This Is The First AC Cobra Coupe You Can Buy, And It Has 800bhp

The Cobra GT Coupe is the first official roadgoing Cobra to ever get a hardtop body

02 Aug 2024

Despite being in production on and off since 1962 – whether in original form or as one of the many officially licensed continuation cars – there’s never been a factory coupe AC Cobra. Sure, there have been racing versions – the famous Shelby Daytona as well as AC’s own A98 – but they’ve been strict competition cars, not available to the buying public.

That changes today, though, as AC Cars – the current iteration of the very same company that was founded way back in 1901 – has debuted the Cobra GT Coupe, the first official Cobra coupe you can actually go and buy.

Well, assuming you have at least £325,000 burning a hole in your pocket, that is. That’s the starting point for the Cobra GT Coupe, which in the spirit of the original, is powered by a Ford V8: the 5.0-litre Coyote unit from the current Mustang, here making 450bhp.

Next in the range is the GT S Coupe, which sticks a supercharger on the engine to take power up to 720bhp. Finally, there’s a hardcore Clubsport Edition – this bumps power up to 799bhp, and has a targeted weight of under 1450kg.

Other specs, including performance figures, are unconfirmed, but it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that with numbers like those, it’s not going to be slow. AC also hasn’t confirmed the gearbox options, but the Cobra roadster you can already buy comes with either a six-speed manual or a 10-speed automatic – we’d imagine the same choices will be available here.

Along with the fixed roof, the GT Coupe has a more angular, kammtailed rear end than the rounded tail of the roadster. This is a nod to the AC A98, a coupe version of the original Cobra designed for the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the car that AC infamously tested on the M1 before British motorways had a speed limit, reportedly hitting 180mph. It’s a bit of a myth that this led directly to the implementation of the 70mph limit, though – don’t blame AC for that one.

In 799bhp Clubsport form, we suspect the GT Coupe will be capable of figures that approach if not eclipse that. We wouldn’t recommend trying it on the M1, though.

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.