Before Carroll Shelby transformed the AC Ace into his brutal Cobra, AC Cars made its own hotter variant, the Ace-Bristol. The Ace-Bristol’s overhead-valve inline-six, with hemispherical combustion chambers, was sourced from Bristol Cars, who in turn had developed it from a design used pre-war by BMW in its famous 328. Producing over 120 horsepower delivered through a four-speed transmission, the engine enabled a top speed of 116 mph, making the Ace-Bristol highly competitive on road and track. It earned three successive SCCA E/Production Championships in the United States between 1957 and 1959, followed by a D/Production Championship in 1960 and C/Production Championship in 1961.

A total of 466 Ace-Bristols were produced for enthusiasts all over the globe, very few of which have survived the decades so nicely as that offered here. Shipped by AC Cars Group Ltd., finished in black with red interior, on 20 December 1957, it was sold new by AC Imports of Arlington, Virginia, and remained in the Washington, DC, area for most of its life. In 1968 the 11-year-old roadster was purchased by Gerald F. Curtin, Jr., of Wilmington, Delaware, a vice-president of the Petrochemicals Division of Du Pont. Mr. Curtin drove the car for about a year before other activities took his attention, and the AC was put away in his family’s garage, where it remained with about 33,000 miles on the odometer for the next 41 years.

Following Mr. Curtin’s passing in 2010, the Ace-Bristol was sold to the noted enthusiast Jim Taylor, and joined his prominent sports car collection in Gloversville, New York. During Mr. Taylor’s ownership the car had the original engine rebuilt by the noted British sports car restorer Paul Tsikiris, and the exhaust re-routed by the passenger door to improve its note. Never restored, the car retains most of its original paint, with the remainder skillfully touched-up as necessary so as to be indistinguishable from the factory finish. Within is the amazing original interior with its seats, door panels, carpeting, and dashboard, and the car is also complete with its original side curtains, tools, grease gun, and jack. It had recorded 33,827 miles at the time of cataloguing.

This is one of the most appealing surviving Ace-Bristols—a very original car of quality and character, it is among the best-preserved examples to be found.