The AC Ace Is Back With Half a Ford V8 and Costs Shelby GT500 Code Red Mustang Money

A European body with an American heart – the simple Shelby recipe for an alternative to the ominous Corvette. Ford was looking for a way into the sportscar market without actually planting the blue oval emblem on such a car. The Thunderbird of 155-1957 had proven the concept's viability, badly mauling the Chevrolet Corvette in sales. Then Ford Motor Company threw a wrench in the whole idea and wedged a rear seat in the T-Bird.

The Ford sportscar was dead – on paper. Then, Caroll Shelby took over and convinced both the Brits and Henry II that the idea of putting an American V8 motor into a nimble English shell was the best thing since internal combustion. It wasn’t, but the Texan made a point – the Corvette went on to become a staple of American sportscar-making, while the Cobra became a legend.

Come 2024, the company that sells the AC cars (aptly named ‘AC Cars’) is resurrecting one of the most iconic nameplates in its history – and it’s putting American engines in it once more. It’s the AC Ace – and its body lines are a stark copy of the original model from the late 50s and early 60s. The resemblances stop at visual cues, though. The new car blends the original chassis concept with a carbon fiber shell and a supercharged powerplant to revive the legend from over six decades ago.

The AC Ace and the AC Ace Bristol Classic are two iterations of the same idea, with slightly different grilles that allegedly offer ‘alternative personalities of roadster’ to customers willing to spill upwards of 175,000 pounds sterling, or almost $229,000 for an old-looking two-seater with no roof and not a lot of performance going on.

The powertrain is a 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, but the manufacturer doesn’t specify the power and torque ratings clearly, instead limiting to give only approximations: some 277 lb-ft and ‘over’ 300 hp (375 Nm, 305 PS) isn’t something unbelievably cheerful, even in a 2,424-lb AC Ace (1,100 kg). The carbon fiber body – carved using the same technology as the AC Cobra GT Roadster of 2023 – sits on a three-inch (76.2-mm) tubular-steel chassis.

A six-speed manual transmission keeps things simple, with the 0-62 mph sprint recorded at 4.6 seconds (no word on the quarter-mile time yet). The engine is the inline-four pot that powers the current Mustang, albeit in the pony, it delivers slightly more torque (350 lb-ft, or 475 Nm). Reservations and orders are open, and deliveries are projected to start sometime next summer.