Ak Miller and his V8 powered Ace-Bristol--did Ak really beat Shelby to the punch?

Way back maybe a half century ago I met Ak Miller, who at that time
was a performance consultant to Ford traveling with the Cobra Caravan. He told me that he had put a V8 into an A.C. Ace before Shelby.
I forgot now what size or make engine, I think if it ws before '62 the 260 or 289 didn't exist yet. I found a picture on the net of an Ace Bristol (recognizable because of the "mustache" shape of the grille surround) at Bonneville with a long snout sprouting out of the grille (could only be described as a funnel shape in aluminum about 4 ft. long). I guess he set a record with it but with what engine? And the guy who took the picture says it was in '62 or '63 so that couldn't be "before the Cobra. I liked Ak and consider him a genuine war hero (frostbite in the Battle of the Bulge) but wonder if he was exaggerating that he gave Shelby the idea.

PS I think he later put a Devin body on it, plus put a Ford falcon fornt suspensio, a Board WArner T-10 and a Chevy aluminum radiator but that was all '62 or later

 

Thanks for the quick answer. Do you think Ak had
a Ford 260 cubic inch-powered AC Bristol before
Shelby put the 260 in the first Cobra in Sante Fe Springs?
I noticed later in the Bonneville picture that the front of the car has a 260painted on it and
the racing number writ large on the door is 289 so that makes me think he had a 260 first. The question is
whether Ford knew of him before Shelby and gave him a 260 as a significant figure in the hot rod community. But if they did,
why did they give Shelby only a 221 incher at first? Maybe they weren't sure how much power the car needed or could take.
Anyhow it sounds like after Ak got to messing with changing the suspension, he pretty much eliminated the chance
of bringing the car back to A.C.Bristol form or has that been done?

 

The earlier engine swaps

Good thing there is others on the AC-with-American-engine trail. I think A.C. had thought of the 215 cu. in. V8 aluminum Buick engine but by the time they reached that conclusion, Rover had beat them to it. As far as the Chevy powered conversion, Chevrolet was so loathe to supply engines to other sports car makers that they ignored Bizzarrini who built a fine racing car in the iso Grifo A3C that could have beat the Cobras at Lemans. I think it all boils down to this--true, Ak amply demonstrated that a small block Ford could fit into a AC Bristol with room to spare but Ak didn't approach A.C. after he had done it. He was maybe thinking of selling other AC owners on the conversion. Shelby , knowing what Ak did, was thinking bigger---if he could get A.C. to supply the cars new, and Ford to supply the engines new and he put them together, he'd be an automaker. I even think Ak was as well known as Shelby and that would explain how he got a 260 cu. in. Ford V8 before Shelby. Maybe Ford was spreading the engine around the hot rod circles.
Ak though he was a Ford performance consultant (answering letters from readers) was prone to four letter words, so might not have been as good a spokesman as Shelby who had the whole cowboy image going.

 

I recently saw an Ace coupe very clean and original on the outside, with a beautifully installed Ford V8, I am pretty sure 289. The owner even had a faded AC decal on the valve cover to make you think it came from A.C. that way. The owner owns lots of real Cobras so I think he was just driving this around to shake people up, and of course now A.C. Aces will go up like Cobras did.
As far as Ak he was tougher than tough, had survived the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, and raced an American built hot rod called the Chariot of Steel in an Italian road race but Shelby himself referred me to him in person to ask tech questions when I was at the auto show so I think Ack could talk without too many bad words. I agree with the poster, that Ak had the knowledge but back in Dearborn they thought Shelby made a more promotable performance advisor, sort of a Roy Rogers-Hopalong Cassidy kinda guy