AC Cobra Ghia

The AC Cobra Ghia: When Ford sponsored Shelby in making Cobras, they never really liked the thin eggshell bodywork. They spent a lot of money repainting the Cobras before they could be delivered. The first was the Cougar II, a coupe built on a leaf spring chassis with a fiberglass bodywork but one of the reasons it probably didn’t move forward was that they were ditching the 289 Cobra engine and thinking about a new one. chassis and construction of a new body. Their next attempt was the Bordinat Cobra or XD Cobra, a roadster with a rigid roof lift with a rubber-like body called Royalex, made by the U.S. Rubber, mounted on a helical spring frame. This material was too experimental a process and that’s why it didn’t take off. Somewhere around that time, a 427 coil spring frame was hijacked to Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin in Italy, run by the then fiery Alejandro De Tomaso, for a new body designed by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro. The car also had a new interior but it wasn’t much better than A.C.’s, and it actually looked a bit handcrafted. The AC Cobra Ghia was painted in dark blue with a brown leather interior, the color of the goose beak, a sort of orange brown, had a roof height similar to the Maserati Ghibli, which he had made for the Ghia around the same time. The car appeared to have disappeared after its brief time in the spotlight. It is said to have been shipped to Belgium where its only bodywork was removed and incorporated as a regular 427 Cobra.