CSX 1000 info wanted

There wont any AC CSX1000 series cars,Shelby pulled out of the deal with AC Cars, who are now only producing fiberglass cars in MALTA

 

Thats incorrect I purchased CSX 1009 and the body and chassis was completed but I got tired of waiting for the Shelby factory to complete the engine so like a moron I asked them to sell it to one of their dealers which they did. The new Hertz car allocated away resources that would have been applied to my car but I became to impatient.

13 CSX 1000 series bodies and chassis were delivered to Shelby in Vegas. The first one CSX 1001 was auctioned last January at Barrett Jackson for over 600K I think for charity.

The CSX 1000 series was the first AC/Shelby Cobra collaberation since the 1960s and the bodies were hand built from the original bucks in the UK at the now bankrupt AC factory.

 

My friend bought CSX1012. The car is finished and sitting at Shelby in Las Vegas. He is waiting to have it shipped to Mike McCluskey to install the engine and some other odds and ends. The car looks great.

Jay

 

CSX1001 was not auctioned at Barret.... It was donated to Shelby Childrens fund by Carroll and I won it in the raffle which was held at Barret Jackson. I still own the car which was first titled to Carroll.

 

That is awesome................. Can you post some pics?

David.

 

I remember that car.....i still have my raffle ticket!.....you lucky doggggg!!!!!

Best Regards,
Vern

 

YUP I'm a Lucky guy!
Tried to post pics but not sure if I did attached right. Not a computer whiz but hope they go through.
Gary (CSX1001)

 

Lubinsky-Shelby partnership lasted nanoseconds

I remember the publicity sent out by AC Cars , then owned by Alan Lubinsky, originally a South African who went to England and bought the trademark name and rights to produce the car. A few years ago, there was a joint announcement from him and Shelby that he was going to supply Shelby with completed chassis and bodywork for the CSX1000 series.

That would have allowed Shelby to advertise a car as an "AC Cobra" again.

But it turned out that the relationship soured and Lubinsky set up an operation in Malta, an island in the Med. Last I heard he was off to another country to build his cars.

Turned out that to Shelby, the name "AC" wasn't need in selling his cars, though it would have been a nice returning-to-history touch.

 

What ever happened to the Company up in MI, trying to get set up to build these Cars now?

David.

 

That is my understanding also that their was a tiff between Alan and Carroll. The badging on my car and the other Csx1000's is of Shelby AC Cobra and is like the original badge designed back in the day. I will try to send a pic of it along. To my knowledge CSX1001 is the only CSX1000 series car completely finished at Shelby including drivetrain and engine. The others were built as rollers through the Shelby Dealer Network for completion of engine etc. If you know different I would be interested to know.
I wonder where the other CSX1000's are. I even have pics of the cars being formed in England on the original Wooden Bucks (Neat). Attached also are some of my cars with the Cobra.
Gary

 

Haven't heard of the company in Michigan??

 

APRIL 21, 2008
Acedes Holdings, LLC (“AC Cars”) has today announced that it will be manufacturing certain derivatives of its heritage product in the USA. The vehicles will be manufactured by its manufacturing partner, AC AutoKraft, LLC.(“AC AutoKraft”)

AC AutoKraft is a newly formed business founded by Mitchell Lampert and Brent Fenimore. Mr. Lampert is the CEO of Waco Classic Aircraft Corporation, Inc. (“Waco Classic”) and Centennial Aircraft Services, Inc. (“Centennial”). Waco Classic is the manufacturer of the world-renowned Waco YMF-5 open cockpit Biplane. Centennial is a multiple National Grand Champion award winning vintage aircraft restoration business. Waco and Centennial jointly employ 35 highly skilled craftsmen and women and are both known worldwide for quality workmanship fit and finish. Waco Classic and Centennial are co-located in a 30,000 ft2 facility in Battle Creek, Michigan. (www.wacoclassic.com ).

Brent Fenimore has spent twenty plus years in the niche vehicle industry serving in multiple capacities. Fenimore worked directly with Carroll Shelby for nine years in the development of Shelby American and Shelby Automobiles with his final capacity being Vice President and General Manager of the Shelby Companies located in Las Vegas. Fenimore managed day to day operations of the companies to include the engineering, development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of multiple vehicle platforms and has worked extensively with AC Cars, Ltd on the MKI, MKII and MKIII vehicle lines over the past five years.

Asked why he has decided to start manufacturing cars, Mr. Lampert replied that he has always been an avid AC fan, and as a former AC Mark III owner he is well aware of the demand and desirability of these outstanding automobiles. Mr. Lampert further explained that the process of manufacturing the ultra-exclusive Waco YMF-5 is similar to that which will be employed in the manufacture of the AC Ace, MkII and MkIII.

AC AutoKraft will utilize modern low volume tooling to manufacture composite and a limited number of aluminum versions of the famous AC Ace, the forerunner and car on which the AC Cobra was based, the AC MK11 and the AC MK111 . It is expected that AC AutoKraft will start manufacturing this summer. AC AutoKraft has also been appointed as an official factory approved AC restoration center and will be undertaking all types of restoration work on AC heritage product.



David.

 

Re: Lubinsky-Shelby partnership lasted nanoseconds

It makes me laugh ,as Shelby did not want to market the cars as AC Cobra`s in the 60`s...........

Did Shelby ever market the car as an "AC Cobra" ?

I always thought that he marketed the car as a "Shelby Cobra" in the States

 

Slap that boy's hands with a steel edged ruler

...which is what they did to me in grade school when I was bad.

I wrote AC Cobra ad into Yahoo and came up with an early Cobra ad from their Venice CA location
(but late enough to have the lettering style chosen by Pete Brock)that clearly says "AC Cobra" in the ad. Here's the ad from eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1963...69886QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V#ebayphotohosting

I think Shelby wanted to play it both ways. If he left "AC" on the car, then it might help in getting homologation since AC was a well known established automakers whose AC cars had competed previously at LeMans many times.
Plus the A.C.-Bristol was a well respected car. But aside from winning some races, the Shelby name was unknown in manufacturing circles so he was taking a chance if he called it just the "Shelby Cobra". I think that first badge he made for the bonnet, that one that was oval shaped and abbout 3mm thick, said SHELBY large on top, COBRA large on the bottom and AC pretty darn small in the middle.

It is ironic that 40-odd years later he would have liked to market an AC Cobra again but hey, you push the buttons that get the response from the buyer and "AC Cobra" still is a name that has some appeal

 

Sorry, I should have said there won`t be anymore cars produced,as Shelby had pulled out of the deal, hindsight is a wondeful thing.

 

I think I just saw one at an auction in Scottsdale in Jan.

It was badged as an AC and the sign said it was one of the new AC's.
I don't remember what auction but probably Russo & Steele or Barrett-Jackson. You could look on their results to see if it sold.
The workmanship on the body was excellent.

What I want to know is, has it been written in any article what happened, why the deal did not go through? Was it the costs were higher than the original price quoted?

At any rate, AC is now badging cars from Germany with Corvette engines. In the pictures on the net they look great but the pictures don't show if the dashboard is the AC Mk.IV style or the '60s Cobra style.

 

Yes, I remember seeing the German car at the AC owners Club 60th Anniversary meeting,did the car go into production ?


Of course, AC Heritage are still building Cobra`s to order in the UK also.

Here are a couple of photo`s of the German car.





This is a 289 Cobra built by AC Heritage,built using alot of the tooling from the original cars.

 

First let's understand the nomanclature. The "C" in CSX stands for Automobile Carriers which was the original manufacturer of the "AC" chassis which Carroll originally dropped a 260 then 289 CID "motor". The "S" in CSX stands for Shelby. The "X" stands for or indicates a left hand drive automobile versus the beautiful original but underpowered and right hand British AC cars. Of great importance to any CSX 1000 series owner is that the body is aluminum, not fiberglass or any other material. Mine has a hand formed body meaning a craftsman formed it by hand using to the best of my knowledge original wooden jigs or forms. Mine as CSX 1014 means it was the number 14 in sequence of production by Shelby American Motors. If you have a genuine Shelby American manufacutred "roller" you will have received an MSO (manufacturers certificate of origin). Luckily when I commissioned my car Carroll was still alive and as part of the deal agreed to sign my MSO. Normally when you go to DMV to register your vehicle they want to keeo the MSO and exchange it for a VIN number. By some miracle I was able to convince them to please return the original signed MSO which I have in my safe.
As to the engine I opted to have Shelby Engineering make a 427 B model engine which is #1050. The Shelby engine block numbers almost never match the chassis number because after all most of the entire series were raced and the engines often destroyed or worn out and hence replaced with a different Shelby engine number. Incidentially the engine options are "A" 427 displacement, "B" 427 block bored out to 460 cu inches and making 550 HP on the completed 2349 lb finished car. The "C" engine meant you elected to have it bored out to 490 cu in in which case you get no warranty on the engine block.
I opted for black paint, leather interior, SS jack stands, and SS roll bar, and SS side pipes. If you go for the side pipes you need to have used a lot of skill in getting the first VIN to reflect that the car is a 1965 so that you do not have to meet emissions or noise standards. This is only still possible in a couple of states and you should do your homework.
Driving it is a blast.
Thanks Carroll

 

First let's understand the nomanclature. The "C" in CSX stands for Automobile Carriers which was the original manufacturer of the "AC" chassis which Carroll originally dropped a 260 then 289 CID "motor". The "S" in CSX stands for Shelby. The "X" stands for or indicates a left hand drive automobile versus the beautiful original but underpowered and right hand British AC cars. Of great importance to any CSX 1000 series owner is that the body is aluminum, not fiberglass or any other material. Mine has a hand formed body meaning a craftsman formed it by hand using to the best of my knowledge original wooden jigs or forms. Mine as CSX 1014 means it was the number 14 in sequence of production by Shelby American Motors. If you have a genuine Shelby American manufacutred "roller" you will have received an MSO (manufacturers certificate of origin). Luckily when I commissioned my car Carroll was still alive and as part of the deal agreed to sign my MSO. Normally when you go to DMV to register your vehicle they want to keeo the MSO and exchange it for a VIN number. By some miracle I was able to convince them to please return the original signed MSO which I have in my safe.
As to the engine I opted to have Shelby Engineering make a 427 B model engine which is #1050. The Shelby engine block numbers almost never match the chassis number because after all most of the entire series were raced and the engines often destroyed or worn out and hence replaced with a different Shelby engine number. Incidentially the engine options are "A" 427 displacement, "B" 427 block bored out to 460 cu inches and making 550 HP on the completed 2349 lb finished car. The "C" engine meant you elected to have it bored out to 490 cu in in which case you get no warranty on the engine block.
I opted for black paint, leather interior, SS jack stands, and SS roll bar, and SS side pipes. If you go for the side pipes you reed to have used a lot of skill in getting the first VIN to reflect that the car is a 1965 so that you do not have to meet emissions or noise standards. This is only still possible in a couple of states and you should do your homework.
Driving it is a blast.
Thanks Carroll