The AC Mark 6 Sports Car

                                                                                AC Mark 6 Cobra            

                                                  from Classic to Modern


     The AC Mark 6 sports car was introduced at the April 2009 Top Marques Car Show in Monaco as a two door, two seater convertible, while later prototypes were premiered at the Geneva Motor Show in both 2011 and 2012.

     Externally, it looked very much like a Cobra, and was offered as both a convertible and a fixed head coupe.

     The body consisted of an innovative hybrid combination of a fibreglass base with an aluminium overlay.

     It was mounted on a space frame chassis containing tubular sections which increased its strength whilst, at the same time, keeping weight to a minimum and reducing production costs.

     An important change in respect of the power plant was a switch from the Ford Windsor V8 engine in the original AC Cobra to one built by Chevrolet.

     The Mark 6 was hand built, and available in five versions, using engines from the Corvette:

  • The standard GT used a 6.2 litre, GM V8 engine that developed 436 bhp, and with a top speed of 173 mph
  • The GTA used a 6.2 litre, GM V8 engine that developed 550 bhp, and with a top speed of 180 mph
  • The GTS used a 6.2 litre, supercharged GM V8 engine that developed 647 bhp, and with a top sped of 190 mph
  • The brutish GTS R used a 6.2 litre, GM V8 race tuned engine that developed 780 bhp, and with a top speed of 207 mph

     The V8 engine was very flexible, and would pull away smoothly even from 1000 rpm, but it really came into its own between 40-100 mph.

Technical Data                     GT       GTA      Big Block      GTS      GTS R
Engine, cc                           6162     6162        7200         6162     6162
Engine, cubic inch               375       375           438           375       375
Cylinders, bhp                  8, 436    8, 550      8, 640        8, 647   8, 780
Top Speed mph                   173       180           180           190       207
0-60 mph, secs                   3.5        3.3            3.0            3.3        2.8
Torque ft/lbs                      431       549           546           604       774
0-100 mph, secs                6.8         6.3            5.7             -           -
Standing 1/4, secs             11.3      10.8          10.6             -           -

                                                                                                              Full Screen

                                                                    Full Screen                                                                                                                                   Full Screen

     Priced at £93,500, the car featured:

  • Gullwing doors specific to the fixed head coupe
  • Wheelbase was increased to improve legroom
  • Adjustable shock absorbers
  • 18 inch aluminium wheels on the basic, with 19 inch on the other variants
  • Six speed manual gearbox
  • Air conditioning
  • Heated leather seats
  • Pedals could be adjusted electrically
  • GPS and MP3 player

     Side exhausts were an optional extra, as were racing stripes, traction control, and a detachable hardtop

     It was fitted with 332 mm drilled and ventilated disc brakes at the front, and 298 mm at the rear, with callipers sourced from Porsche, together with limited slip differential.

     The convertible variant weighed just 990 kg.

     The Mark 6 represented a number of firsts for the company since it was:

  • First to be built in Germany
  • First to incorporate a V8 engine produced by General Motors
  • First to be offered as a fixed head coupe that had not been designed exclusively for the track
  • First to feature gullwing doors, which were an integral part of the fixed head coupe variant

     The target market for the Mark 6 was the US and Europe.

     Initially, from 2009, the AC Mark 6 sports car was built for AC Cars by Gullwing Gmbh in Germany, who were the licensee.

     However, AC subsequently introduced a network of local production and distribution centres, which were intended to eliminate the US shipping costs incurred with the rolling chassis during the production of the original AC Cobra Mark 1-3.

     Consequently, the three main centres chosen were AC Heritage Centre in the UK, AC Germany in Dresden, and Iconic Motors in the US.

     Iconic Motors have subsequently developed the Iconic AC Roadster sports car, fitted with a 6.8 litre, V8 engine that developed 825 bhp, and 680 ft/lbs of torque, with a top speed of 210 mph, and a 0-60 mph time of less than 3 secs.


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› AC Mark 6 Sports Car


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