Hello everyone,
I'm very pleased to have discovered this forum this stormy Friday morning. My name is Chuck Maddox [the third]...
Along with my sister I own AC428 Chassis No. CF7:
which I helped my father [Chuck Jr.] locate in the mid-1970's in England. Which is a moderately amusing story, as the car was in London, I found it while in the US Midwest and it was nearly two full years before I could legally drive [:0] , but I'll try to stay on topic for this first post.... [
] Thus, hile I've only ,,technically,, been an owner since my father passed away a number of years ago, I have quite a few of first hand experiences.
Engine Temperature: I'll echo everything that Emmanuel and others have said about the engine's operating temperature...
The six[seven] word summary:
These cars do not run cool [period]. CF7 is equipped with a pair of electrically activated fans which kick in about 95°C and will switch off about 90°C. In the summer months, unless the ambient temperature is unseasonably cool or you're at highway speeds, they are running, or cycling on/off with regularity. In the cooler months, with cooler temperatures they operate less frequently, but at lower speeds and or in City traffic, they are on quite a bit.
I'd also echo that putting in a Transmission cooler, if the '428 you're purchasing/own has an Automatic, is a very good idea. I'd also recommend installation of a high-volume oil-pump which will keep the circulation of engine oil moving apace. In fact a finned aluminum oil pan might help as well. The more freely flowing the oil and the more opportunities it has to be cycled away from the hotter areas of the engine block the better is the thinking here.
I'd tend to recommend avoidance of modifications of the body work as much as possible. They didn't make very many of these, it'd be a shame to go ape on such a beautiful design. I'd try to stick with modifications which can easily be reverted, electric engine fans, the side vents between the front wheel and the doors [viewable below] mentioned previously. In other words solutions that AC tried back in the day as much as possible, unless you're buying CF1, etc... [Please leave CF1 alone!]
[I should mention that CF7 was the factory press car for several years and many picture in era reviews are of CF7. If you see tag: UPG428F, chances are it's CF7]
I could see adding a chin spoiler with the idea of deflecting more air into the grill, more so than adding to the rest of the body. [Please leave the exterior hood unmodified...]
However, even on hot days with the windows down and the various flip open windows and vents open, the AC428 is a very comfortable car to drive as long as you're moving above 25mph or so. Even with a black leather interior as CF7 has. Mr. Frua must have been aware of the heat situation with the big block Ford plant when he created a coupe with 8 windows!
Suspension: The AC 428 is provides an excellent and comfortable ride. It's plain in my mind that this car was intended for extended drives in the strongest sense of "Grand Touring". The thought of taking an extended trip in other cars of this era make me wince if not cringe. In fact, when the AC arrived in-country, my Father and I drove it back some 1000 miles from the port of entry to the mid-west with no complaints at all. We had driven out with a covered car carrier, which we hadn't
However, there is more than a grain of truth to what Emmanuel says about the suspension... It is more tuned to long stints driving and comfort than handling prowess and clearance over rough railroad crossings. Of the things I would ask for in an improved edition it would be for some of the modifications he mentions. I would love to hear expanded thoughts from him and the rest of the peanut gallery here towards those ends. [Part Numbers and sources would be VERY helpful!].
All that said, the AC, well at least CF7, still corners like a cat and will acquit itself well in most situations albeit with a bit of body roll at higher speeds:
[Of course the car is going over 70 there and it was a kinky bend at that.]
... well, will acquit itself well as long as one isn't going up against cars with either more modern or extensively tuned suspensions. With a 79-81 series production run and a manufacturer who in the best of times was financially finite, there weren't a lot of resources for optimal suspension tuning.
The one other negative about the AC's driving experience is it's turning radius. It's bad, I mean it's close to full-sized Van bad. Fortunately, even with manual steering the AC is light enough that you don't have to wrestle the wheel with body-builder's strength, but one should expect to have to make several cuts to successfully parallel park. In fact, I'd wager that it wouldn't take most people very long at all to drive past close in parallel spots in favor of diagonal parking further along.
For the most part, in terms of
driving experience those are the downsides that come to mind. The big V-8 provides Torque galore at your beck and call, it accelerates briskly and smoothly on demand, and you can get an oil change just about anywhere. Brakes are very good, interior comfort and space (for two people) is excellent bordering on outstanding even for taller and larger folks. One can experiment with "Regular" grades of gas, mid-range is typically adequate except for hot days and hot runs, and at 70 miles per hour 20 miles per gallon is obtainable as long as you don't whomp on the go pedal a lot.
As far as
Ownership concerns... Mechanically, the design is sound and parts are pretty easy and straightforward to obtain. Mechanically it's a stretched AC Cobra 427. The major concerns are the bodywork, etc. I'd suspect I'd get a "He11 Yeah!" when I say the biggest fear of an AC 428 owner is of someone rubbernecking at that beautiful Frua body and causing a accident that will collect you. I mean, where is one going to find a windscreen if you catch a cast off pebble from a dump truck? Thames-Ditton?
Aside from that the other major concern is the steel the body was made from. Folks, the body is made of 1960's/1970's Italian coachwork quality steel. If you've been out and about in inclement weather, dry the car throughly before putting her away. The Italian steel of this era was notorious for rusting, however if you take care you can prevent or at least minimize any formation of rust.
A couple of points that I'd like to mention...
The body's design is simply drop dead gorgeous... The car does not have a bad side or angle on it. It simultaniously looks very rounded and sharp/pointy without having the bulbous looks of so many 1950's cars, or the very pointy and wedge shapes of cars a few years newer in design. The very paradoxical. There are lots of beautiful cars out there, chances are if you run across one while driving an AC 428 the occupants of the other car are
much more envious of you than you of them.
The coupe simply does not have a blind spot. The Greenhouse back window and those openable 8 side windows prevent that.
The Fueling system is pure genius on the coupe... Twin filler caps on either side behind the last side window assures you are always pulled up to the proper side of the pump for filling. In addition, the fuel tanks are nearly vertical on either side of the cavernous trunk assuring a steady feed of go juice under even the most spirited of cornering.
There is plenty of room around the engine to work. The only compromise which can be seen are fairly restrictive exhaust headers. I'm certain there is probably a way to retro-fit more open headers, but I'm not certain how one would do it without major surgery. Perhaps "shep" would have some insight about that.
The Coupe I have has it's original knock-off wire wheels. We've never had a problem with them, but I'd expect that solid wheels would be more advisable with a blueprinted or enhanced engine package.
I haven't had the good fortune to have
driven an original 427 Cobra, although I've had a turn at the wheel of several kit versions. But I've ridden in a number of original and kit Cobra 427's. They are harsh, brutal purpose built cars to go wickedly fast at the expense of virtually everything else. By comparision, the AC 428 is a gentleman's car that is well suited to civilized society while still being very capable of exhibiting and flourishing a fast and wild streak. This is a car one could commute to work in, in city traffic and it will display fine manners in such usage. In fact, I've read several "head-to-head" articles in various magazines over the years and nearly every one has finished off with a paragraph that I'll paraphrase as follows: ,,that all said, if given the chance to take any of these cars home to drive and to live with, the AC 428 would be my first choice and not even by a small margin...". These words are spoken in comparasion with the best of the direct competitors of the '428 in that era including the 427 Corvette, Jensen Interceptor and Jaguar XKE. While I do not have any first hand experiences with suspension modifications, I'd advise that one be conservative in changes in order to find the perfect compromise between ride comfort, ground clearance and cornering prowess.
[Wow, this had gotten long!] Anyway... The coupe is a great car [I've never seen a AC428 Convertable in person]. I'm personally hard pressed to think of any car I'd personally rather have. Sure, I'd love to own a GT-40 [original Mark III or the recent remake], a Pantera would be nice [and they can be found at very reasonable prices], but personally I think it's hard to beat a AC 428 for a fun, comfortable, enjoyable and livable car. It simply has so much going for it.
I look forward to having conversations with you all in the future.
As a bit of a welcoming gift, I'll point you all to a rather large PDF I created of an article on the AC 428 from Automobile Quarterly...
http://home.xnet.com/~cmaddox/motorin/AC_Article_AQ_v29-n4.pdf Be aware that this PDF is 6+ megabytes in size and will take some time to download to your machine [save it once it's done and read it with a PDF reader], but I wanted it big.
I'd love to hear from you all, especially if you know of AC resources in the Greater Chicago/Gary/Milwaukee metroplex. I'm afraid I'm not as much of a car collector as my father was... I'm more into collecting chronograph watches. So I'd love to know of resources in my area.
Cheers to you all and keep the shiny side up!
-- Chuck
P.S. I hope you all don't mind the length of this post. It's so nice to meet folks who know what these are! -- C
