICONIC Motors