Photo: courtesy AC Cars.
Britain’s oldest active vehicle manufacturer is showcasing its iconically styled but highly advanced AC GT Roadster at ModaMiami starting in March 2025. With the first two years of production already sold, AC cars will also host reception appointments in Miami for the exclusive roadster as it allocates the next round of limited production spaces.
AC GT Roadster
Inheriting a profile rightly regarded as legendary but delivering a wholly new, exclusive model, AC Cars has developed its most advanced open-top ever. Conceived as a true grand tourer, combining speed, agility, and balance with comfort and practicality, it sets the benchmark as the iconically styled sports car for true aficionados and collectors.
Part of the AC GT Range, which includes the GT Coupe, the GT Roadster combines aesthetics with cutting-edge design and construction techniques that reflect 50 years of design evolution.
Instantly recognizable, it remains faithful to the spirit of the original AC Cobra of the 1960s, while utilizing modern engine, gearbox and control technologies to provide a new level of performance and handling.
The supercharged AC GT Roadster V8 S can sprint from 0 to 60mph in just 3.4 seconds. Two gearboxes perfectly complement the engines: a 6-speed manual for purists or an advanced automatic gearbox with steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles.
Extraordinarily light and with exceptional torsional rigidity, the car’s highly advanced construction is cloaked in a flowing, hand-laid carbon fibre body. Significantly larger than the original AC Cobra, the new GT Roadster’s modern ergonomics mean the cabin accommodates drivers well over six feet tall. It includes a modern drivetrain and control technologies to validate its grand tourer credentials.
AC Ace Classic electric
Also on show at ModaMiami is the AC Ace Classic electric, which is making its East Coast debut this March. With a hand-laid carbon fibre body and a unique hand-finished interior, the new AC Ace Classic electric packs the punch of a bespoke 300 bhp (225 kW) TREMEC EV powertrain. With 500Nm (369 ft-lb) of torque and a 200+ mile range, the new AC Ace Classic electric accelerates from 0-62mph in 4.9 secs and has a total battery capacity of 72 kWh.
Developed in partnership with electrified performance technologies partner TREMEC Electric GT, the new AC Ace Classic Electric retains the historic company’s reputation for unique coachwork. Incorporating a precision carbon-fibre body that’s immensely strong and light, the work employs the same techniques as AC Cars’ flagship model, the AC GT Roadster.
Also available with a potent gasoline engine, the new AC Ace Classic reflects the evolution of the original AC Ace over its 10-year production run 1953-1963. the AC Ace Classic uses the open grille design of the AC Ace before its transformation into the famed AC Cobra, while the AC Ace Bristol Classic employs the earlier ‘smiling face’ that graced the model for its launch in 1953. Both models feature graceful rolling flanks and wheel arches, in contrast to the flat-sided original design.
Storied Past
The Weller Brothers established Britain’s oldest vehicle manufacturer in 1901, producing cars and motorbikes from their workshop in West Norwood, London. The nascent company produced its first vehicle in 1903, but the Autocarrier was introduced a year later (from which the name AC derived). That was the first three-wheel commercial delivery vehicle, which proved to be an instant success.
However, the AC Ace cemented the company’s status following its launch in 1953. With an aluminum body designed and built by Eric George Gray, it gained the respect of racing enthusiasts for its everyday practicality and pace. That car would evolve to incorporate the Ford V8 and become the AC Cobra of legend.
AC Cars was the original manufacturer of all original AC Cobra chassis in the 1960s. In early 1961, the factory in Thames Ditton took the AC Ace chassis, already altered to accommodate the 2.6-litre Ford Zephyr engine. The first example (CSX2000) was shipped to the United States in early 1962.
To learn more about the AC GT Roadster and GT Coupe, visit AC.Cars.