As all decent god-fearin' folk know, tis indeed the AC289 Sports. Methinks a Hexagon person got a bit over-excited, or in political terms, they 'mis-spoke'. (I went to see the car in the company of a fine, up-standing gentleman AC289 Sports owner and the salesman admitted he had little knowledge of the tyres we were kicking...)
Although not offically admitted, but having interviewed Derek Hurlock, he confessed the 'Sports' was a stop-gap while they sorted the AC428, which was far more to his personal taste. They got a handful of cars out the door at over two grand a pop which helped use up the left-over parts from the Cobra days, including a few 'interesting' V8s that were sitting around cluttering up the place. There was never any chance of using the Cobra name as Shelby & Ford had a tight grip on that. No serious effort was made to promote the AC289. I always had the impression that the AC people didn't care too much for the Cobra but were hardly going to bite the hand that fed them!! I always had the impression that Mr. Hurlock was secretly relieved to see the back of both Ford and Shelby....! Less income = less hassle.
