Messages

16

General Forum / Cobra Hard Top

« on: September 02, 2011, 08:18:05 »

For anybody seriously interested in a real Cobra hard-top. I purchased the only AC Factory produced [for CRS models] fastback design, with a flat back window, hardtop from the owner of CRS #22. After a year of reworking/modification/redesign to that original top. It in fact became a very expensive pattern, my good friend and fibreglass expert Pete Goodman can now produce a perfectly fitted top, tailored to a vehicle. My CRS has one and one of the 212 vehicles also has one.
   Alan Faulkner-Stevens

17

General Forum / Definition of 'Continuation'

« on: August 29, 2011, 19:07:25 »

I read with great interest various peoples view about what constitutes a Continuation car and that the AC should note what happens to these cars. Well the Club does note these matters, i keep a basic log of the cars and what happens to them. Not as detailed as my MkIV Cobra information but enough. The hows/wherefores and whys of the registration of these vehicles is between manufacturer/owner and the DVLA. If a car as presented to the DVLA meets their criteria for period registration, then they will issue a number plate. I have worked with the authorities during the registration of many vehicles and i know through direct experience. It really does not matter what registration a car carries because ultimately the cars chassis number is well known and generally a true history of that cars contruction is known to the people who probably really need to know. If a car is advertised as one thing and detailed subsequent investigation proves the cars information to be incorrect then the sale vehicle can be returned to the seller.I note the case last year of the vintage Bentley sold then the subject of a court case upon investigation of its stated selling details. Buyer beware is always the watch word, in other words, do not always believe what you read about something.
   Alan Faulkner-Stevens

18

General Forum / Membership fee payment

« on: June 26, 2011, 09:45:23 »

As a Club registrar i have read this thread with great interest. Firstly, i want to thank all the Members/enthusiasts from across parts of the globe who contribute. Due to the low volume production numbers of our cars, no help what-so-ever from the manufacturer, the Forum reaches many people and with that makes available a huge raft of knowledge and experience. I have found that genreally the people who contribute are genuine, if a little tongue in cheek sometimes. I am worried because our Club appears to have two distinct groups, the early boys [the very valuable cars], and the later owners, MkIV's etc. There are of course exceptions to this, but personally owning a CRS often makes me feel like the very poor relation. The fact i own 3 genuine Shelby Mustangs also does nothing to help at all. As a very minor Club official, the Forum is an excellent way of reaching other members with serious problems. For instance, the CRS front suspension top mount failure. People/owners need to be aware of these things. The fact the owners of the AC brand denied the problem is neither here nor there, the info needs to be availble to a larger audience. Fundamentally, i don't care whether you are a member or not, if you have something decent to say/valuable piece of experience to pass on, please do so its important. I am saddened to say in the AC old guard there are some serious stiff shirts who don't like us new boys with our modern ways and strange technology but they are a dying breed who i beleive strangle the Club. I would ask this though, these straight laced people who don't like the Forum etc, what are they doing to promote the Club or get our cars our to a wider audience? When i go to a car show, i would say if there is a Cobra there it is a MkIV with a friendly owner who is willing to talk to the public about their car. Without letting people know about our cars how are we going to get people who are outside the AC circle interested in our vehicles, perhaps aspire to one, and join the Club thus bringing fresh blood/ideas and of course subscriptions. As a Shelby Mustang owner also i read a post which discussed the fact the early cars had reached such heady values they had automatically excluded 90% of interested enthusiasts who with families/commitments could never hope to own such a car. However, when Shelby produced his new Shelby GT from 2006 at an affordable price, he opened the brand up to a completely new audience, thus reinvigorating the Shelby name. New younger people could own a piece of the history, this is no different to the late AC cars MKIV/CRS etc. Without these new members our Club is going to die out. Please member/non-members don't give up on this Club or writing on the Forum, without  your input its nothing.

19

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / CRS WET WEATHER GEAR

« on: June 02, 2011, 07:49:36 »

Good Morning Mike, nice to hear you are enjoying the car and have sorted out some of the restrictions!! The front shock tower brace is very important. AC changed the front suspension shock tower design on the CRS chassis away from the much stronger MkIV varient. On high mileage cars, two sections at the top of the towers failed at the welded joints, causing suspension collapse. The brace stops this direct load on the welded section. AC denied the problem and funnily enough when they manufactured the MkV chassis [based upon a CRS chassis]for a short period it had extra braces built into the chassis to negate the need for the brace we owners are fitting. Strange that??? Have you converted from 16inch wheels to the wider/better 15 inch ones? Fantastic effect on the handling and dry weather grip, however quite expensive to do. Any advice/help you need please feel free to contact me, best wishes Alan

20

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / CRS WET WEATHER GEAR

« on: June 01, 2011, 21:14:36 »

Welcome CRS9505, i am the MkIV Cobra Registrar and own CRS9510. For your information and enhanced driving pleasure there are some small improvements that i would recommend to any CRS owner, especially if your car has not had them done. Based upon my inspection of nearly all the other early build cars, your vehicles engine is a 1994 built Mustang unit. The engine is completely woken up by the changing of its spark plugs to NGK Iridium units, the replacement of the AC air filter and housing with an ITG free-flow filter and most importantly the fitting of a front suspension shock tower brace. Nearly all the other CRS owners i know have completed these changes and the feed-back is nothing but good. There are other things can can be done to improve the car, but the mentioned three are cost effective and have the most dramatic effect.
   You were shown a picture of the 212 model with a hard-top on, i completed the redesign and development work on that top and can put you directly in touch with the manufacturer should you fancy that route.
   If you need any help/advice please feel free to contact me [faulknerstevens@btinternet.com]
   Alan Faulkner-Stevens

21

General Forum / The Gauge Shop - Beware!

« on: April 18, 2011, 07:41:57 »

Morning ANF 289, as someone living here in the UK can i help in any way? Do you want me to call this guy for you? If i want any sort of instrument refreshed or repaired i would sent it to a company called Speedy Cables who are in Wales. They have proved very helpful and very reliable in completing work for me in the past.
   Let me know, Alan
   faulknerstevens@btinternet.com

22

General Forum / Iconic - Holy Moly

« on: March 24, 2011, 06:58:20 »

What on earth is happening to AC? They had a fantastic product, the Cobra, built in traditional terms. The last true variant being the English built CRS. A tried and tested chassis with a modern bodyshell, Ford engine and excellent build quality and it met all the current legal criteria. It then reappears as the MkV, which was a very poorly contructed thing, embarrasingly bad build quality, which fortunately died quickly. Then to add insult to injury a the MkVI, a kit car, well engineered, but a kit never the less with a AC badge on it. Now another well engineered assembly of parts with a AC badge on it. How can one company get it so wrong? Carroll Shelby continues to produce his CSX Cobras, with fibreglass or aluminim bodies, following all the tried, tested and well known componets which just keep selling. They are a good price, build by Shelby or approved people to give a known, desirable product.
   Why didn't AC go down Shelbys route?

23

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / AC Cobras built in 1995

« on: November 15, 2010, 08:27:49 »

Hello Brian, Thank you for posting details and pictures of #1397. Using this information I have updated my copy of the MkIV Registry information. I will be passing this forward to the Club to again update the on-line version, with other new information I have learned since the last posting. Would it be possible for you to directly send me copies of the photographs for storage in the hard copy files? many thanks
   Alan Faulkner-Stevens [MkIV Registrar]

24

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / CRS for sale

« on: October 27, 2010, 22:48:49 »

For general information again, another CRS, number 19, was recently advertised on the Pistonheads web-site. I was asked by a Swiss client to contact the owner and inspect it for him. This, in my opinion, is the best one in the Country. A one owner, 5300 mile car, untouched original condition, so with all the normal CRS pluses and minuses, but totally cared for and loved all of its life. Have never seen a better condition CRS anywhere and that incudes John Lewis's old concours winning car. Brought the car at full asking price and it will be going overseas.
   A word of warning, owner very upset by certain callers from the advert, some very rude, some abusive when he wouldn't take less money for the car and many rude dealers out to make a quick buck. Very unimpressed by the whole experience and in some respects very stupid of the callers as the owner is a Solicitor!!

25

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / CRS for sale

« on: September 25, 2010, 08:44:34 »

M-A asked me to let other CRS owners know that the car sold at it full asking price of £47500, quite quickly..only a couple of messers. Perhaps showing that these are still under priced cars

26

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / Tyres

« on: July 15, 2010, 07:15:16 »

The last set of 16 inch tyres I purchased for a Cobra were Kumho Ecsta V70A, which are basically a track day tyre and have a hard compound. The sizes used were 225/50x16 [front] and 265/45x16[rear] These were recommended to me by John Lewis, before he sold his car and he said they were fantastic. I only drove a Cobra fitted with them a short distance but found them good, hope that helps.

27

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / I got myself some new boots!

« on: May 31, 2010, 21:42:57 »

The 15 inch wheels and Avon CR6ZZ tyres are one of the best improvements you can make to any later Cobra. I have a set on my own CRS and love them and have recommended them to many other owners. However, they have one draw-back and it must be considered as a recent experience in my CRS reminded me. The Avons are road legal units based upon Avon Racing Intermediates, not wets. They are fantastic in the dry, once warmed up and good in damp road conditions if treated with respect however, they do not have a tread pattern designed for heavy standing water. The tyre cut grooves have little or no way of passing any water gathered in the centre of the tread out to the sides of the tyre, to clear it. A little enthusiastic cornering round a Milton Keynes roundabout, after hitting a small standing puddle ended with a side spin and off, across the grass verge and into a hedge, narrowly missing a large concrete lamp-post. A very chastening experience. The car gave no warning prior to it change of direction and catching it only partly redirected its sideways momentum. No damage done, apart from my pride. It just reminded me though, Cobras bite and the Avons are not for very wet usuage.

28

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / Clutch cables

« on: May 08, 2010, 08:17:58 »

If you are asking about MkIV clutch cables, Gerry Hawkridge at Hawk Cars here in the UK makes a superb easy fit/no messing replacement. If you are asking about CRS cables, they were based upon Mustang originals and then modified.

29

General Forum / Silverstone Classic event

« on: May 01, 2010, 07:47:30 »

I would be happy if Silverstone were getting this extra money and I would be more inclined to pay it. Unfortunatly I have been informed by Silverstone staff the whole Classic event is managed by a seperate company and they get all the money, not the Circuit.

30

Mk IV, Superblower, CRS and other Continuation Cars Forum / EFI engines for MkIV Cobras

« on: April 20, 2010, 08:13:08 »

We used the IDF style throttle bodies, the main reason being they were the lowest profile ones as there was concern about clearance on the underside of the bonnet. There were two sizes available, 48mm and 50mm, based upon our engine configuration, although giving good performance we always had an eye towards emissions. Pete feels because we were not trying to achieve ultimate power either version is quite satisfactory. The only difference may be a slight change in the torque curve. I believe the produced level of horsepower from this engine will be more than enough and I expect it will make an excellent all round driving car, especially in an aluminium bodied vehicle. My CRS is the lightest version of the Cobras so will have an advantage over an aluminium car with this engine installed.
   I never forget the recommended torque limit for a standard T5 is only 350lbs/ft, and ultimately this engine exceeds that, but it's peak torque is little further up the rpm range, so keeping away from hard throttle standing starts all should be well.
   The idea of this engine always was driveability and modern usage.