Tag Archives: ac

AC MA-200 Prototype

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1963 AC MA-200 Roadster Prototype

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

This prototype was designed in-house at AC and looks like a combination of the AC 428, an Intermeccanica, and maybe a little Jensen-Healey. It never went into production, but was used by AC’s general manager for a few years before being sold to its first owner in 1968.

In 2006, the car made its way to Florida and was restored. Power is from a 4.7-liter Ford V8. It’s pretty crazy that this could’ve been the successor to the Ace, but AC was too busy keeping Shelby full of chassis to really put effort behind it.

Not to mention that this Italian-looking body was built in England about five years before Italy started putting bodies like this on its cars. It was recently for sale at a dealer for $950,000 now now has an auction estimate of $570,000-$700,000. So yeah, dealer listed prices are B.S. Especially for classic cars. Read more about this one here.

Update: Sold $473,174.

AC 2-Litre

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1948 AC 2-Litre Saloon

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | October 23, 2021

Photo – Brightwells

AC’s 2-Litre was their first post-war automobile, and it was really the largest shot at a “mainstream” automobile that they ever took. Pretty much everything after this was pure sports car. The 2-Litre, which was sold from 1947-1956, was available as a two- or four-door sedan. Drophead coupes were also offered. The Buckland was the open roadster variant.

The 2.0-liter inline-six dated to 1922 but was fitted with triple SU carburetors for post-war use and a factory-rated output of 74 horsepower. Top speed was 80 mph. Only 1,284 examples were produced of all types combined.

This car has been in the same family since new and was restored in the 1980s. It now carries an estimate of $8,200-$11,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $10,334.

AC 428 Coupe/Convertible

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1971 AC 428 Fastback

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 13, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

With the Americans really stealing AC’s thunder, the company decided to launch a grand tourer model instead. They took an extended Cobra chassis and dropped a Pietro Frua-designed body over it in 1965. The body featured an aluminum trunk lid and hood.

For power, they turned to Ford. A 7.0-liter (428ci) FE V8 was chosen, and when fitted with a four-barrel carburetor, generated 345 horsepower. The big issue was two-fold. First, the cars were expensive to produce, as the chassis were built in England, shipped to Turin to get a body fitted, and then returned to England to be completed. Second, the big engine put off a lot of heat, a lot of which would end up in the cabin.

This Fastback is one of 51 produced and one of about 80 428s (or Fruas, as they are also known) produced in total. It is expected to sell for between $150,000-$200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $173,600.

1968 AC 428 Spider

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 12-14, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

And here we have the drop-top version of the AC 428/Frua. It features essentially the same Frua styling but with a retractable cloth roof. Power was also provided by a 345 horsepower, 7.0-liter Ford V8.

The Spider variant is even rarer than the already-scarce Fastback. Just 30 were built out of the total run of 81 cars. This is sort of the peak example of the last true, stylish AC car. Sure, the company is still around, but everything after this really lacked the same sense of style. Not to mention that, once the 428 went out of production in 1973, AC didn’t offer another car until the 3000ME came along in 1979.

No pre-sale estimate is available at this time, but it is worth more than the coupe. You can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $302,000.

AC 428 Spider

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1968 AC 428 Spider

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 12-14, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

And here we have the drop-top version of the AC 428/Frua. It features essentially the same Frua styling but with a retractable cloth roof. Power was also provided by a 345 horsepower, 7.0-liter Ford V8.

The Spider variant is even rarer than the already-scarce Fastback. Just 30 were built out of the total run of 81 cars. This is sort of the peak example of the last true, stylish AC car. Sure, the company is still around, but everything after this really lacked the same sense of style. Not to mention that, once the 428 went out of production in 1973, AC didn’t offer another car until the 3000ME came along in 1979.

No pre-sale estimate is available at this time, but it is worth more than the coupe. You can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $302,000

AC 428 Fastback

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1971 AC 428 Fastback

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 13, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

With the Americans really stealing AC’s thunder, the company decided to launch a grand tourer model instead. They took an extended Cobra chassis and dropped a Pietro Frua-designed body over it in 1965. The body featured an aluminum trunk lid and hood.

For power, they turned to Ford. A 7.0-liter (428ci) FE V8 was chosen, and when fitted with a four-barrel carburetor, generated 345 horsepower. The big issue was two-fold. First, the cars were expensive to produce, as the chassis were built in England, shipped to Turin to get a body fitted, and then returned to England to be completed. Second, the big engine put off a lot of heat, a lot of which would end up in the cabin.

This Fastback is one of 51 produced and one of about 80 428s (or Fruas, as they are also known) produced in total. It is expected to sell for between $150,000-$200,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $173,600.

AC Ace-Bristol

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1959 AC Ace-Bristol

For Sale by Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

AC’s first post-war product was the 2-Litre, a kind of frumpy-looking thing using an engine that dated back to 1922. In 1953, they decided to put a sports car into production that was based on a John Tojeiro design. That same dated 2.0-liter engine was the initial underhood offering, but things soon got more exciting.

Beginning in 1956, AC offered a 2.0-liter inline-six from Bristol that made 120 horsepower. Sadly, this engine was also based on a pre-war design, but it made the car capable of 116 mph, which really upped AC’s sports car cred. They won their class at Le Mans and were popular on the sports car racing circuit. By 1961, a Ford-based 2.6-liter inline-six was offered for a short time. AC also offered a coupe version called the Aceca.

The Ace ceased production in 1963, but by that point, an American called Carroll Shelby had found the car and stuffed a V8 into it and called it the Cobra. The Ace name would also reappear in the 1990s on a different car.

In all, 463 Aces were built with a Bristol powerplant, the most common of the three engines offered. But it’s still rare, and it’s still “one of those cars.” It’s sports car royalty, and it’s for sale by Bonhams for $423,164. Click here for more info.

June 2019 Auction Highlights

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We pick up well into June with Osenat. The Bugatti Type 35B was the only car we featured and it was easily the top seller at $455,822, therefore we shall award Most Interesting to this 1950 Hotchkiss Type 686 S. It brought $65,638. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Osenat

We’ll stay in Europe for our second sale, which was from H&H Classics in Duxford. $284,358 took home this 1957 AC Ace-Bristol, besting all other lots in terms of price. The Stanley Steamer we featured didn’t meet its reserve. More results can be found here.

Photo – H&H Classics

Onward to Mecum in Portland where this 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 was the top seller at $275,000. You can find more results here.

Photo – Mecum

Next up: Barrett-Jacksons’ Northeast sale, and we didn’t have any feature cars from this sale either. Someone paid $2.7 million for the final Corvette Z06 – a car that hasn’t even been built yet. With that dumb bit of news out of the way, the top-selling car that actually existed was $280,500 paid for this 2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster. More results are available here.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

Finally, we have Bonhams’ Chantilly sale where a rough sell-through rate saw our featured Gordini take home top sale honors at $779,769. The Arnolt-Bristol and Alfa 6C both failed to sell, but a previously-featured Salmson found a new home for $57,183. Most Interesting goes to this 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale that sold for $98,770. Click here for final results.

Photo – Bonhams

May 2019 Auction Highlights

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We pick up where we left off last time: with Silverstone Auctions. This time it was their sale of British marques, where the Jaguar XJ220 we featured was the overall top sale at $429,230. The AC Aceca was withdrawn.

The Railton Claremont sold for $85,846, and we’ll award Most Interesting to 1952 Allard Palm Beach Mk 2 that sold for $100,153. Click here for the rest of this sale’s results.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Now we move on to Brightwells’ Leominster sale. No withdrawn AC cars here as this 1962 AC Greyhound took home top sale honors at $104,923.

Photo – Brightwells

The Jaguar XJS Monaco we featured previously failed to sell here again. And the Quantum 2+2 sold for $1,678. Click here for more results.

We’ll stay in the U.K. for the annual all-Aston Martin sale from Bonhams. Naturally, the one we featured (a Virage Volante) failed to find a new home. But the biggest money car of the day was $1,097,622 paid for this 1964 Aston Martin DB5. Final results can be found here.

Photo – Bonhams

Mecum’s giant Indianapolis sale was held in May. This 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C brought home the bacon, selling for $2,860,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Twister Special Mustang we featured failed to sell at $180,000, and the AAR ‘Cuda brought $53,900. Click here for more results.

The RM Sotheby’s Villa Erba sale featured a couple of no-sales among the offerings we highlighted, including the Hispano-Suiza sedan and the Ferrari 330 Zagato. Another Ferrari, this 1954 500 Mondial Spider by Pinin Farina, was the top sale at $4,156,350.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The coachbuilt Alfa Romeo 4C sold for $186,434, while the Delahaye brought $320,041. More results can be found here.

AC Aceca

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1960 AC Aceca

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Enstone, U.K. | May 11, 2019

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

I think the reason it has taken so long to feature an AC Aceca on this site is because they tend to come up for sale with some regularity. Annually, at least. But this one just looked so good in its non-original color of Javelin Grey that I just had to feature it.

Acecas are pretty cars. Think of it as the closed coupe version of the AC Ace, which was also famous for being the car the Shelby Cobra was based on. Different engines were available, including those from AC (151 built), Bristol (169 built), and even Ford (only eight built). This car is powered by a 2.0-liter AC inline-six capable of 90 horsepower. Not the most impressive figure, which is probably why the 125 horsepower Aceca-Bristol outsold it.

This RHD example was restored in 2012 and can now be yours for between $140,000-$165,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Withdrawn from sale.

Update: Sold, Silverstone Auctions, June 2019, $167,096.

October 2018 Auction Highlights

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Before we hop into October, we’ll finish off September. First, with Silverstone Auctions’ aptly-named September Sale. We featured a special edition Lambo that brought $205,616. And guess what? It was the overall top sale. We’ll give Most Interesting to this 2000 Lotus 340R that brought $88,121. Click here for full results.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Next, Bonhams’ Zoute Sale where this 1962 Aston Martin DB4 Series V Vantage was the top sale at $1,290,110. The Derby we featured failed to sell and the early Elva brought $165,398. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Bonhams

We didn’t get to feature anything from Mecum’s Dallas sale, but this 2017 Ford GT was the top sale at $1,320,000. This was the second time this particular GT has sold publicly in the last three months. It brought less this time than last. Four of the top 10 cars were variations of the Ford GT. Other results can be found here.

Photo – Mecum

Onward to RM in Hershey where our featured Post War convertibles both sold with the Playboy bringing $132,000 and the Monarch $60,500. The overall top sale was $495,000 for this 1930 Cadillac V-16 Roadster by Fleetwood.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Electric car sales included the Milburn for $63,250 and the Baker at $192,500, while the touring cars both sold as well: the American Eagle went for $242,000 and the Everitt $55,000. The 1905 Northern sold for $52,250, the Buick truck $30,800, and a previously-featured Packard went for $71,500. A previously-featured Delahaye failed to sell. Complete results can be found here.

And finally, we backtrack to the final sale of September, Aguttes’ sale at Montlhery. The Matra we featured didn’t sell, but the 1959 AC Aceca Wide-Track Prototype we wanted to feature (but didn’t because, well, the photo below was the only one provided). It brought $252,689. Click here for all results.

Photo – Aguttes