Sixty-three years after Carroll Shelby first shoehorned a Ford V8 into a lightweight British roadster, AC Cars has done something it never managed in all that time: build a Cobra with a fixed roof. The Cobra GT Coupe arrives as the closed-top sibling to the GT Roadster that returned the nameplate to production in 2023, and it is a genuine landmark for Britain's oldest active vehicle manufacturer.
The design draws not from the famous Shelby Daytona Coupe, as you might expect, but from a far more obscure footnote in AC's history. The A98 was a one-off coupe that raced at Le Mans in 1964 and reportedly hit 183mph during testing on a UK motorway, a stunt some credit with prompting Britain's 70mph speed limit. The GT Coupe borrows its flowing roofline and chopped Kammtail, wrapping them in carbon fibre over an extruded aluminium spaceframe.
Under the bonnet sits the familiar Ford 5.0-litre Coyote V8, keeping a partnership that stretches back to the original Cobra alive. Buyers can choose between a naturally aspirated version producing 450 horsepower or a supercharged model pushing out a thundering 720 horsepower and 605 lb-ft of torque. The blown car dispatches 0-60mph in under 3.5 seconds and reaches a top speed of 198mph. Purists will be pleased to know a six-speed manual is available, alongside a ten-speed automatic with paddle shift.
Despite the vintage silhouette, the GT Coupe is very much a grand tourer rather than a stripped-out track weapon. There is room for taller occupants thanks to a double-bubble roofline, hand-stitched leather upholstery, analogue instruments, and modern infotainment and climate control. Each car will be hand-built to customer specification.
Prices start at £234,300 for the naturally aspirated model and rise to £256,300 for the supercharged version, which converts to roughly $315,000 to $345,000. That places the GT Coupe well above a Porsche 911 in the UK market. Production will be strictly limited, with first deliveries not expected until 2028 once existing Roadster orders have been fulfilled. AC's chief executive David Conza described the moment as moving from a boutique manufacturer to a global performance brand, targeting a tenfold production increase from around 100 cars per year to 1,000.
