1958 AC Aceca-Bristol

1958 AC Aceca-Bristol

The success of Cliff Davis' Tojeiro sports-racer prompted AC Cars to put the design into production in 1954 as the Ace. The Davis car's pretty Ferrari 166-inspired barchetta body work was retained, as was John Tojeiro's twin-tube ladder frame chassis and Cooper-influenced all-independent suspension, but the power unit was AC's own venerable, 2.0-liter, long-stroke six. This overhead-camshaft engine originated in 1919 and with a modest 80bhp (later 100bhp) on tap, endowed the Ace with respectable, if not outstanding, performance. A hardtop version - the fastback-styled Aceca Coupe – debuted at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1954. The Aceca's hatchback body was constructed in hand-formed aluminum over a tubular steel framework, while the tubular chassis was more substantially built than the Ace's. To reduce noise levels within the cabin, AC mounted all major components on rubber bushes. The result was a well-engineered, light in weight and extremely pretty GT car in the best AC tradition.

Very few alterations were made to the Ace and Aceca apart from a change of engine for 1956 when the more-powerful (up to 130bhp) 2.0-liter Bristol six-cylinder engine became available, while towards the end of production the 2.6-liter Ford Zephyr engine was on offer also. The combination of a fine-handling chassis and a decent power-to-weight ratio - in Bristol-engine form the car could touch 120mph - helped the Ace version to numerous successes in production sports car racing, arguably its finest achievement being a 1st-in-class and 7th overall finish at Le Mans in 1959.

Descriptions & pictures by bonhams & wikipedia